Mintel releases 2022 APAC Beauty and Personal Care Land

Mintel, the experts in what consumers want and why, has today released the new edition of APAC Beauty and Personal Landscape, which looks at the latest consumer trends and market developments in the region’s beauty industry over the past 12 months and beyond.

A key driver is the heightened and expanded focus on health as consumers adopt a more proactive approach to their wellbeing in the aftermath of the pandemic. At the same time, this merges with the realization that there is no healthy body without a healthy planet.

Chiara Zen, Director of Insights, Beauty, Personal Care and Household, APAC, discusses how this accelerating convergence of beauty, health and sustainability impacts brands, grounded on research and insights from our experts, including those from China, India, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Harness the potential of waterless innovations

“People are adopting more responsible behaviour as they recognise that environmental health equals human health. Waterless formats represent an opportunity for a more eco-friendly offer, but brands need to balance the focus on promoting skin benefits (eg higher concentration of actives) and safety (eg lack of preservatives) and yet provide no compromise in terms of pleasant experiences. 

Strengthen the skin’s ecosystem and natural functions

Facial care products have been addressing consumer concerns about external aggressors like pollution with ‘protection against claims for many years. Recently, more positive benefits focused on supporting the skin barrier have been increasing.

According to Mintel Trend Total Wellbeing, consumers treat their bodies like an ecosystem and seek solutions that complement their health.

Innovation that provides solutions to help the skin function at its best or shift ‘protection against’ offerings towards more positive territory with skin barrier claims are growing in demand.

In this space, ingredients like pro/prebiotics raise. Data from Mintel Global New Products Database shows that microbiome claims are still niche accounting for less than 5% of all Facial care launches between Jan 2019 and Nov 2022, but constantly increasing. 

“A key opportunity to raise understanding of microbiome will be reinforcing/ rebalancing the skin barrier and targeting common skin conditions like acne. Functional beauty ingredients have become a reason to believe, this is the space where it could be easier to get consumers familiar with the notion of good/bad bacteria and the importance of skin microbiome balance as the foundation of acne-free skin.

Engineered ingredients to showcase effectiveness and sustainability

Mintel’s  BPC Trend Playing Mother Nature illustrates the concept of natural beauty ingredients encompassing technological developments. In a future with dwindling natural resources, unpredictable weather, increased pollution and pesticides, lab engineering represents a concrete option to provide sustainable, completely traceable, safer and more effective ingredients.

An example related to a very important APAC issue is served by C16 Biosciences, which developed a biotech fermentation process to offer a lab-grown alternative to palm oil, a sustainable option reducing the environmental footprint of palm oil production and protecting precious natural land, wildlife and resources in the process. 

Interviews with Chiara Zen, Director of Insights, Beauty, Personal Care and Household, APAC or other Mintel experts are available on request from the Mintel Press Office. Mintel’s 2022 APAC Beauty and Personal Care Landscape is available for free download here.