2023 Thailand Beauty Trends - p
The new face of beauty in Thailand:
Looking ahead to 2023
2023 Thailand
Beauty Trends
The new face of beauty in Thailand:
Looking ahead to 2023
Foreword
Understanding the key trends and the changing needs of your target shoppers
is the key to success.
In the second half of 2022, as borders reopened and the mask mandate was relaxed in Thailand following the pandemic, we observed a significant recovery in the colour makeup category, which had suffered during the lockdown period. Meanwhile, female shoppers continued to spend even more on facial care categories.
They are buying a higher number of skincare products, and those with benefits that deliver ‘healthy skin’ are most popular. The highest growth comes from premium priced beauty products that focus on advanced technology, and mass market products that are affordable and are made using natural ingredients.
The contribution of ecommerce to the total value of Thailand’s beauty sector peaked during COVID-19. It is still growing, but at a slower pace. Emerging platforms like Tik-Tok are rising fast and should not be ignored. Specialist health and beauty stores remain crucial channels for winning shoppers.
Beauty manufacturers launch hundreds if not thousands of new products every year. Understanding the key trends and the changing needs of your target shoppers is the key to success.
This report brings you the latest must-know insights and data to help you build an even more successful brand in Thailand’s sophisticated world of beauty in 2023.
Time to Shine
Facial beauty is on the road to recovery
Time to Shine
Once the FMCG industry’s fastest-growing sector, beauty was hit hard during the pandemic. Masks and restrictions on movement meant people stayed at home more, and bought fewer products due to the drop in usage occasions. Globally, the sector is now well on the way to recovery – although consumers have continued to buy less. They are also demonstrating two predominant behavioural trends, which diverge in completely opposite directions: they desire simplicity, and they desire sophistication.
Thailand’s beauty sector is rebounding well following the pandemic, bringing new opportunities for brands and manufacturers. Facial beauty, in particular, is making a strong comeback now that people have discarded their masks, and this trend is expected to continue through 2023. In contrast, growth in hair care and body care – which were the star performers during the pandemic – is slowing.
However, Thai consumers’ experiences during COVID-19 have driven a major change in their expectations and priorities, and beauty players will need to understand this evolution in order to drive growth.
The era of the individual
People in Thailand now want to focus on taking care of themselves. Their awareness of the importance of health has increased over the last three years, of course – but they’re also ready to pay attention to how they look, now that it’s possible to socialise and return to the workplace once again.
It’s increasingly important to Thai consumers that their beauty regimes are personalised to their individual needs. In fact, this is a trend we can see across all sectors: people are pursuing personalised and customised offerings in everything from food menus to exercise routines.
This requires a shift in mindset for brands and manufacturers. In the past, their main opportunity for growth lay in geographical expansion. Now, though, the key lies in their ability to anticipate the changing lifestyles and needs of their audiences.
The meaning of beauty has changed
Thai consumers see their body as something they need to nurture. They’re taking an increasingly holistic and health-driven approach to beauty, with a focus on internal wellness at the core of the purchase decisions they make. The fashion is now for a face that is natural and healthy; people no longer aim to achieve a look that is artificial or glossy.
They also demand a lot from the beauty products they buy. As well as helping them to look good, products must help to make their skin strong and healthy, from the deepest to the outermost layer. They expect a high level of efficacy, with products that combine multiple benefits into one. Consumers are becoming more conscious of what goes into products, and they look for natural ingredients.
This new perception is changing the types of products that Thai shoppers desire, as well as the key benefits being claimed by beauty brands.
What will the impact of this evolution be? Where are the opportunities for brands and manufacturers? Are you ready to understand and embrace them?
In this report, we look ahead to Thailand’s beauty market in 2023, exploring how consumers’ lifestyles have changed, how their expectations have evolved, and how brands and manufacturers can unlock growth with a strategy that focuses on SELF:
Sensible Price
Thai consumers have two strategies for making their beauty budget last longer: they buy affordable mass brands, and opt for premium brands that are extremely effective.
As inflation increases, and the money in Thai shoppers’ pockets is worth less and less with each week that passes, people are seeking greater value for money from their beauty buys. This is not about always opting for the cheapest products, however: they are willing to pay more for brands that offer exceptional effectiveness.
As a result of this behaviour, the facial beauty market in Thailand is polarising.
In one direction, we have mass brands growing strongly. These offer basic products with single functions, such as moisturisers. They succeed by making products from cleanser to mascara accessible and affordable, with smaller sizes and sachets. They also grab attention by using simple natural ingredients, such as carrot, Vitamin C and tomato.
Emerging mass brands are creating a point of difference by building their own areas of expertise. Browit, for instance, positions itself as an expert in eye makeup through a range that has been developed by a famous Thai makeup artist.
At the same time, luxury and prestige brands are also growing. Consumers still want to pamper themselves and treat themselves to something special.
Brands that offer high efficacy, advanced functions and ‘hero’ ingredients justify the premium price they charge, by clearly demonstrating the value they provide. They successfully persuade shoppers to spend more by emphasising advanced technology and innovation. For example, Lancôme highlights its hero ingredient, Microbiome, which has the claim of playing an integral role in healthy skin, while Kiehls promotes its innovative Micro-Dose fast release packaging.
Strategy for success:
Give people a clear and compelling reason to buy, by highlighting efficacy. Thai consumers have to believe a product is worth spending their hard-earned money on.
Strategy for success:
Affordability is about much more than offering promotions and price cuts. Explore the potential of launching smaller formats.
Easy Access
and Expert
Online shopping for beauty products has become the norm, but the physical
in-store experience remains important for seeking advice and browsing.
Easy Access and Expert
This trend relates to the channels through which Thai shoppers choose to buy their facial beauty products.
Ecommerce is everywhere – and for everyone
As in the rest of the world, ecommerce has become more important in Thailand after COVID. Consumers have grown used to the convenience of being able to order what they want with a click. Online is no longer a new and exciting channel; it has become a habitual, everyday way for people to make purchases. It is already the number one channel for beauty, contributing 27% of the total market value.
Even though online traffic has slowed down following the two-year boom we witnessed during the pandemic, it was still higher in 2022 than in 2019, pre-COVID. This upward momentum will continue, so beauty brands must keep focused on their future strategy.
Ecommerce is no longer being driven by consumers from Generation Y and Generation X. Today, growth is coming from the youngest shoppers and Baby Boomers.
The online landscape is very fragmented, with each beauty shopper only using an average of 1.4 platforms or websites. While traditional platforms such as Facebook, Lazada and Shopee still dominate, new players including TikTok and e-retailers are rising fast. Each platform tends to capture a different group of shoppers.
Strategy for success
To win in the online space, brands must be everywhere – leveraging diverse platforms to maximise consumer reach.
The demand for expertise
Offline traffic for beauty shopping in Thailand is still eight times higher than online traffic.
Neighbourhood stores that specialise in health and beauty – such as EVEANDBOY – remain very important to Thai shoppers. Not only do they provide easy access to products, due to their proximity to people’s homes, but they offer expert in-store advice and guidance too. They also run a lot of promotions to attract consumers.
While consumers tend to favour online channels when making repeat purchases, or when they know exactly what they want, bricks-and-mortar stores allow them to explore and try out new products.
Strategy for success
Beauty brands cannot ignore offline channels – and the in-store experience continues to play an important role, especially for consumers who want to browse.
Less is More
Shoppers are buying fewer makeup products, and aim to achieve a fresh and unpolished look by choosing lighter textures and natural ingredients.
Minimal makeup is a key long-term trend which was emerging in Thailand before COVID, but accelerated during the pandemic. The number of products bought by shoppers decreased significantly, and is still lower today than it was in 2019.
When Kantar asked Thai consumers to describe their ideal skin condition, strong and healthy skin came out on top, followed by moist and glowing skin, and then clear, flawless and transparent skin.
This has driven a change in what people expect from their makeup products. Natural and bare is now the fashionable look, with nude and soft tones preferred to strong colours.
Lightweight textures
Shoppers are shifting from foundations that provide heavy coverage towards lighter bases – for instance tinted sun protection and BB/CC cream.
Skinification
Makeup products that also provide skincare benefits and contain natural ingredients are in great demand – for example foundation that is infused with collagen. People want to make sure that the base layer they apply not only covers their skin, but nurtures it at the same time.
Long-lasting effects
Products that keep skin luminous all day, or lip colours that don’t fade or rub off, even when someone is wearing a mask, are growing in importance.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Eye makeup continues to be extremely important to Thai consumers. Despite wearing less makeup on their face and lips in pursuit of the natural look, strong eyes make sure their look is complete.
The highest performing eye makeup products are those that emphasise waterproof and smudge-proof properties – for example eyeshadow for oily skin.
Fundamental
Strong and healthy skin is the number one beauty goal in Thailand. People love to nourish their skin with sophisticated formulas and holistic benefits.
The foundation of healthy skin is a great skincare product. Thai consumers have become more sophisticated in their skincare regimes, with the average number of categories they purchase continuing to increase post-COVID.
Fortifying and strengthening skin has become more important – and the highest performing products are those that with a highly concentrated formula, such as serums and ampoules. Basic products like cleansers and toners, on the other hand, are no longer growing.
Beauty starts on the inside
Brands are going beyond conventional single claims, shifting towards offering more holistic benefits that nourish the skin.
For example, the main message communicated by oil acne brands used to be that their product prevented acne. Now they emphasise the fact that it makes skin stronger, enabling buyers to avoid acne because their skin is fundamentally healthy.
It's the same story with anti-ageing products. For instance, Olay no longer talks about reducing the appearance of wrinkles; instead it promotes the claim that its product plumps the skin, which in turn minimises wrinkles.
Whitening products, meanwhile, are no longer focused solely on making skin whiter and brighter, but aim to help users achieve a healthy glow, tighten their pores and remove acne.
Key Takeaways
To win in the Thai beauty market in 2023, brands must pay attention.
Tailored to you
After many long months spent focused on the health of the nation and their communities, Thai people are now turning the spotlight on themselves.
They want to be as healthy, strong and well as they can be – and to look their very best, while staying true to their natural selves.
Facial beauty and skincare brands need to understand what Thai consumers’ priorities are today, and how they’re evolving, to meet their needs for affordability, efficacy, availability, and health from the inside out.
To win in the Thai beauty market in 2023,
brands must pay attention to:
Product portfolio management. Be agile in your response to new perceptions and demands around beauty. Review your innovation pipelines to make sure you can meet the need for holistic benefits.
Communication management. Monitor price sensitivity closely, and demonstrate that you can provide the best value proposition via affordability or expertise. Tailor your communications for different audiences.
Channel management. Create a destination – whether online or offline – that makes it easy for people to buy, and access expert knowledge, to maximise your shopper reach. Address their shopping missions: convenience, affordability, and browsing.
Due to its fast-growing and highly competitive nature, beauty has proven to be one of the most difficult market segments to navigate. Consumers are seeking out the hottest viral trends, and their changing lifestyles are shaping new beauty needs and innovations. Is your brand ready to keep up with this ever-evolving sector?
Kantar’s Beauty Panel provides the insights you need to develop new products, build your channel strategy, and devise engaging marketing communications. We continuously monitor and track the purchase behaviour and beauty products bought by individual females in Thailand, divided into various key demographics such as shopper age, region and household income.
We track more than 31 categories, across head-to-toe beauty products: hair care, face care, makeup, body care + wash and fem care. Our sample covers a total of 6,500 individual females, representative of 18 million females aged 18-54 in National Thailand.
Our Offers
We help you understand
beauty markets better.
Beauty insights, powered by the real purchase data
Kantar's purchase panels track what people buy, where they buy, and their usage of beauty products.
In Asia, we are providing the purchase tracker for beauty products, covering colour cosmetics, facial skin care, hair care, and body care. Powered by the dedicated beauty and female panels in 4 major markets – Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, and the household panels in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Our understanding of the complex beauty market will help you stay ahead of category trends to drive sustainable growth for your business. With our offerings, you could answer to below questions:
How to convert purchase intention to actual purchase of my brand
How does rising health & wellness influence beauty category
How to engage better with online retailers
How are global beauty consumers reacting to inflationary pressure
How to expand my brand’s presence in new market
Our experts will partner with you to get under the skin of the consumer trends driving value in the market. This will enable you to spot the best innovation opportunities, accurately quantify them, tailor communications and marketing, and be seen as a true leader in your categories.
Kantar helps you understand beauty customers and markets better
By studying shoppers’ purchasing data, we can provide beauty insights such as:
