Beauty Unlimited
The beauty market in Indonesia is valued at $8 billion and is expected to reach $9.6 billion by 2025, marking the fastest growth in Southeast Asia. Its dynamism and attractiveness are expressed in the strategic manoeuvres of the most important players, for example, Unilever and East Ventures pouring $6 million in the beauty brand ESQA, a brand founded in 2016 by Cindy Angelina and Kezia Trihatmanto which offers vegan and halal makeup products and recently expanded to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore, where it is sold through online platforms and in prominent offline retailers such as Sociolla, Sephora and Watsons.
More and more Indonesian brands have been developing since the creation of the pioneer Wardah in 1995, such as ESQA or BLP Beauty, launched by beauty blogger Lizzie Parra in 2016, followed by Luxcrime, Rosé All Day, Sada, Ivan Gunawan Beauty, created by the celebrity, television host and fashion designer. All these brands are established in the landscape and compete without complexity with the European leaders.
Make-up brands can be part of the social image, with premium and high-end brands being elements of status and self-esteem. Then, everything depends on each person’s budget: the diversity of brands – local, Indian, Korean or European – allows consumers to find all price levels, the cheapest being the mass brand. As for Korean brands, on average more expensive, they benefit from the craze of Indonesians for K-dramas and K-pop which make you want to have the same white, glowing, and smooth skin as the actresses, the same nude or ombre lipstick; sophisticated or natural, they express an ideal for many Indonesians who follow them on social networks, in their millions. In any case, influencers on Instagram and TikTok, etc., can help the growth of local brands, which are cheap but of good quality.
More and more brands, including Indonesian ones, are positioning themselves in the territory of lightening and protection / UV products, with increasingly sophisticated benefits: a few years ago, it was enough to mention that the products were Halal. Since the Indonesian legislation of 2019, all foreign beauty products distributed or retailed in Indonesia are treated as non-halal, unless they are certified in Indonesia or by an accredited foreign certification body. Today, consumers want products with effective ingredients and that are of course halal, but this is not the number 1 expectation. Since the pandemic, consumers have attached the care and quality of their skin, to its protection, hence the growth of sunscreens; it is the base before make-up.
Plastic surgery remains the prerogative of celebrities or artists posting it on their social media, but it is debatable for Indonesians because Islam does not really allow it. Botox injections, laser, or filler represent compromises without being real plastic surgery to reduce wrinkles, and bags under the eyes, and rejuvenate. Perhaps people’s position will evolve but operations are still reserved for an elite who can afford them and who generally go to South Korea.
Without being a trend in the popular sense of the term, the growth in the number of beauty clinics with skin doctors in major cities shows the expectation of technological solutions for beauty care, in addition to creams or serums; this goes hand in hand with the fact that there are more and more communications about them on YouTube and social networks. This democratisation is rich in opportunities for all players in the beauty market provided they understand that consumers want more and more personalisation.
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/beauty-personal-care/indonesia https://www.premiumbeautynews.com/en/unilever-and-east-ventures-pour-6,21275