Latest news with #Euromonitor
AU Financial Review
11 hours ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
The luxury products everyone's buying
The latest body part to Botox is possibly the one you use the most: your hands. Which seems absurd until you think about their sheer workhorse power, and our collective ongoing obsession with beautifying our hands. Luxury beauty companies, clocking an opportunity, gave the category a glow-up: sales of premium hand care have increased almost 40 per cent since 2019, according to market research firm Euromonitor.
Skift
01-08-2025
- Business
- Skift
Unmanaged Business Travel Still Dominates as SMBs Seek Flexible, Consumer-Style Booking
Despite a rebound in global corporate travel, much of the industry remains stuck in an old pattern — unmanaged, but cheaper employee travel. A recent Euromonitor International report estimates that nearly 65% of global business travel spending, which is projected to reach $2.9 trillion by 2029, is still unmanaged. Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), defined as companies with 1–200 employees, represent 26.1% of the total business travel market and are projected to grow the fastest, at a CAGR of 7.1% through 2029, according to the report, which was commissioned by Navan. Despite frequent travel needs, SMBs remain the least likely to use a travel management company. For travel management companies (TMCs), this represents both a problem and a massive opportunity. Unmanaged Business Travel's Pitfalls and Advantages Eva Fouquet, SVP of Strategic Partnerships at Kayak for Business, sums up the paradox neatly: 'Unmanaged travel sticks around because it feels easy, until it's not.' In practice, unmanaged travel often means employees booking trips themselves on consumer platforms like Kayak, Expedia, or even directly through airline websites. Receipts get lost, reimbursements are delayed, and no one's sure who's where at any given moment. 'You don't know where your travelers are. If they have to change their plans, it's not that easy,' Fouquet said. Still, the perceived flexibility and familiarity keep many SMBs from switching to managed platforms. Amy Butte, CFO at Navan, argues that the problem stems from the fact that traditional travel management solutions simply weren't built with SMBs in mind. 'Legacy platforms often neglect the end user, making the booking process clunky and frustrating,' she said. 'Employees want tools that are as easy to use as consumer apps, and if they don't get that, they tend to book outside the system.' For many SMBs, it's not just about ease; it's also about economics. Butte points out that a large portion of unmanaged travel is driven by cost perceptions. 'They believe managed solutions aren't financially accessible or the cost can't be justified for their volume,' she said. What SMBs Actually Want When asked what small businesses care about most in a travel solution, Fouquet was clear: It's not just about cost, control, flexibility, or simplicity; it's all four, and they're deeply interconnected. Ray Slater Berry, founder and CEO of the content agency DSLX, is exactly the kind of SMB leader TMCs are trying to convert. So far, they haven't succeeded. 'Everyone books their own travel and invoices us after,' he said. The company once experimented with TravelPerk years before its rebrand, but found it clunky and often more expensive than booking directly. 'The user experience just wasn't good enough, and we felt we could find cheaper deals on our own,' Berry said. Today, DSLX's decentralized, do-it-yourself approach works for its size and needs, but Berry admits that if the company scaled dramatically, it might consider switching to a more centralized platform. And that's the catch: most SMBs won't prioritize change unless something breaks. Fouquet sees this pattern repeatedly. 'Travel isn't the first priority for SMBs. Unless something feels broken, they keep the status quo.' For her team, the focus has been on education, showing how platforms like Kayak for Business can offer better travel adoption rates, less manual reconciliation, and real-time reporting, without the pain of a traditional onboarding process. The Future of Business Travel The future of corporate travel, both Navan and Kayak argue, isn't necessarily tightly managed in the traditional sense. It's smartly optimized. That means lighter controls layered over flexible, self-serve platforms. 'The future is mirroring consumer travel,' said Fouquet. 'Employees should be able to book wherever it's easiest, whether that's on our platform, on the United app, or by calling an agent, and have it all sync into one system for the company.' Butte agrees: ' Businesses are recognizing that an unmanaged approach doesn't deliver the savings, efficiency, or traveler support they need in today's environment. There's a huge opportunity to show SMBs how easy it is to switch, and how quickly they can benefit from smarter, more efficient travel management.'
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Recession Glam' Seen as Top Trend for Asia's Beauty Market in 2025
A recent report from Euromonitor International has identified 'recession glam' as one of the latest trends that will reshape Asia's beauty and health market. 'With inflation front of mind, consumers' smarter spending is redefining the beauty playbook. The definition of premium is changing — less about price, more about perceived value and purpose,' according to Yang Hu, Euromonitor's Asia Pacific insight manager for health and beauty. More from WWD Lindsay Lohan Pays Homage to Her 'Freaky Friday' Roots With Ludovic de Saint Sernin Dress at London Premiere Ferragamo Maps Out Strategic Overhaul Amid Weak First-half Performance Phoebe Philo Signs Five Retailers for China Brick-and-mortar Push The trend is made evident by the rise of the fragrance category, 'which offers small indulgences at a lower price,' Hu said. Singapore and Vietnam — with 11 percent and 31 percent growth in 2024, respectively — drove fragrance sales in 2024. Euromonitor expects the category to expand 31 percent in market size within the next five years. Buying mini-size products, finding good deals, using fewer products in their beauty routine, using multifunctional products to save money and purchasing from 'cheaper but trustworthy brands' are some of the nuanced activities identified by Hu. Apart from 'recession glam,' Euromonitor identified 'clinical confidence,' 'healthspan plans,' 'loyalty immersion' and 'eco-evaluation' as major trends driving sector growth in 2025. 'Topical brands are taking the approach of 'similar to aesthetic surgery,'' Hu wrote in the report. 'Ingredients and methods used exclusively in aesthetic procedure, such as micro needles, threadlifting materials, PDRN and exosomes, are now driving a new wave of innovation in skin care product development.' 'Healthspan plans' refers to beauty supplements that tackle concerns traditionally linked to skin care products. 'It's not about antiaging, but slow aging,' Hu said. 'Beauty brands are pushing the boundary by offering UV protection, anti-oxidant support, ingestible forms of retinol and hyaluronate acid ingredients, such as Bloomage's instant coffee products.' Hu said that sustainability in beauty might not be the most relevant trend in Asia, but certain categories are experiencing a performance boost that reflects the 'eco-evaluation' trend. 'For example, fragrance, hair care and skin care are some of the categories with products performing better without sustainability claims,' Hu said. With $183 billion in total sales, Asia-Pacific accounted for 31 percent of the global beauty and personal care market, according to the market research firm. Despite 1.4 percent growth in 2024, the market is expected to rebound and sustain a 3 percent annual growth rate over the next five years. Region-wise, Southeast Asia, excluding Singapore, will lead the pack with 5 percent annual growth over the next five years. Skin care remains the largest category, accounting for half of Asian markets. Even as e-commerce penetration continues to rise, which grew from 19 percent to 30 percent in the last five years, specific offline channels, including warehouse clubs such as Sam's Club, convenient stores and variety stores, such as Miniso, have been making significant inroads in the beauty market. 'This trend suggests that consumers continue to value offline experience, while still expecting cost-effective options,' Hu said. China's beauty market, a critical player in the global industry, saw a 2 percent decline in 2024, dipping to $75 billion. Despite the slowdown, pockets of growth emerged in niche segments such as dermacosmetics, sun care and skin care products tailored for children, signaling shifting consumer priorities. 'Feedback from industry players indicate that the Chinese beauty market is highly driven by strong marketing, so as long as the beauty brands have the willingness and capital to invest in marketing, there is significant potential for market stimulation and renewed growth,' Hu said. On the player side, the market remains consolidated with leading companies, including L'Oréal, P&G, Estée Lauder, Shiseido and Proya. Brands including Kato-kato, Hapsode and Komfymed also bucked the trend and sought growth in 2024. Neochild and Bodorme were also singled out as two fast-growing child skin care brands. 'Although the birth rate in China is declining, the premiumization of baby products is enhancing,' Hu noted. Best of WWD Which Celebrity Brands Are Next for a Major Deal? Lady Gaga, Beyonce and More Possible Contenders for the Next Corporate Prize The Best Makeup Looks in Golden Globes History A Look Back at Golden Globes Best Makeup on the Red Carpet, From Megan Fox to Sophia Loren [PHOTOS] Sign in to access your portfolio
Business of Fashion
30-07-2025
- Business
- Business of Fashion
Can Deodorant Be a Luxury Product?
For decades, the number one prestige body product in the US has not been a pricey cellulite lotion or an ultraluxe bath oil, but a deodorant that was minted in 1994. Donna Karan's Cashmere Mist deodorant was invented to flank the brand's flagship white flower and musk scent before becoming a star all its own. Parent company Interparfums confirmed to The Business of Beauty that it still tops the charts according to Circana data. Proponents liken the smell to warm sheets or upscale baby shampoo. Navya Dev, a New York-based nose and founder of the custom perfumery Creature, doesn't wear perfume herself, but wears perfumed deodorants. She appreciates Cashmere Mist and other fine fragrance deodorants for their lowkey sillage. 'People will smell deodorant on me and they're like, 'You smell so good right now.' And I'm like, that's fascinating, because all I'm wearing is deodorant,'' Dev said. Today, the inclusion of fine fragrance in body care products, but especially deodorants, are table stakes as brands seek to value-pack their products with experiences. As trends like perfume layering gain traction in the global West, 'brands are reimagining body care as a fragrance-first category,' said Aishwarya Rajpara, a consultant at market research firm Euromonitor, pointing to a new guard of 'high-quality, complex fragrance compositions that rival traditional perfumes.' Spray deodorants are increasingly functioning as "fine fragrance mists," according to Papatui's Jenna Fagnan, driving demand. (BoF Team) Full-body spray has become the world's preferred deodorant format, selling more than roll-ons, sticks, creams and wipes combined — in no small part thanks to their resemblance to atomised fragrances. By 2026, the global deodorant market is forecasted to be worth $29 billion, according to Euromonitor, but much of this growth is being driven by the prestige segment, sales of which grew 24 percent in 2024, compared to 1 percent for mass formulas, said Circana. Few brands embody the Cashmere Mist effect like minimalist bodycare label Salt and Stone, a Sephora darling whose stick deodorant has become the best-selling product in its category on Amazon. In scents like Rose and Oud, it costs $20. Founder Nima Jalali, a pro snowboarder with an entrepreneurial streak, created the brand in 2017 as an upscale alternative to an unattractive category, and also contracted DSM-Firmenich to help develop a core scent collection. 'It was shocking to look at what was out there and how much I wanted to hide it away in my cabinet once I bought it,' Jalali said. 'Everything that I was seeing from the mass brands was very drugstore smelling — like 'mountain air.'' He shook his head. Elevating the Essential It sounds simple in theory: Mix a $10 speed stick with a drop of $200 perfume and upsell the customer. In practice, fusing deodorant and fine fragrance is a delicate and laborious alchemy, with its first ingredient being investment. Companies at every level and price point will partner with fragrance houses, from Burberry to Bath and Body Works, to imbue their products with 'elevating' scent experiences. A more recent phenomenon sees mass brands partnering with certain noses known for indie successes, like perfumer Frank Voelkl, who has earned an unlikely bit of celebrity for his creation of Le Labo's now-ubiquitous Santal 33. 'It's like using a fine fragrance mist at the same time,' said Jenna Fagnan, the co-founder of Dwyane 'the Rock' Johnson's personal care brand Papatui. (Johnson is, she said, a fine fragrance freak.) When it came to formulating its deodorant range, Fagnan and Johnson tapped Dsm-Firmenich, alongside Voelkl, to create scents like Sandalwood Suede. Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson's personal care line Papatui features deodorants with fragrances cooked up by Frank Voelkl, the creator of Le Labo Santal 33. (Golden Hours) While Papatui's Fagnan did not describe the cost of Voelkl's collaboration, she said it was more than they expected. 'We were a little naive to think that you could easily use fine fragrance and have something affordable,' Fagnan explained, citing the cost of high-quality perfume oil in particular. Fagnan said it cut into their margins but was a worthy investment to get customers hooked. Each and Every, founded in 2019 by Lauren Lovelady, reintroduced their line of deodorants this year with scents like Sunday Morning and Eternal Summer, created with essential oils in partnership with fragrance houses; the text on their new sleek black packaging revolves around the scent name, as on a perfume bottle. 'You can elevate this simple daily ritual into something that feels luxurious,' said Lovelady, who was inspired by how brands like Supergoop and Vacation used texture and scent, respectively, to turn sunscreen into a beauty staple. Scent Overload The ubiquity of ultraluxe scents like Baccarat Rouge 540, and the countless dupes they've spawned across the price spectrum, have no doubt stoked demand for inventions like vetiver or oud deodorant. But fine fragrance's descent to the least sexy of personal care categories feels irreversible. After the armpit, where else could perfume possibly go? Strong demand for hair perfumes, hand lotions and body soaps indicate that the infusion is far from over. But fine fragrance fatigue is already beginning to set in, as surges in sales and social media content conspire to make these scents ubiquitous — cheapening them in the process. Analysts predict sales to soften in the US as price hikes and a 15 percent tariff on goods imported from Europe take effect. Perfumer Dev thinks, optimistically, that more niche formulations will help brands (and shoppers) continue the fragrance conversation, sustaining sales in the process. 'People are so willing to get niche about every step of their style,' Dev said. She should know: Dev recently became the in-house perfumer for indie bodycare label Soft Services, where she's building a long runway of scent launches. Though the brand originally debuted without fragrances — to show shoppers that it was more geared toward solutions than sensuality — founder Rebecca Zhou said that it has since become a priority. (It's also become a priority at Sephora, where Soft Services sits in the bodycare section alongside Sol de Janeiro, Touchland and Salt and Stone.) After contacting fragrance houses like DSM-Firmenich and Givaudan, she decided to hire Dev to quicken the product development process. 'Now in one day we'll make 12 fragrances, and we can iterate on one of them three times,' Zhou said. 'We want scents that are unique and stick in your mind,' she continued. 'But you know, at the end of the day, we're not a niche fragrance brand. We need something that people can connect to at mass.' Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day's most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.
Qatar Tribune
29-07-2025
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
Tariffs threaten Asian beauty product boom in US
Agencies When Amrita Bhasin, 24, learned that products from South Korea might be subject to a new tax when they entered the United States, she decided to stock up on the sheet masks from Korean brands like U-Need and MediHeal she uses a few times a week. 'I did a recent haul to stockpile,' she said. 'I bought 50 in bulk, which should last me a few months.' South Korea is one of the countries that hopes to secure a trade deal before the Aug. 1 date President Donald Trump set for enforcing nation-specific tariffs. A not-insignificant slice of the U.S. population has skin in the game when it comes to Seoul avoiding a 25% duty on its exports. Asian skin care has been a booming global business for a more than a decade, with consumers in Europe, North and South America, and increasingly the Middle East, snapping up creams, serums and balms from South Korea, Japan and China. In the United States and elsewhere, Korean cosmetics, or K-beauty for short, have dominated the trend. A craze for all-in-one 'BB creams' — a combination of moisturizer, foundation and sunscreen — morphed into a fascination with 10-step rituals and ingredients like snail mucin, heartleaf and rice water. Vehicles and electronics may be South Korea's top exports to the U.S. by value, but the country shipped more skin care and cosmetics to the U.S. than any other last year, according to data from market research company Euromonitor. France, with storied beauty brands like L'Oreal and Chanel, was second, Euromonitor said. Statistics compiled by the U.S. International Trade Commission, an independent federal agency, show the U.S. imported $1.7 billion worth of South Korean cosmetics in 2024, a 54% increase from a year earlier. 'Korean beauty products not only add a lot of variety and choice for Americans, they really embraced them because they were offering something different for American consumers,' Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said. Along with media offerings such as 'Parasite' and 'Squid Game,' and the popularity of K-pop bands like BTS, K-beauty has helped boost South Korea's profile globally, she said. 'It's all part and parcel really of the same thing,' Lovely said. 'And it can't be completely stopped by a 25% tariff, but it's hard to see how it won't influence how much is sold in the U.S. And I think what we're hearing from producers is that it also really decreases the number of products they want to offer in this market.' Senti Senti, a retailer that sells international beauty products at two New York boutiques and through an e-commerce site, saw a bit of 'panic buying' by customers when Trump first imposed punitive tariffs on goods from specific countries, manager Winnie Zhong said. The rush slowed down after the president paused the new duties for 90 days and hasn't picked up again, Zhong said, even with Trump saying on July 7 that a 25% tax on imports from Japan and South Korea would go into effect on Aug. 1. Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia subsequently reached agreements with the Trump administration that lowered the tariff rates their exported goods faced — in Japan's case, from 25% to 15% — still higher than the current baseline of 10% tariff. But South Korea has yet to clinch an agreement, despite having a free trade agreement since 2012 that allowed cosmetics and most other consumer goods to enter the U.S. tax-free. Since the first store owned by Senti Senti opened 16 years ago, beauty products from Japan and South Korea became more of a focus and now account for 90% the stock. The business hasn't had to pass on any tariff-related costs to customers yet, but that won't be possible if the products are subject to a 25% import tax, Zhong said. 'I'm not really sure where the direction of K-beauty will go to with the tariffs in place, because one of the things with K-beauty or Asian beauty is that it's supposed to be accessible pricing,' she said. Devoted fans of Asian cosmetics will often buy direct from Asia and wait weeks for their packages to arrive because the products typically cost less than they do in American stores. Rather than stocking up on their favorite sunscreens, lip tints and toners, some shoppers are taking a pause due to the tariff uncertainty.
