- Dermocosmetics in Asia Pacific grew a CAGR of 15% from 2018 to 2023
- Nearly half of Asia Pacific consumers will pay up to 50% extra for beauty products with scientific formulation
- E-commerce sales in Asia Pacific account for 30% of region’s beauty sales in 2023
- Livestreaming reshapes the beauty e-commerce space, opening doors for new brands and low-tier cities in China and India
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – 49% of Asia Pacific consumers responded saying they will pay an additional 10% to 50% for beauty products with scientific formulations, according to data analytics firm Euromonitor International.
Consumer demand for science-backed beauty and personal care has gained ground following the pandemic. Dermocosmetics, which brands conceptually centre around the use of unique ingredients, is rapidly gaining space globally.
Asia Pacific saw a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% during 2018-2023, surpassing the global market CAGR of 12%, North America’s 11% and Western Europe’s 7%.
Top beauty markets in Asia Pacific demonstrated a robust double-digit CAGR from 2018 to 2023, including China (20%), Thailand (17%), South Korea (14%) and India (10%).
‘Ingredient-led’ products are redefining perceptions of premium beauty
Consumers are now adopting ingredient-led beauty into their routines and adopting premium beauty.
According to Euromonitor International’s Voice of the Consumer: Beauty Survey for 2023, around 30% of respondents amonst Asia Pacific consumers perceived proven efficacy and medical endorsements as traits of premium beauty products in 2023. 38% of consumers in Asia Pacific viewed premium ingredients as more important than premium brands when it comes to skin care products, while only 23% of respondents said brands come first.
This indicates that consumer perception of “premium” spans across the realm of scientifically proven ingredients.
“The future of innovation in beauty products will continue to be ingredient-driven,” explained Yang Hu, Insights Manager of Health and Beauty in Asia at Euromonitor International. “As the lines between health and beauty become blurred, more health-related ingredients will be researched to unlock their potential in beauty, with science-backed evidence.”
Multifunctional products streamline consumers’ beauty routines and help them save money
The blurring of category boundaries and increasing future demand for multifunctional products is especially being seen in skin care, sun protection and colour cosmetics. Products offering multiple benefits such as cost-effectiveness and time-saving options in a single item are highly welcomed in the market.
Heightened demand for clinically-positioned beauty presents opportunities for sun care and deodorants. The latest ‘skinified’ formulas have multifunctional benefits, beyond traditional claims. 
Suncare is one of the best ‘all-in-one' products. Suncare products are now incorporating make-up functions such as primer, coverage, and colour correction, while colour cosmetics products are being enhanced with SPF.
Euromonitor found a higher number of Asia Pacific respondents searching for multifunctional attributes in suncare in 2023 than in 2021. 22% of respondents indicated “anti-ageing” as one of the main desired functional features for a suncare product, up by 19% from 2021. A response of “wrinkle preventing” is also up by 16% from 13% in 2021 - a trend expected to continue in the future.
Douyin leads the sales of beauty e-commerce, widening the gap between e-commerce giants
The e-commerce channel still plays an important role, emerging as a significant factor shaping the future of beauty retail in Asia Pacific. In 2023, retail e-commerce accounted for 30% of total beauty and personal care sales in Asia Pacific.
Hu explains that social media platforms create the opportunity for smaller brands for enter the market, through competitive pricing and effective marketing strategies tailored to local consumer preferences via livestreaming.
China is the second largest market in the world for beauty retail e-commerce. Social media platforms in the country such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu are helping new brands drive China’s beauty market.
According to Euromonitor’s e-commerce platform, for online beauty and personal care sales in China, Douyin marketplace has recorded double-digit quarter-on-quarter growth since Q1 2022, surpassing the share of Tmall Marketplaces in Q3 2023 for the first time, and was recorded as the biggest e-commerce retailer in beauty, further widening the gap.
Livestreaming presents beauty brands the chance to break through to consumers in lower tier cities in China and India as well, giving access to thousands of brands with a wider range of prices through online marketplaces. A digital-first environment in markets is expected to encourage beauty brands to leverage e-commerce channels to build their reach into tier-2 cities and beyond, with an affordable cost option.
"The beauty market in Asia Pacific is now faced with incredible possibilities that lie ahead for the industry - not only with increasing purchase power and changing demographic, but also with the market’s evolution of its growth engine through retail channel revolution, innovative brands and technological breakthroughs," Hu added.
"To stay competitive, industry players must remain attentive to future factors such as environmental changes, the dynamic consumers of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and developments in other wellness sectors."
For more insights on beauty and personal care, see Euromonitor International’s report on World Market for Beauty and Personal Care 2024.
– ENDS –
NOTE TO THE Editors:
- Beauty and personal care sales reached USD570.1 billion globally in 2023, growing 3% in 2023 in constant terms. Skin care and colour cosmetics sales recorded USD159.3 billion and USD73.8 billion, respectively in 2023.
- Skin care made up almost a quarter of beauty and personal care’s absolute value gains in 2023. Growth in 2023 was driven by heightened demand in dermocosmetics, premiumisation in body care and product variety shifting towards multifunctionality.
- Health and beauty specialists accounted for 30% of beauty and personal care sales globally, and e-commerce accounts for a fifth of sales in 2023, having grown 9% in 2023 and the year prior.
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