Report notes India and China amongst strongest players in the industry

Referred to as the 'BRIC' countries, they join Brazil and Russia in accounting for over 20 percent of the market’s world value, and are one of the strongest drivers of its growth and are slowly becoming global trend setters.

According to the report, products like BB creams, which originated from Asia but managed to conquer developed markets, are a good example of this.

“This trend is bound to last as, despite a temporary slowdown, the BRICs will continue to develop thanks to events like the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympicsin Brazil or the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia​.”

State of play in India​

According to the market researcher, in India most beauty and personal care segments still have relatively low penetration levels compared to other BRICs, indicating huge future growth potential as the population evolves and a middle social class emerges. Like in China, skin whitening products prove popular reaching 68 percent of Indian women.

The most mature and highly penetrated segment is make-up, used by 83 percent of women aged 18-55 years old. Within make-up, nail polish/varnish and lipsticks are the biggest segments used by 70 percent and 59 percent of women respectively.

However, unlike in the other BRICs, make-up in India is equally used by all age groups, including older women. Indian females declare trying to keep up with the latest fashion trends (51 percent) and being influenced by celebrities in their purchase decisions (49 percent).

"India and China still have great development potential as the emerging middle classes grow. In terms of high potential segments, hair care and styling are still likely to deliver strong growth in each BRIC market by recruiting new buyers."​

Immaculate skin is most valued by Chinese women​

In China, the report notes skin care as the most important segment of beauty, purchased by over 90 percent of Chinese women whereby between 2009 and 2011 it continued to gain new users and the strongest recruitment took place amongst the lower social classes.

Skin whitening care was one of the fastest recruiting segments, now used by 39 percent of Chinese women, an increase of 10 percent since 2009. Its penetration increased across all social classes.

Anti-wrinkle is another fast growing segment, seeing its penetration double between 2009 and 2011. With the gradual aging of the population, the anti-wrinkle segment is likely to grow even further, as seven out of ten Chinese women think it is “important to keep young looking”.