In 2004 there were 227 billion on-the-go (OTG) personal and oral care in European and the US, according to the latest report from Datamonitor, a figure that suggests the market will be worth an estimated $7 billion by 2009.
With consumers increasingly feeling the need to reach into their day bags, or even their pockets, to freshen themselves up with SPF mositurisers, mouth-washes, deodorants and a variety of make-ups, manufacturers are constantly exploring new ways of making their products more portable and easier to use away from home.
The result is a spate of products that come in either individual doses or else smaller packaging allowing the product to be carried around with greater ease.
Recent examples of this have included wipes in individual wrappers, chewing gum that claims to be as effective as brushing the teeth, as well as an increasing number of cosmetic and personal care ranges available in smaller packaging sizes allowing consumers to take them on short holidays or other occasions away from home.
The Datamonitor report suggests that, although manufacturers are capitalizing on the growth of this market, the potential for further expansion means that there will be plenty more opportunities to re-align product portfolios towards this trend in the future.
Obviously innovation is a key trend in this category, with manufacturers finding that they have to adapt their products to suit consumers OTG needs. The more convenient and time-saving the products are, the greater that they will be well received.
Splitting the European markets up, Datamonitor suggests that the growth of the market will be fastest in Europe, as the tendency is for Europeans to travel further and more frequently on longer holiday time. Consequently the European market is estimated to grow by 73 per cent up to 2009, whereas the US market should grow by 65 per cent during the same period.
Alongside the rise in toiletries and cosmetics designed around travel needs, there has also been a big increase in products designed around requirements in both the workplace and the gym. Datamonitor says that almost a quarter of OTG personal and oral care requirements occur in the workplace and gym.
Although this proportion is set to fall to around 23.1 per by 2009, the number of occasions for this category is still set to rise 2.9 billion to reach a total of 58.3 billion occasions by 2009, the report claims.
Ultimately Datamonitor stresses one element that it considers vital to success in the OTG category: convenience. The report claims that 86.7 per cent of the people it surveyed about the category said this was the most important requirement for their needs. This means that products must be portable, with packaging formats that focus on ease of application.