Is “masstige” the new frontier for US retailers?

“Masstige” is the new buzzword for those launching products in mature markets, and especially in the US where retail segments such as drugstore chains or home shopping retailers are upgrading the offering at a fast pace. As the wealth of most US consumers - in particular baby boomer consumers - has been growing continuously over the last decades, their preferences have shifted to a higher degree of quality. This is true for foods, as it is for drinks or personal care products. However, this move to premium choices is not only motivated by a higher income, it is also propelled by a longer product experience and therefore a better ability to appreciate a product's finer qualities or, on the contrary, an exaggerated luxury claim.

• Quality concerns are growing
• Grow or customize?
• European brands enter US drugstores
• Home retail channels

Standard packaging: ever better-looking and never banal!

What is it about the phenomenon of “standardised” packaging for cosmetics? Is it gaining ground, or is it stuck? One might think that for reasons of cost, the use of standardised packaging would have increased these past few months… but no, not really! The major suppliers of standard ranges remain mostly the same in Europe, and the major packaging manufacturers on the market have not really hurried into this particular niche.

• The standardised market
• Personalisation in the extreme
• “Standard” specialists
• Pochet and Courval: standard products are well-adapted to the market's evolution
  
• Capitalising on the headline ranges

Pumps: ever more present, ever smaller… ever more invisible!

Pumps have conquered the perfumery sector all over the world, and are now on the verge of doing the same for cosmetic products. This extra-ordinary phenomenon is counted in hundreds of millions of units each year. In Europe alone, the market is estimated at a billion units a year, in the US at 1.4 billion, in South America at 600,000, and in Asia… impossible to say, but certainly an astronomic number of units! Growth rates are enough to make many packaging companies extremely jealous: 3% in Europe, 4% in the US, more than 10% in South America and even higher rates in Asia.

• The “invisible” tube
• And if the pump disappeared?
• And where's the ecology in all that?

Beyond make-up

Fashion does no longer fulfil its traditional role, which was to bring a sense of uniqueness to those wearing it. Now that the latest fashion trends are copied worldwide in a record-time, it's getting always more difficult to stand out from the mass. “We can see a shift away from the traditional western areas towards a non area restricted decoration. Beside the exaggeration of natural beauty, make-up will become a free decoration,” says Antoinette van den Berg, anticipating mix products that could be used as both a foundation and an eye shadow. People are likely to use this new products to reinforce the way the express their own personality through all the stuff they are wearing, from clothes to cosmetics.

• Traditional western products
• Non-western cultures
• Future trends

Mascara: the star of packaging in the health-beauty sector
"because the eyes are the expression of the heart"!

More than 500 million units are sold in Europe every year! That is the impressive figure most experts quote when talking about the production of mascaras. A recent research indicates that nearly 54% of women could not do without this product, while just 18.5% say their foundation is essential, and only 13.1% could not do without their lip gloss. “For the majority of women, it is unthinkable to go without mascara.” The eyes, the look, and especially the eyelashes have become the focus of feminine seduction. As a result, the major cosmetic brands compete in ingenuity to better curl, lengthen and cover them. One doesn't know where to look anymore!

• A very technical product
• From mascara to nail varnish
• Manufacturers: the time trial!
• Specifiers: Objective innovation
  

What about mineral cosmetics?

• The other trend for natural cosmetics
• Lack of regulations
• Mineral cosmetics makers
  

When skin care meets chocolate!

"Women and men in the USA and in European countries have rediscovered the virtues of wellbeing therapies and philosophies. Thanks to this trend, Western consumers are also considering beauty regimes differently: pleasure is no longer excluded from a beauty treatment. (...) The strongest advantage of chocolate over any other food is that it tops the list of childhood food memories: as a reminiscence of the chocolate-covered marshmallow teddy bears, for instance. Pouring chocolate as a skin care on the face or the body may also remind the old time cooking lessons with mum! (...) The chocolate trend not only meets the wellbeing and sensorial trend but also the one for natural ingredients. (...) On this field too, chocolate benefits from strong advantages: it is not only natural and exotic, it is also common and well-known to everyone. No risk of safety fear with such an ingredient, in particular when organic! (...)"

• Pleasure and childhood memories
• Natural, exotic and effective ingredients
• Chocolate-based skin care lines

International buyers tell about Cosmoprof 2007

“The show is very impressive, much bigger than I expected, with very high level companies and products. There's no comparison with what I've seen in Russia, in the US or in any other country. I was interested in finding niche companies in hair care, skincare and accessories, that could supply products different from any other product currently available in Russia. At the same time, I needed companies with a potential to grow and forward thinking, and I did find some!” commented Ilya Veytsman, Director of Business Development at Charm Distributions, the importer and exclusive distributor of Sexy Hair Concept, Brocato, Dermanew, TendSkin, Priolinc Cosmetics, and Dennis Bernard Products in Russia, CIS and the Baltic States.

• International visitors: up 19% in two years
• The international Buyer Program
• First time visitors' testimonials

France at Cosmoprof 2007

"Only 43% (EUR 6,5 billion) of all cosmetics, toiletries and perfumes produced in France are sold on the French territory, the other 57% (EUR 8.7 billion) are exported. As per the previous year, in 2006 French cosmetics sales were boosted by the foreign demand and exports progressed much faster (+7.4%) than domestic sales (+3.5%). (...) As most of their growth and future development depend on their ability to export their products, most French cosmetics makers have no other choice than to propose innovative and high quality products."

• French cosmetics makers boosted by foreign demand
• Committed to quality
• French launches at Cosmoprof 2007
  

Spanish cosmetics makers to focus on international development

“Thanks to these investments in quality and dynamic market segments, Spain has become one of the world's most influential exporters of beauty products and, over the past decade, has been a major contributor to the boom of the global professional beauty industry.”

• Preparing for a mature domestic market
• Focus on professional products
• Cosmoprof as a springboard to foreign markets
  
  

SMEs fight their way against counterfeiters.

"As far as European manufacturers are concerned, most of the added value they produced is in the ability to innovate and to market global brands. It is therefore very important for European brands to find solutions to fight counterfeit products and counterfeiters."

• Damage to brand and innovation
• No protection without property rights
• How can SMEs fight?
• Fighting counterfeiters on the show-floor

Packaging for cosmetic products in China.

"Price is an important concern for Chinese cosmetic makers, and most of the raw materials and components of finished cosmetic products need to be supplied locally."

• 3,500 to 4,000 cosmetics makers in China
• Price is the main concern
• Dynamic packaging market
• Low-cost export base
• Fierce competition
  

Where is it actually "made in"?
“New sourcing and full service practices bring specific legal risks linked to the use of the 'Made in' tagline,” says Matthieu Bourgeois, French Attorney at the Paris Bar

Matthieu Bourgeois, a lawyer with KGA, a law firm specialising mainly in intellectual property law, answers Beauty-on-line.com on legal risks associated with the marking of the country of origin, especially in a context where sourcing is being globalised and suppliers offer “full service” packages.

The “full service” practice requires a rigorous contractual strategy versus the sub-contractors, Matthieu says.

• Traditional herbal treatments
• Thai Privilege Spa
• Leading health destination
• Thailand at the Monaco Spa Event

• Cosmetic imports soar.
• The wealth of a nation.
• Trading up to more expensive brands.
• Which prospects for newcomers?

• The fiercest competition in the world.
• Clustering the industry.
• Interview with Jean-Luc Ansel, Director of the Cosmetic Valley.

• Bigger is better.
• Skin-care differentiation.
• Revamped strategy at Wal-Mart.

• Cost control and creativity.
• The “urban network”.
• Strategy of proximity and service.
• Strong presence in Shanghai.

• Boreal and Austral biodiversity.
• Highly protective active ingredients.
• Polar wild berries and algae.
• Plants from the taiga.
• Patented extraction process.
• Tapping sensitive resources.

• U.S. manufacturers turn global.
• Promising European markets.
• Destination spas go exotic.
• Authentic and natural treatments.
• Medical tourism and spa “goal-ers”.
• Day spas between luxury and discount.
• Spa goers new profiles, needs and expectations.
• Transatlantic Spa Dialogue Congress.

• Techniques and concepts inspired by the pharmaceutical industry.
• A miniature revolution in 1979.
• The next step will be the United States.

• Cosmetics companies expand their presence.
• High consumption rates.
• Dynamic growth.
• Important market shifts.

• A big vision and the best ingredients from the abundant Greek flora.
• The extraordinary biodiversity of plant life in Greece.
• Bio-degradability and environment-friendly products.
• Blue and Red Ocean strategies.
• Organic certification.
• Leading position in Greece.
• International development.

• Patented use of nano-particles.
• Global presence.
• Reinforcing nails products.
• Industrial projects.
• "Full service”.

• A dull market and some fast growing niches.
• Distribution channels: pharmacies and herbalists lead the way.
• Italian cosmetics makers rely on innovation and exports.

• Most women use at least one depilatory method.
• Male depilation gains grounds.
• Fighting body fat.
• New tanning attitudes.

• What can be done better today, between designer and manufacturer.
• The debate about budgets and design is a vast topic!
• Creation is still a tool using a free language, with many facets.

• International development based on home market dynamism.
• The Spanish beauty offer.
• Spanish cosmetics makers at Cosmoprof 2006.

• South Africa’s biodiversity.
• Worldwide exports.
• South African companies at Cosmoprof 2006.

• The South African alternative.
• Dynamic growth on the home market.
• South African companies at Cosmoprof 2006.

• Seawater benefits
• Seaweeds and algae in cosmetics
• Research and development
• Thalassotherapy and the spa trend
• Future developments

• Eating and drinking towards a better appearance
• Skingestibles, nutritional complements, dietary supplements, nutraceutics...
• Beauty pills shake up the markets
• Natural Health Fair 2004 in Hong Kong

• Who's selling on-line today?
• Impressive growth rates
• Online purchasing behaviours
• International sales and the global consumer myth
• Next stakes and challenges

• Oils in a bottle: "aromacology" vs. "aromatherapy"
• Active natural ingredients
• Organic boost?

• Sluggish key markets resort to short-term measures
• Calvin de-Klein?
• Niche labels enter the fray
• Dynamic growth in Eastern Europe
• Direct sellers prominent
• Average prices set to fall?

• Market facts and figures
• Key regulatory clues
• Local competition
• Distribution networks
• First steps in Brazil

• The wealthiest generation ever
• Japanese experience?
• "Not concerned" by current advertising practices
• Cosmetics brands targeting mature consumers

• Quality driven home market
• Overview of the hair care segment
• German beauty on foreign markets

• Fashion Institute of Technology (New York City, N.Y., U.S.A.)
• Groupe ISIPCA (Versailles, France)
• PRODAROM (Grasse, France)
• School of Specialization in Cosmetic Science and Technology (Siena University - Italy)

• Body responsibility, body aesthetics and body ethics
• European market figures
• Sport values
• Athletes' cosmetic needs