Organic and natural personal care products are beginning to take off in the UK, following closely on the heels of organic food and drinks, according to a new report from Datamonitor entitled Natural Personal Care Consumers: Unlocking Future Potential. This has led to the emergence of an ever increasing array of organic products on high street shelves, from both traditional beauty players, such as L'Oréal, to supermarket owned beauty brands such as Tesco's Bnatural. Today, the organics personal care market is worth £9m and is forecast to grow by an additional £3m to reach £12m in 2011. Nick Beevors, Consumer Markets analyst at Datamonitor and author of the report comments: “Organics lie at the intersection of the health and ethical trends and have therefore benefited hugely from changes in consumer lifestyles in both of these areas.”
Strong market growth is propelling a traditionally niche category towards the mainstream. The organic personal care trend is part of a larger movement toward generally more natural ingredients in personal care products in the UK. Across Briton nearly a third of consumers (31.3%) sought cosmetic and toiletry products that have natural credentials on a more frequent basis in 2006. Datamonitor's consumer survey also found that a number of consumers are now avoiding certain personal care products more due to fears over ingredients.
Natural personal care still accounts for a small proportion of the total personal care market but consumption is gaining considerable momentum in the UK, Europe and the US. Demand has continued to outperform that for non-natural products as the segment becomes mainstream. “Natural personal care has for a number of years been associated with a small niche segment of bohemians. A number of social factors leading to impressive market growth have however begun to drive this niche towards the mainstream,” says Beevors.
Natural is healthier?
Whilst traditionally natural and organic personal care products were usually bought for green and ethical issues, today there is more of a myriad of influences. Britons are more concerned with the ingredients in the products they use than they have been in the past. Many prefer to use natural products that offer biologically active components with clinically proven health benefits and safety profiles, as opposed to the sometimes harsh synthetic ingredients used in the past. Growing concern about what they are taking in internally is leading some consumers to examine what they are applying topically and vice versa. Some consumers are realising the power of treating their skin with vitamins, botanicals and avoiding such ingredients as parabens and sulfates. Consequently, natural and organic products are being seen and appreciated as being safe, efficacious, earth-friendly beauty solutions that are better for one's well-being.
“Consumers buy natural personal care for a number of different reasons aside from ethical and altruistic considerations. Some of the major drivers behind natural consumption come from more egocentric needs such as the quest for wellness,” adds Beevors.
Another reason why natural ingredient based skin care and personal hygiene products are perceived as healthier and better is that natural as a standalone word/concept strongly implies a healthy balance. In that way it can elicit an emotional response from consumers and therefore has strong relevance to emotional wellness. What is often referred to as an 'unnatural pace of life' in modern UK 'hi-tech' living is driving some people to look to counter-balance this effect by pursuing natural ingredients wherever they can.