As the baby boom generation enters its senior years and has the inclination and money to spend on maintaining youthful looks and keeping in good shape, anti-ageing has become a boom business.
Anti-ageing products tend to focus on skin care, where anti-wrinkle cosmetics are now taking the market by storm. Euromonitor International estimated that the total market for skincare products is valued at $38.3 billion globally, a figure that is second only to the hair care sector.
In terms of growth, the figures for skin care stormed well ahead of any other in the cosmetics industry. In the period 2002 to 2003, it was by far the fastest growing sector, with global growth running at 6.7 per cent.
However, breaking this down for products specific to the anti-ageing market, the figures are even more dramatic. For products that target specific age-related conditions, the global market was estimated at $6.9 billion in 2003, indicating a growth rate of 11.4 per cent.
Hoping to take advantage of this kind of growth, the first product from Mintel's Global New Products Database (GNPD) is Garnier's Skin Naturals, launched in Norway last December and formulated with soja and fig.
In 2005 a number of vitamin and mineral fortified anti-aging products were launched, including Beiersdorf new Nivea Vital facial cream in Germany, Scwarzkopf & Henkel's Diadermine Reactivance in Austria and Lancôme's Platineum sun protection cream, launched earlier this month in Finland.
With manufacturers increasingly widening the age appeal of their products, growing numbers of anti-aging creams targeting younger generations are appearing on the market, designed for use on the appearance of first wrinkles.
Oenobiol this year launched an anti-wrinkle cream for women aged 30 plus in France, while Avon targets the same age group in Turkey with its Anew product. In the UK, the company's Anew Ultimate targets 40-year-olds, while Biotherm launched its Biotherm Homme product in Spain for 40-year-old men.
Indeed, with men's cosmetics lined up as a sector destined for significant growth, manufacturers are increasingly churning out products for the image-conscious male, including anti-wrinkle creams for aging baby boomers. Another product listed in Mintel's GNPD is L'Oréal's Dermo-Expertise range, released in the US in April. The range also includes several sun care products.
Additional products listed include ones by Polish cosmetics company Oceanic, Janssen Cosmeceuticals and Del Laboratories.
This range of products is from a selection contained on Mintel's Global New Products Database.