In this 2020 round-up, we’re featuring the biggest stories of the year featuring cosmetics suppliers BASF, Clariant, DSM and more.
In this 2020 round-up, we’re featuring the biggest stories of the year featuring cosmetics suppliers BASF, Clariant, DSM and more.
The market was set to see a boom in conscious beauty, with one firm believing that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) would have a clear and lasting impact on the emerging trend.
Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Asia in April, DSM said it has identified conscious beauty as one of the major trends in the market.
Fabrice Guillemard, lead marketing manager, personal care & aroma ingredients, APAC, defined it as consumers making smart choices in their beauty and personal care products.
“In today’s digital and information-savvy world where so many misleading, contradictory or not scientifically proven information is available, it becomes a challenge to know what and who you can trust and where to find the real truth.”
He added that the firm saw conscious beauty as the combination of two key trends: good beauty and healthy beauty.
In April, ingredient firm Azelis said that beauty products considered safe, trustworthy and comforting would see a sharp rise in demand in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
The ongoing COVID-19 developments had impacted the global economy in various ways. Most notably, it has influenced the consumers’ spending habits and purchase decisions.
Jacqueline Hoe, business development manager personal care, Azelis Asia Pacific, believed the impact of the outbreak would have clear and lasting change across the beauty and personal care landscape in Asia Pacific.
“The ongoing pandemic is causing drastic disruptions reshaping the personal care industry. Our sales, marketing and laboratory teams are working together to assess the trends that will emerge and the impacts that we will face,” she said.
Early this year, Swiss-British company AP Organics had its sights on Japan's cosmetics market for growth outside of Europe, as the firm believed it held great prospects for its CBD ingredients and services.
The company supplies hemp and cannabinoid (CBD) materials to manufacturers across multiple sectors, including cosmetics. It also operates as an OEM manufacturer for companies that do not have the infrastructure to produce CBD products themselves.
In entered the Japanese market in 2019, dealing mainly with players in the vape industry.
However, it was hoping to break into Japan’s cosmetics industry, where managing director Gavin Ogilvie saw the most potential for CBD because of the clear regulations in place.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has marked the end of in-store cosmetic testers, but one firm doubted the abilities of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and similar technology to completely replace them.
Steve Dodd, senior vice president of retail solutions at Meiyume told CosmeticsDesign-Asia in July that despite the impact of the health crisis on the brick-and-mortar retail sector, the beauty industry still needed a physical presence.
“You have to remember that beauty is still very much a touch-and-try business… People react differently based on their skin type and tone, they want to feel the texture of the product, how it feels on their skin. It takes a while to get the look right, it requires experimentation. You can’t do that online, even with the best virtual try-on software,” he told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.
Dodd highlighted that unlike fashion, beauty brands could not rely on pushing logos in the face of consumers.
In April, biotech firm Holista Colltech and skin care specialist Skin Elements – both of which are listed on the Australian stock exchange - announced a deal to launch a natural and alcohol-free hand sanitiser.
The Invisi Shield Natural hand sanitiser combined Skin Elements’ skin-sensitive anti-microbial formula with Path-Away, a plant-based alcohol-free active ingredient.
According to the company, it proved to be successful in killing of more than 170 viruses, bacteria and fungi.
Path-Away was developed by US-based Global Infection Control Consultants (GICC) and Holista holds its exclusive distribution rights in Australia.
The usage of facial sheet masks in Asia are expected to increase and become a daily necessity in the wake of the changing beauty habits induced by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
While facial sheet masks can be considered a ubiquitous product in the Asian region, specialty fibres company Lenzing told CosmeticsDesign-Asia in September that it believes the market still held huge potential.
“The market size in terms of consumption and production will continue to grow with the CAGR for the upcoming five years expected to be double-digit,” said Oliver Sum, regional commercial director, North Asia, nonwovens at Lenzing AG.
One of the factors driving this growth is the change in consumer habits brought about by COVID-19.
Consumers will increasingly seek out the safety of cosmeceuticals and the comfort of natural products in the long-term due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disruptions, said ingredients company BASF in August.
The COVID-19 health crisis had result in significant shifts in the beauty and personal care industry, highlighting certain concerns such as health, safety and efficacy.
“Very clearly with social isolation and restrictions, the hygiene and protection needs have accelerated. We obviously see this trend of protection from the virus happening, but we also see a couple of associated trends,” said Srikanth Vaduvur, VP personal care solutions, care chemicals Asia Pacific, BASF.
For instance, Vaduvur told CosmeticsDesign-Asia the lockdowns have pushed consumers to rethink their beauty routines and make more time at-home pampering sessions.
The inevitability of the ‘green’ beauty trend is pushing cosmetics companies to develop more eco-solutions for Chinese consumers, said Clariant in March.
While the definition of green beauty encompasses many elements from organic ingredients to ethics, most Chinese consumers equate it with safety.
“Generally speaking, for the Chinese beauty consumers, ‘green’ means safe, healthy and less side effects from an efficacy perspective,” said Zhigang Miao head of industrial & consumer specialties, Clariant China.
According to Clariant’s China arm, the trend was steadily growing among millennial consumers – those born post-1980s.
“They are well educated and open-minded and caring more about their appearance and health, as well as the environment. This demographic also has certain economic capabilities to realise their wishes for better and more sustainable life standard,” said Miao.
Ingredient supplier said it would rethink their supply chain strategy in March during the aftermath of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in China.
The novel coronavirus originated from the China’s Hubei province just days leading up to the Lunar New Year festivities in China and other parts of Asia.
Taiwan-based company Corum told CosmeticsDesign-Asia that it felt the effects of the epidemic immediately.
“We’ve observed dramatic slowdown of most business activities in China. The vulnerable consumer confidence has been lingering since the start of US-China trade war last year and is now hitting an even more catastrophic bump with no end in sight,” said Snow Hsieh, international sales manager at Corum.
In July, BASF spoke to CosmeticsDesign-Asia about China’s demand for anti-pollution cosmetics and the innovative solution it has developed for a complex issue.
Dr Juntao Xia, head of development and innovation, personal care solutions Asia Pacific, BASF, told CosmeticsDesign-Asia that he expects anti-pollution products to become a ‘must-have’ for Chinese consumers.
He noted that demand for this claim will extend beyond skin care and into other personal care categories, such as hair care.
“In 2019, anti-pollution became a must-have for many cosmetic segments. As such, suppliers and brands have the responsibility to develop suitable solutions to address these issues,” said Xia.
