Market researcher identifies four key industry strategies to focus on
The presentation, which was given by Irina Barbalova, head of beauty and personal care for the market research company, focused on how companies can continue to steer their way out of the recession and tap into the big opportunities that are likely to arise over the next five years.
The four key trends include focusing on the ever-growing emerging markets, new media in western markets, offering better value for money to consumers who continue to be hard hit by the economic downturn in western markets and communicating sustainability through brands.
Emerging markets proved to be a big winner for those companies that had already chosen to invest in this area before the recession, as economic growth largely continued, albeit at a slightly slower rate.
Frontier markets prove highly strategic
Barbalova highlighted how frontier markets such as South Africa, Egypt and Indonesia are now proving to be increasingly important, as well as the fact that many companies are now strengthening their operations in other emerging markets by investing in key areas such as localised research and development.
Meanwhile, Barbalova also pointed out how new media has proved to be an increasingly important way of tapping into growth in developed markets, in particular by focusing on increased internet use by consumers and smartphone useage.
Likewise, another strategy for the developed markets is to give consumers a perceivable improvement in value for money, offering mass market products with increased efficacy, for example.
Cluing in on sustainability
The final of the four strategies, sustainability, is being used to show that many companies now have better credentials as corporate citizens thanks to sustainability initiatives incorporated into business strategies.
These include reducing waste, water and energy consumption, as well as co-operation with both packaging and ingredients suppliers as part of efforts to reduce the overall carbon footprint of products.
Irina Barbalova also took part in a video interview with CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com at the in-cosmetics show to discuss the growing impact of technology on the industry. That video will be published on the website in the course of the next week.
