Three Trends in Japan’s Cosmetic Sector amid COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has shocked the beauty industry in Japan, affecting many segments such as makeups, skin care, hair care, sunscreens, and perfumes. Due to months of lockdown and international travel bans, the beauty market has stagnated with steep sales decline and wide store closures. Consumer’s purchase and use behaviors have also changed dramatically.

To help enterprises better meet consumer’s changing demand, win more market shares, and withstand the impact of the ongoing pandemic, this article lists three noteworthy beauty trends in Japan.

The Increasingly Shaping Demand in Male Cosmetics Market

In recent years, more and more people (youth in particular) upload male-care-related videos and photos on SNS. According to a "male makeup questionnaire"¹ conducted by SHISEIDO for men aged between 20 and 50, males attach more and more importance to their appearance nowadays. We have no reason to ignore the potential of this market. 

(A total of 221 men who have never made up were questioned)

The Fuji Keizai Group revealed that the Japan male cosmetics market’s gross value was 118 billion yen in 2018 and 119.6 billion yen in 2019, with an increase of approximately 1.4%. The male face-care products were the top performing segment, growing by nearly 6 billion yen from 2017 to 2019.

Data from Fuji Keizai Group: Male cosmetics market

Take the male face-care brand "BULK HOMME" for example. It announced in July 2020 that its cumulative shipments had exceeded 5 million since its opening in 2013. In addition, the number of customer views on the official website has increased sharply since January 2020.

As the COVID-19 begun to sweep in 2020, the male cosmetics market has been attracting unprecedented attention. 

According to Fuji Keizai Group, after the outbreak, Japan’s inbound tourism, which has always been led by Chinese tourists, has suffered a steep decline. It accordingly resulted in a huge hit to the Japanese cosmetics market. Therefore, some enterprises realized that woman's consumption power was declining and began to pay attention to the male cosmetics market with enormous potential for future development.

Based on the report, the Japanese domestic cosmetics market in 2020 is expected to decrease by 7.8% from 2019 to 2,594.8 billion yen. However, as the data shows below, the market growth rate of men's cosmetics is 95.5%, second only to hair care/hair and make-up.

Data in domestic cosmetics market survey report² lately issued by Fuji Keizai Group

For instance, within three months after the release on December 15, 2020, the cumulative sales of male face-care cosmetic GORILLA COSMETICS series had exceeded 50,000.³

Face Care Products on the Rise

Masks have become a necessity in people's daily life during the pandemic, however, a long-term use can easily cause skin problems. A survey of SHISEIDO’s Senka showed that 63.9% of women found that wearing masks more frequently made their skin problems more serious.⁴ 

Wearing a mask more frequently will cause the human body's humidity and heat to be blocked by the mask. It is easy to breed bacteria and induce skin problems such as blackheads and acne. Based on Senka's statistics, 29.1% women said they have acne problems. 7.8% answered they have blackheads. What’s more, the long-term friction between the mask and the skin causes dry skin, itching, redness, and swelling easily.

Because of long-term wearing of masks and widely working from home, the use of cosmetics, including sunscreen and liquid foundation, will not be too high. However, the following types of skincare products for consumers with a frequent use of masks may be increasing:

1. Skin with pimples and acne: acid skincare products, such as products containing salicylic acid and fruit acid;

2. Skin sensitive/redness: skincare products with soothing and anti-inflammatory ingredients;

3. Impaired skin barrier: skincare products containing ceramides, vegetable fats and oils, etc., to help to repair the barrier.

Anti-aging Products Usher in New Business Opportunities

Anti-aging cosmetics have always been a hot topic in the Japanese beauty market. In 2017, the quasi-drug products released by POLA and SHISEIDO containing active ingredients for smoothing  wrinkles became a hot topic. Compared with 2016, the market increased by 15.2% and exceeded 300 billion yen. Therefore, major cosmetics manufacturers successively invested in quasi-drug products containing wrinkle-improving active ingredients, making the market expand, especially in 2018 and 2019. Data show that the market of products with "wrinkle improvement" effects in 2018 was 19.5 billion yen, and by 2019 it was 27.4 billion yen, an increase of nearly 40.5%. Besides, it is predicted that the total market value in 2020 will exceed 41.0 billion yen, 2.1 times that of 2018.

Apart from the anti-aging product attributed as quasi-drug products, anti-aging aging cosmetic claiming to reduce dryness-resulted fine lines have also been on the rise in recent years. From 2018 to 2020, the market growth rate is 12.3%.

Data from Fuji Keizai Group: Anti-aging skin care domestic market⁵

In 2020, the number of incoming tourists in Japan has declined due to the epidemic, making the market has shrunk significantly. According to statistics, the total value of the anti-aging market in 2020 is only 89.6% of 2019. However, during the epidemic, the number of consumers at home has increased. People's awareness of wrinkles and sagging skin has gradually increased, therefore, more and more consumers begin to pay attention to anti-aging products. According to the observations by ChemLinked, in the well-known beauty website @cosme in Japan, anti-aging products have long occupied the top ten comprehensive cosmetics rankings, especially the essence of Lancôme and Guerlain.

In addition, according to SHISEIDO’s research⁶, muscles around the eyes are very active when wearing a mask, which can easily cause wrinkles if it lasts for a long time. In response to this phenomenon, consumers may prefer eye anti-aging products.

For example, AXXZIA Co.,Ltd. released an anti-aging product “Beauty Eyes Essence Sheet Premium” in December 2020. This product won the first place in the "March Cosmetics Ranking" on the VOCE website in both the "Eye/Eye Care" category and the "Anti-aging" category, and is deeply loved by consumers.