UK market – up and away? 23-Aug-2011

The UK market is recovering with prestige cosmetics enjoying a return to pre-recessionary form, but the industry as a whole may not be out of the woods just yet

Although the UK economy is taking small steps towards recovery – rising 0.5% in the first three months of 2011 – consumer confidence appears to be wavering again in the face of public spending cuts, and government statistics reveal UK household expenditure in Q1 2011 to be 0.3% lower than in 2010.

“The long week of bank holidays, together with nice weather and the expectation created by the royal wedding [in April] had a positive effect on the morale of the British consumer, but it is likely to fall again,” say Cruz del Barrio and Janaki Padmanabhan, research analysts (UK/IE) at Euromonitor International.