Reports of flat organic market irrelevant to cosmetics, says market researcher

The Tabs Group Organic Products survey was conducted amongst 1,000 respondents aged 18-75, questioning them about their purchase habits of organic beauty products.

The results showed that there had been virtually no increase in the number of consumers buying organic beauty products in the US since 2008.

No clear definition of ‘organic beauty product’ in US​

According to Organic Monitor President, Armajit Sahota, the problem with surveying consumers about their purchasing habits of organic beauty products lies in the fact that there is no clear definition of such a product in the US.

“Questioning consumers about organic beauty products would not elicit accurate responses since consumers cannot state what organic beauty products are,” ​he told CosmeticsDesign.

Tabs Group surveyed consumers rather than retailers and manufacturers as “it is not unusual that we see industries overestimating the size and importance of their categories, particularly in ones that are hard to track,” ​according to Tabs Group president Kurt Jetta.

He explained that reported market growth may be down to manufacturers recording increased sales if retailers are buying more items, yet the problem lies in the fact that they are not selling through to the consumer at the same growth rate.

Organic Monitor research shows positive growth​

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Organic Monitor’s predictions, based on a different approach to the research carried out by Tabs Group, paint a contrasting picture of the US natural and organic personal care market in 2009.

“Our methodology involved surveying leading producers, distributors and retailers of natural & organic beauty products. We therefore got sales data directly from companies & retailers, rather than asking consumers if they are buying more or less products,”​ Sahota said.

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Organic Monitor predicted an 8 percent growth rate in the US market for natural personal care products earlier this year, and, based on the data obtained so far, is expecting the prediction to hold true.

Although the company has not yet finalized the market growth rate for 2009, “the general consensus is that growth is positive this year (not stagnating and definitely not negative)” ​Sahota stated.

Certification a key trend in the US market​

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As well as predicting that positive market growth will continue for 2009, Organic Monitor highlighted the fact that product awareness and consumer demand is increasing due to more natural and organic products being certified by bodies such as Ecocert and the Natural Products Association (NPA).

Sahota explained that previously, organic beauty products could only get certification from the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Organic Program (USDA NOP), which is designed for organic foods.

Amongst the brands to have been certified against this program are Origins Organics, Care by Stella McCartney and Dr Bronner’s.

Certification options for natural and organic products are increasing, with Sahota noting that Ecocert organic certification is becoming more popular with American cosmetics companies.

Organic Monitor also expects that the introduction of the American National Standard for personal care products containing organic ingredients (NSF ANS1 305), will also lead to an increase in the number of certified organic beauty products on the US market.