Putting a face on the Asian consumer

 Consumers, both young and old, are increasingly sold on the prospect of maintaining or regaining their youthful supple appearance. At the same time, a rise in technological advances that facilitate the maintenance of one’s youthful mien has further contributed to nourishers/anti-agers’ robust growth. Hydration remains a key concern among many Asians, especially in dry weather condition countries such as Japan, China and Taiwan. Therefore, facial moisturisers showed healthy value growth in 2007. At the same time, firming/ anti-cellulite body care grew by 8% in value terms in 2007 in skin care due to an increase in image-conscious consumers who wants a fit and firm body.

Dynamic developments 
Skin care developments in Asia are dynamic, thanks to technology advancement and ever-growing demand for fair and beautiful skin by Asians. This article now reviews in greater detail five key trends fundamental to growing and shaping the skin care market in Asia. 

Strong desire for fair skin
The prevalence of the whitening trend in Asia stems from strong Asian beliefs. For example, the Chinese believe that fair skin can help to hide flaws. In Japan, the bihaku trend continues, where white (“bi”) is often related to beautiful (“haku”) in the land of the rising sun. Likewise, in countries such as India and The Philippines, fairer skin is also often associated with the upper class. It is this perception of fairness and the association of fair skin with beauty that has spurred the incessant demand for whitening skin care products in Asia. The stressors associated with modern lifestyles as Asia becomes increasingly affluent have also fuelled demand for whitening products. Increasingly stressful lifestyles in Asia have resulted in people sleeping shorter hours, which has resulted in the development of dark circles, eye bags and oily skin. Stress hormone sends the skin’s oil glands into overdrive, which then causes dark spots. Whitening products are able to lighten the dark spots caused by emotional stress. Euromonitor International’s research focused on cosmetics and toiletries highlights that whitening skin care products have a well-established presence across Asian countries. For example, L’Oréal Dermo-Expertise White is a well-known skin care brand for whitening in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere. Despite this, skin care manufacturers continue to launch whitening products to meet Asian consumers’ yen for fairness. For instance, Nivea Visage Sparkling White is a whitening cream that was launched by Beiersdorf in Singapore in 2008. This product promises to reveal skin that is three times fairer than usual in just three weeks. Haku2 was launched by Shiseido in Japan in 2007. This whitening essence product, which uses a new whitening ingredient 4MSK, claims to help prevent the formulation of melanin that causes pigmentation problems. Neutrogena Complete Whitening Mask was launched by Johnson & Johnson in Hong Kong in 2008. This distinguishes itself from normal whitening masks in the market by claiming to yield whitening effects that last longer, as a result of the unique combination of both the whitening essence and whitening mask. That fairness will remain close to the heart of Asians is undeniable given that whitening has extended from targeting the fairer sex to men in countries such as India and Thailand. In India, local company Emami launched Fair & Handsome whitening cream in 2005. As of 2007, sales of Fair & Handsome in India quadrupled since its debut.