|
Hair News - January 2005 |
| Author: Karen Shelton |
|
Date: January 2005 |
Hair News For January 13, 2005
HIGH-TECH DELIVERY SYSTEMS
MEAN BIG
BUSINESS
FOR COSMETICS FIRMS
LITTLE FALLS, NJ,
January 13, 2004 – In an effort to meet the soaring
demand for personal care products that stave off the ravages of
time, cosmetic and toiletry manufacturers are focusing not only
on the active ingredients that go into their products but also
the technologies used to deliver these ingredients to the skin.
As highlighted in a recent
New York Times article,
leading skin care marketers like L’Oreal and Estee Lauder have
adopted technologies from other fields, including
pharmaceuticals and electronics, to introduce anti-aging actives
to the skin more effectively, more efficiently, and for a longer
duration.
By employing novel
delivery systems like nanoparticles, these companies and their
competitors have not only introduced several new product lines,
they’ve also been able to breathe new life into existing ones.
This has led to double-digit growth rates for skin care
products––the only segment to show such excitement for the short
term in an otherwise mature cosmetics and toiletries market.
Retail sales of anti-aging
skin care products are valued at nearly $2.5 billion in the U.S.
alone, to according estimates from market research firm Kline &
Company. And Kline’s recently published study, COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE IN SPECIALTY ACTIVES AND ACTIVE
DELIVERY SYSTEMS FOR COSMETICS AND TOILETRIES 2004: U.S. AND
WESTERN EUROPE, pegs U.S. and Western European
consumption of specialty active ingredients––compounds that
provide a demonstrable therapeutic benefit to the skin or
hair––and the systems used to deliver these ingredients, at more
than $500 million at the manufacturer level and rising steadily.
“Skin care marketers have
always focused a lot of attention on finding better and more
powerful active ingredients, but they’re also developing new and
more effective ways to deliver the actives they’re already
using,” says Gillian Morris, industry manager for Kline’s
Chemicals and Materials Practice. “These new delivery systems
can provide more targeted results to the application site and
can really differentiate a marketer’s product from the rest of
the field.”
This has also helped to
extend the anti-aging trend into the mass market, where there is
enormous demand for effective––but affordable––noninvasive
alternatives to cosmetic surgery. Morris notes that until fairly
recently, advanced specialty actives could be found only in
“professional” products purchased from spas and salons,
dermatologist offices and cosmetic surgery clinics, or high-end
prestige outlets.
Now, thanks in part to
more effective delivery systems, the larger C&T marketers have
been able to introduce their own anti-aging products in the
retail market. Brands like Olay and Neutrogena have launched
“professional-type” products in the mass retail market,
positioning themselves to compete with professional skin care
brands but at much lower price points and with much larger
distribution.
Another study recently
published by Kline, THE U.S. PROFESSIONAL SKIN CARE MARKET 2004,
states that sales of these professional-oriented products
increased by more than 80% in the past year, leaping to an
estimated $285 million in 2004.
The anti-aging trend has
also energized the raw materials side of the business,
attracting new entrants as well as generating mergers and
acquisitions. In March, ISP Hallcrest was formed when ISP
acquired certain businesses and assets of Hallcrest, a leader in
microencapsulation for cosmetics and toiletries. And Englehard,
which previously focused on effect pigments, purchased
Collaborative Labs, a leader in delivery systems and actives for
personal care.
“Like their clients, raw
materials suppliers are also scrambling to meet demand for newer
and better actives and delivery system technologies,” says
Morris. “This is one of the only sectors in specialty chemicals
where the supplier base is expanding right now, and many firms
are leveraging technologies from pharma applications to
capitalize on the tremendous growth in personal care.”
About Kline &
Company
Established in 1959, Kline & Company, Inc. (www.klinegroup.com)
is an international market research and business consulting firm
serving the specialty raw materials, specialty chemicals, and
cosmetics and toiletries industries.
Kline offers a broad catalogue of syndicated
market analyses for both the finished products and raw materials
sectors of the cosmetics and toiletries industry.
For more information on Kline’s studies for
the personal care sector, go to
www.klinegroup.com/ssconsumer.htm or contact
Carrie Bonner
at (973) 435-3412.
For more information on Kline’s studies on
specialty raw materials used in cosmetics and toiletries and
other industries, go to
www.klinegroup.com/sschemmat.htm and scroll to
Specialty/Fine Chemicals, or contact
Gillian Morris
at (630) 761-9587.
Those based in Europe should contact
Jonathan Duff
at +32-2 776 0738.
|