Beauty industry responding to the rise of the multicultural consumer

Beauty brands and retailers are increasingly responding to the needs of multi-ethnic consumer groups , who are set to soon become the majority in the US. 

Croda’s latest launch, a new conditioning agent called Crodazoquat™ MCC (MultiCultural Conditioning), is formulated to address the expanding market need for multicultural conditioning, according to the global specialty chemical supplier.

In the hair conditioner market, the company notes, the Asian and Hispanic populations are rapidly expanding, outpacing the overall growth median.

On the rise                

In the US, ethnic or multicultural consumers will soon become the majority, according to  market researcher Kline, with African-American, Asian, Indian, Hispanic, and other people of color already accounting for over one-third of the US population.

Phil Williams, founder and CEO of Enchanted Life, a new e-commerce beauty site aimed at America’s multicultural community, recently outlined the upcoming rise of the multicultural consumer to Cosmetics Design

The multicultural consumer will soon be the new normal in the beauty space and it’s a category that definitely needs to have attention paid to it and you can see that by the expansion of growth,” he said.

Croda’s new launch comes as confirmation of this growth within the category, with the company noting that the broad regulatory acceptance of Crodazoquat MCC will enable globally-acceptable formulations.

The manufacturer’s testing data for the new product showed improvements on damaged hair of various ethnicities, the company stated, and so “would be well-suited for both products targeted to specific demographics as well as universal global applications”.

Brands responding

Enchanted Life joins other retail platforms honing in on this rising industry focus of the multi-ethnic consumer, with rival e-retailer Doobop.com also recently launching with an explicit focus on these groups.

The brand notes that it was conceived “to create a chic online shopping destination that mirrored the ethnic diversity spotted daily on the streets of New York City.”

[New York City] is a great representation of what the whole country will likely become very soon: beautifully diverse.

Croda states that its new hair care ingredient will officially launch in the United States at NYSCC Suppliers’ Day in May 2014.