Next month, ‘edible beauty’ will be the center of attention for the cosmetics world, as one of the industry’s biggest shows stages a two-day focus on this new approach to beauty.
An increased consumer interest in the concept is contributing to the category becoming more clearly defined as an independent marketing platform for certain ingredients and products. This has come to be valued at around $1.5bn in 2007, and expected to grow to $2.5bn by 2012, according to market research company Kline Group.
Food and cosmetics focus
A conference to be held next month as part of the major cosmetics industry event HBA Global Expo will examine the market potential of this category, and ways to tap into new distribution channels and sales opportunities.
The HBA X-Ceuticals Conference, to be held September 15-17, 2009 at the Javits Convention Center in New York, aims to present information on how cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals are being used alone and in combination for product and business development. It will also provide an insight into new technologies and research for “this new breed of products”.
Although not the first time a distinct track on cosmeceuticals has been added to major cosmetics and food industry events, this marks an increasingly consistent focus on the category.
Kline – which tracks the market for beauty-from-within products – last year gave a presentation at the In-Cosmetics show in Europe on nutricosmetics, defined in the cosmetics industry as ingestible products that deliver beauty benefits.
(This coincides with the food industry’s use of the term ‘cosmeceuticals’, which itself is used differently in the cosmetics arena to mean the cross between cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. For more on the discrepancy in definitions, click here.)
Two leading markets
According to the Kline presentation, Europe and Japan currently lead the global nutricosmetics market, accounting for 55 and 41 percent of sales respectively. In contrast, the US holds only 3 percent of the market.
Overall, the global market for nutricosmetics grew over 10 percent in 2007. Factors influencing this growth include an aging population, increased consumer awareness, societal and environmental factors, a rise of the ‘spa culture’ and a shift towards “less invasive” beauty procedures.
The three areas addressed by these products are skin, hair and nails. Benefits include: (for skin) repair and prevention; sun protection; firmness; pigmentation; whitening; and slimming; (for hair) retention and growth; restoration; nourishment; and volumizing; (for nails) strengthening.
Click here to read the NutraIngredients-USA.com article on the differences between the three markets for cosmeceuticals, as well as some of the reasons why the US remains far behind Europe and Japan.
For the latest news on cosmeceuticals, click here.