This is a best prospect industry sector for this country. Includes a market overview and trade data.
Last Published: 8/9/2019

This is a best prospect industry sector for this country and includes a market overview and trade data.

Overview

Thailand’s beauty and personal care products market was valued at approximately $6.2 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $8.0 billion in 2022.  Thailand's beauty industry has grown by 7.2-7.9% annually over the last six years.  The beauty care and personal care market in Thailand is projected to have a healthy growth of 7.3% per year from 2019 to 2022.  Beauty and personal care segments are among the fastest growing of consumer goods areas.

Breaking down the sub-categories of beauty and personal care market in Thailand, all sub-categories present healthy growth rates 2019 going forward to 2022.  The highest growth is sun care, presenting a very attractive 11.2% per year.  The lowest growth is deodorants having 4.1% per year.  The top three largest sub-categories by market value are skin care ($2.4 billion), hair care ($0.9 billion) and color cosmetics ($0.7 billion).

Key trends are:

  • Aging population is a growing segment especially in skin care and oral care.

  • A significant portion of demand is driven by inbound tourists, especially Chinese and other Asians who like to buy beauty and personal care products to take back to their home countries.

  • Premiumization and new products driven by natural and organic demand.

  • Store-based retail shifting towards multi-brand especially for beauty products.

  • Non-store retail shifting towards online store, still small value but with rapid growth.

  • Market becomes more fragmented driven by private label targeting mass tier and new entrants trying to capture specific niches.

Skincare products were valued at $2.4 billion (38% of the market).  There is a demand for skin care with natural ingredients.  Thailand’s society is rapidly aging.  Therefore, this market shows a healthy demand for anti-aging products in various styles with low-to-premium positioning.  Facial care accounted for 84%, whereas body care was about 16%.

Hair products were valued at $0.9 billion (14.5% of the market).  Due to health and wellness trends, consumers are showing interest in natural and organic hair care.  Demand for hair care is becoming increasingly sophisticated.  It reflects on greater segmentation across hair care such as traditional hair care, products for hair coating, and specific hair treatments in various textures of oil, serum or leave-on.

Makeup products were valued at $0.7 billion (11.3% of the market).  There is a growing focus on a more natural beauty trend among Thai consumers.  Color cosmetics with multi-benefits are desirable for consumers.

Breaking down each category into mass and premium tiers, mass tier is the majority of all categories.  However, premium tier takes significant portions in color cosmetics, skin care, and hair care.  Premium product offerings need dynamic adjusting to meet changing, increasingly sophisticated, consumer demands.  Key opportunity segments for a premium tier are natural and organic products, or anti-ageing products. 

There has been increasing attention for multi-brand stores offering a wide variety of brands with tiers ranging from mass to high-end.  Multi-brand store examples are Sephora, Beautrium, Stardust, Beauty Market and Lashes.  Grocery retailers such as Tesco Lotus and Big C, or specialist retailers such as Watsons and Boots, have their own private label brands, normally located on the shelf next to other brands, and aim to offer more budget-friendly choices for consumers.

 

2017

2018

2019 (Estimated)

2020 (Estimated)

Total Local Production

7,214

7,271.4

7,802

8,371

Total Exports

2,029

2,064

2,214

2,375

Total Imports

944

992.6

1,065

1,143

Imports from the US

174

190

209

230

Total Market Size

6,129

6,200

6,653

7,139

Exchange Rates

31

31

31

31

Total Market Size = (total local production + imports) - exports in thousands of U.S. dollars.
 

Leading Sub Sectors

  • Anti-aging and whitening skin care

  • Facial masks

  • Color cosmetics with multi-benefits

  • Men’s grooming

  • Sun care

  • Baby and child-specific products

  • Natural and organic beauty and personal care products.

Opportunities

Due to an increasing awareness of health and wellness among consumers in Thailand, there is a healthy demand for natural and herbal personal care and beauty products.

Anti-aging and skin whitening products in both higher and lower ends of the quality spectrum continue to have a strong presence in the Thai market.  The use of anti-aging products has become common among both male and female consumers. 

Men’s grooming is expected to become increasingly dynamic.  Factors such as growing social acceptance of men’s grooming are a result of exposure to metrosexual trends, delayed marriage, and peer pressure that maintain demand for the products.  Skin care and hair care are the biggest categories in men’s grooming.

Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore, will be the largest consumer of cosmetic chemicals in the near future.  Thailand currently imports approximately 20% of personal care ingredients from the U.S.

 

Web Resources

Upcoming Trade Shows in Bangkok:
Beyond Beauty ASEAN-Bangkok
September 19-21, 2019
https://www.beyondbeautyasean.com/en/home.html

in-cosmetics Asia 2019 (cosmetic and personal care ingredients)
November 5-7, 2019
https://asia.in-cosmetics.com/

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.