Continued growth in male grooming boosts world shaving market

This means that the total world market for shaving products for both men and women is estimated to reach $25.7bn by 2010, maintaining an average CAGR of over 5.8 percent since 2001, according to a new report.

But the female shaving market is also contributing to the growth, due to what the report describes as a 'favorable attitude of women consumers towards shaving products'.

Entitled World Shaving Products and published by Global Industry Analysts, the report highlights how razor blades continue to dominate the lion's share of the market, at 41.26 percent and is also the fastest growing segment with CAGR of 8.2 percent between 2001 - 2010.

However, consumers are also gravitating towards associated products such as related skin care products, including pre-shave preparations.

Men's grooming drives the growth Driving this is continued demand for men's grooming products worldwide, with the market still registering annual growth of 4 percent.

Although the report highlights that growth will be minimal in developed markets such as the UK, US, France and South Korea, associated men's grooming products are expected to show strong rises in developing markets.

In line with this, the report predicts that the trend towards increasingly sophisticated shaving and associated products will continue to develop worldwide in the coming years.

Such products, as well as claiming to impart general skin care properties, will also increasingly incorporate active ingredients that contain properties such as anti-aging or sunscreens.

Skin care and post-shave products blur The report notes that, because of this trend, 'post-shaving products are now almost the same as skin care products in several aspects.'

However, one potential pitfall of these increasingly sophisticated products is the higher price tag, which the report suggests will assure that traditional shaving products will also continue to register healthy growth in the coming years.

One interesting characteristic outlined by the report is the fact that overall product sales volumes have remained pretty similar over the period, with growth mainly being attributed to higher value products such as shaving preparations and advanced razors.

Females still prefer male razors For the female market, the report highlights the fact that 80 percent of females still prefer to use razors for hair removal, ensuring a consistent market with plenty of potential growth.

However, it also points to the fact that the global market for women's shaving products is still at the early stages of its development, especially considered that female-dedicated razor blades first appeared on the market back in the early 90s.

Further to that, in 2005 46 percent of females were still estimated to use male razors in the common belief that they are more effective than female-dedicated razors.

Because of this the report highlights the fact that on a global basis there is still plenty of room for the development of female dedicated razors and associated products - with female shaving preparations still registering as an entirely new segment.