Two European beauty companies, L'Ore{aac}al and Eucerin, enjoyed tremendous sales growth in the first half of the year.
Mr Phadke of L’Ore´al (Thailand) says Thai women are looking for skincare innovations.
Umesh Phadke, managing director of L'Ore{aac}al (Thailand), announced that it achieved 16 % sales growth in the first six months of 2012, ahead of the overall cosmetic market growth, which was 8.7%.
The outstanding business performance of L'Ore{aac}al was due to launches of various innovative products such as L'Ore{aac}al Paris White Perfect Laser and Maybelline New York BB Stick. The company's products in all divisions gained more market share in the first half.
L'Ore{aac}al showed a strong first-half performance globally with 10.5% growth on a comparable basis. The expansion was driven by the new dynamic markets, especially in Asia Pacific, which posted a 21.9% sales growth with Thailand among key growth countries.
"We're confident that we will continue our sales growth of 16% for the whole year," he said.
To achieve its goal, the company will launch innovative products and make strategic investment in marketing.
Mr Phadke said Thais are beauty-involved and actively looking for innovations, be it in texture, usage, packaging or benefits.
"To win in the Thai beauty market, you need innovations, which are L'Ore{aac}al's strength," he said, adding that the Thai market offers great opportunity for beauty businesses to grow, both in value and volume.
Thai consumers are very interested in beauty. This is reflected in the penetration rate of skincare products among Thai women, which is as high as 97%. These consumers will try something more sophisticated, and the market will grow in value.
At the same time, there are also some market segments which still have room to grow in volume such as men's facial care, which has a penetration rate of only 42%.
"When looking back at how the Thai beauty market has seen strong single-digit growth, I'm confident about the future of this market and our journey through it," he said.
Thipaporn Unakul, Eucerin Thailand's business director, said the overall sales of Eucerin in the first half grew by 28% because the company has introduced many novel products to the market since the end of last year.
Eucerin's sales this year are expected to grow up to 30%. She did not disclose sales figures. Eucerin Aquaporin Active will be its flagship product to drive sales this year.
Eucerin Aquaporin is available at all 215 Boots outlets nationwide.
She said the popularity of medical skin care in Thailand has continued to increase. This year, the company expects the overall medical skincare market to grow by 20% to 2.84 billion baht.