Middle East cosmetics industry on road to recovery
DUBAI, July 15, 2020
Despite the Coronavirus pandemic, the Middle East beauty and skincare sector continues to show resilience, with optimistic signs that the sector is expected to start recovering from Q4 2020, but industry players expect the recovery trends will become more noticeable in 2021.
Madi International, the beauty and cosmetics industry powerhouse, pointed that the industry declined by 85% in May 20, only to bounce back and make a 50% recovery by June, YoY figures.
Based on Madi International’s longstanding expertise, they believe that recovery is related to a shift in consumer mindsets, digitisation due to movement restrictions and drastically reduced spend on luxury during the pandemic.
“The beauty and cosmetics sector was significantly hit by the pandemic, but it is slowly recovering.
Lifestyle changes such as DIY projects and home-based salons had an impact on the overall cosmetics business. They are, however, a temporary trend that emerged due to these unprecedented circumstances and will never be able to replace the luxurious and pampering experiences provided by professional salons,” said Mohamad Madi, President of Madi International Group.
Players and consumers are now increasingly shifting towards digital solutions as their preferred selling and purchase methods, a trend many traders had been trying to break into for a long time but were being held back due to reliability and cybersecurity reasons.
In view of the new business circumstances, Madi International has embarked on a robust recovery strategy in a bid to recoup some of the lost business.
“Due to the changes in the trading environment, Madi International in now keen on boosting its eCommerce presence for our clients in B2B and B2C. Our B2B platform will provide our vendors and salon owners with intuitive tools to manage their orders with more convenience. On the other hand, our B2C platform will allow our end consumers to enjoy a seamless and luxurious shopping experience of retail portfolio from the convenience and safety of their homes. We feel that the launch of the platforms will be a great addition to our business models,” noted Madi.
While growth barriers such as high overheads, the rising cost of operation, market size in terms of population, lean demographics and steep segmentation which continues to face the players.
However, Madi International is pegging its optimistic views of growth on emerging factors, such as new beauty trends, online presence, well-marketed brands and the fighting spirit of the GCC business community, as well as, the new lifestyle choices, higher per capita income and being present in a prominent business hub such as the UAE. -- Tradearabia News Service