India's cosmetics industry expected to double in size to 20,000 crore Indian rupees by 2014 due to emergence of young urban elite population with rising disposable incomes, increase of working women looking for luxury products, study finds

Michelle Rivera

NEW DELHI , December 13, 2011 (press release) – The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has projected that the market size of cosmetics industry which is currently estimated at Rs.10,000 crore will double to be worth Rs. 20,000 crore by 2014 due to emergence of a young urban elite population with rising disposable incomes and increase in working women looking for lifestyle-oriented and luxury products.

The industry has mainly been driven by improved purchasing power and rising fashion consciousness among people and industry players spending heavily on the promotional activities to increase consumer awareness.

Releasing the findings of a recent study, ASSOCHAM secretary general, D S Rawat said that the companies have started going for rural expansion and are offering specialized products to generate revenues from all the corners of the country. Improvement and strengthening of the Indian economy in the coming years will also pave the way for the Indian cosmetics market over the forecast period and develop the Cosmetic Industry.

According to a report, women in the age group of 30 and above are getting very selective about the type of products they choose. "As older women have more cash and are more conscious of their appearance, especially skin, they are willing to spend more on separate sets of creams and lotions that target problem areas. These women also are more open to buying higher-priced products”.

Products falling under the price range of Rs 50 to Rs 200 are in the mass-market category. The middle market price can range from Rs 200 up to Rs 1,000. In the high-end market, pricing can range from Rs 1,000 to about Rs 10,000. Finally there is the premium range of products where the pricing can touch up to Rs 50,000.

In a country wide survey undertaken by ASSOCHAM’S team seeking views of over 6,000 odd consumers in cosmetics, over 65% teenagers said, “their branded cosmetic consumption has gone up by about 75% in last ten years. 62% of male youth said that their expenses on cosmetics application have risen by 45% as against 57% upper middle age group, claiming that they spend nearly 42% in buying cosmetics products to maintain their exterior”.

On an average in this segment, a good majority of respondents felt that they would spend less than Rs. 1,000 on cosmetic use during year 2000 which have exceeded Rs. 5000 per month now and the main reasons for massive advertisements both in electronics and print have influenced the customers in this segment that these were inspired for increased allocation of their monthly expenses towards theses articles.

The survey also came out with interesting facts, highlighting that males have developed a special craze for cosmetic application as compared to their females counterparts and their monthly expenses rose by about 60%-80% during the period, reveals the survey.

However, the consumption pattern of cosmetics of teenagers went up substantially between 2000 and 2011 because of increasing awareness for up-keep of teenagers exterior as 95% of teenagers wards admitted this.

About 75% male teenagers have increased their expenditure on cosmetics to Rs.3000-4000 per month as against their average expenditure of less than Rs 1,000 in year 2000 increased over 300% due to growing awareness .

Over 75% of women consumers tend to buy cosmetic, apparel items from any shop of their convenience rather than a single shop. They buy all their items from different shops rather than a single shop. Quality is given utmost preference by the women consumers.

It also mentioned that a quarter each of the housewives and executives spent more than Rs. 2500-3500 per month for cosmetics & apparel. 32% of the respondents belonging to the student community had expenditure in the range of Rs.800-1200 per month. Around 35% of the teachers, a quarter of businessmen, 23% of the govt. employees had expenditure in the range of 2500-3000.

The survey also pointed out that quality was considered as the major criterion for brand selection among the students (71 %), teachers (67 %), businessmen (58%), housewives (52 %), professionals (50 %), and executives (43 %). Price was the main concern while purchasing cosmetics, apparel and mobile among government employees (45%). This may be because of the limited source of income available to these people to purchase cosmetics.

Brands such as Lakme , Maybellene, and Color Bar are being pushed as mass market products and focus on younger women and women with lower buying power.

With the beauty service industry growing rapidly in India, the spa segment in India is also attracting a lot of attention. The spa industry over the last five years has shown tremendous growth, not only in the number of spas, but also in the diversity of spas and products available.

The flourishing Indian fashion/film industry is fueling growth into the Cosmetic industry in India by making Indians to realize the importance of having good looks and appearances. The Indian cosmetics Industry is defined as skin care, hair care, color cosmetics, fragrances and oral care segments which is estimated at Rs. 15,000 crore and is expected to grow at over 10% annually, according to the report.

Today herbal cosmetics industry is driving growth in the beauty business in India and is expected to grow at a rate of 12% as more people shun chemical products in favour of organic ones.

The Indian cosmetics industry has a plethora of herbal cosmetic brands like Forest Essentials, Biotique, Himalaya, Blossom Kochhar, VLCC, Dabur and Lotus and many more.

The paper further highlighted that “India’s per capita cosmetic and toiletries consumption is 40 times lesser than that of HongKong, 18 of Japan, 15 of Taiwan, 12 of Philippines and Malaysia and half of China, despite high penetration levels for cosmetic products because of its population and size based”.

So, the increasing market size is the direct result of the changing socio-economic status of the Indian consumers, especially women. Higher paying jobs and increasing awareness of the Western world and beauty trends there have served to change the tastes and customs of the middle class and higher strata of the society, with the result that a woman from such social strata now is more conscious of her appearance and is willing to spend extra cash on enhancing it further.

This actually has fuelled a growth in certain product categories in the market that hardly were experiencing it earlier. Two such categories are color cosmetics and sun care products that have shown tremendous growth.

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