Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report for 2012 shows that leading cosmetics players L’Oreal has lost some of its standing over the past year, with its estimated value falling 12 percent to $13.7bn, while the leading brand in the personal care field, Gillette, fell by 4 percent to reach $19.0bn.
L’Oreal hair care brand Garnier also lost ground, with the value falling by 5 percent to reach $4.4bn.
Consumers patterns from 2009 are being repeated
The bigger players have again been hit by the economic downturn, as was the case in 2009, with the report’s authors pointing to the fact that many personal care and cosmetics consumers are again going for smaller brands, including private label.
According the Brandz report, this reflects the fact that consumer are adopting ‘smart shopping strategies’, by shopping around for the best price, particularly by using the internet.
Likewise, the report also points to the fact that consumers are increasingly opting to do more expensive salon beauty treatments in the home, which is giving a boost to salon-style hair care, nail care and skin care providers.
Consumers want it all, and at the right price
“At the same time, consumers expected multiple benefits. In hair treatment, they selected products that not only beautified hair but also helped compensate for damage inflicted by straightening or other processes. Increasingly, functional benefits related to health and wellness, a trend also evident in other categories,” the report states.
However, there were some exceptions to the downward trends amongst the mega brands, with major oral care player Colgate growing the value of its brand by an estimated 5 percent to reach $14.9bn, growth that came from a steady performance in the developed markets and more outstanding growth in the BRIC and other developing markets.
The most significant growth was registered by US luxury skin care brand Clinique, which increased its brand value by 43 percent to reach $3.4bn, a performance that was driven by growth in developing markets, particularly Russia, and the launch of its Even Better Clinical skin care range.
Top ten Global personal care brands by value