International survey uncovers cosmetic resilience

Market research firm Synovate asked 11,500 people in over a dozen countries about their spending plans and found that most consumers would not be cutting their cosmetics expenditure.

Global results of survey​

When it came to looking after their looks 41 per cent of respondents said they were spending the same amount on cosmetics as they did before the downturn began, while only 27 per cent said they were cutting down.

Two thirds of consumers were also planning to use the same brands as they were before the financial crisis hit.

Different countries, different attitudes​

However, comparing countries revealed different attitudes towards the economic situation.

The countries with the most established cosmetics markets, such as France, US, and UK, were often the most pessimistic. For example, of those surveyed in the UK, 41 per cent said they were spending less on beauty products while only 2 per cent were upping their expenditure.

Countries that were more optimistic about their spending were either less affected by the financial crisis, like Denmark, or used to high levels of sales growth in recent years, such as Romania and Russia.

In Russia only 7 per cent of respondents said they were reducing beauty spending compared with 24 per cent who said they were stocking up on more cosmetic products.

Again, in Denmark 7 per cent said they were spending less while a strong majority of 59 per cent revealed that their cosmetics expenditure remained the same.