Our Beauty sector team is keeping a close eye on the dynamic male grooming market, worth some $56bn in global revenues and forecast to expand at a CAGR of 8.4% up to 2024*, compared to 2.9% for beauty and personal-care products in general.
Certain product categories are growing much faster than others, and Europe remains the epicentre of the global market, with the largest market share and per capita spending.
Key trends
Male grooming habits have undergone dramatic changes in recent years, as men increasingly emphasize the importance of appearance, which is driving growth in premiumization and other high value-added product categories. The market was traditionally geared around mass-market personal hygiene and fragrance categories, but skincare has since emerged as the highest growth category (eg. anti-ageing serums that offer targeted solutions).
Other new growth trends include sustainable & natural products (which we are seeing across all Beauty segments), and now also male make-up. Although convincing men to wear make-up sounds impossible, this hasn’t stopped the largest beauty players from betting big on it, including the US giants Coty and Maybelline.
“The demand for make-up among men is growing fast…the taboos are going, so between my generation and my son’s generation, the taboos are very different.” Vismay Sharma, UK managing director, L’Oreal
Long-term growth
Unilever’s CFO Graeme Pitkethly noted on a recent earnings call that male grooming was a business he expected to grow “above the personal care average for many years to come”, as globally men’s per capita spend on grooming products is $6.50, compared with $58.50 for women.
M&A opportunities: a fragmented market set to boost deal activity
A small number of large companies dominate the male grooming market (P&G, Unilever, L’Oreal, Beiersdorf), and all are aggressively using M&A to broaden their product portfolios, to tap new customers and growth trends. Targets include high-growth minnows in the dynamic male grooming market: niche players (often also ‘digital-natives’) that are developing specialized and/or tailor-made offerings for this growing and increasingly demanding customer base.
If you would like to discuss the Beauty market in more detail, or opportunities for your business, please do not hesitate to get in touch…
* Source: Persistence Market Research https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/mediarelease/mens-grooming-products-market.asp
