Padapassorn Padapiladdhanun, 42, one of Thailand's leading fashionistas, used to spend 100,000 baht per visit to malls on beauty products during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms Padapassorn has slashed her beauty spending considerably.
Her spending plunged to 20,000-30,000 baht per visit during the third wave, with the tight restrictions and travel curbs enacted for high-risk provinces.
Onuma Suknirun, 29, a nurse at a private hospital in Bangkok, just brushes her eyebrows with mascara and dons a medical mask before heading to work.
Pimchana Sa-Nguansat, public relations director of Pimplus Co, a PR agency, has worked from home for several months and no longer feels the need to beautify herself after her work routine changed.
Ratana Boonrawd, 45, a primary school teacher, hardly makes herself up because her school shifted to online teaching.
All four demonstrate the use of beauty products has changed drastically during the pandemic.
Tepid prospects
Ms Wilasinee says the long-standing perception of the Thai cosmetics market as evergreen has been pierced by the pandemic.
Wilasinee Parnurat, chief marketing officer of Yves Rocher Thailand, the marketer and distributor of Yves Rocher beauty products, said Thailand's cosmetics market remains in the doldrums, with performance the first five months this year contracting by 9%.
By category, the value of makeup products and fragrances fell by 30% and 25%, respectively.
The skincare market shrank by 8% for the period.
Last year the Thai beauty market tallied 127 billion baht, falling from 145 billion in 2019 and 137 billion in 2018.
Such figures pierce the long-standing reputation of the Thai cosmetics market as evergreen, immune to a bad economy because Thai women love to look good.
"Competition in the cosmetics market is heating up," Ms Wilasinee said.
"We've seen global brands such as Estee Lauder, Lancome, Shu Uemura and Yves Saint launch heavy promotions and steep discounts for the first time in decades in this market."
With the price competition and promotions, prices of cosmetic products are 30-50% cheaper than the period before the Covid-19 crisis, depending on product category.
With a narrowed price gap, some consumers have traded up from the mid-level cosmetics market to premium. Yet those with lower spending power traded down to cheaper brands, she said.
"The outbreak triggered changes not only for the world economy, but also the global marketing landscape," said Ms Wilasinee.
"I already threw away my marketing books because we cannot forecast what will happen tomorrow. 2021 is still a tough year for the beauty business."
She said Yves Rocher realised this shift early and is fortunate in that the company's main focus is skincare and haircare, as well as for its transition to a full-scale omni-channel strategy.
Sales growth for Yves Rocher may fall to 7% this year from a 17% forecast made earlier this year if the outbreak persists and the government's latest restrictions and travel curbs continue beyond September, said Ms Wilasinee.
Bussabong Mingkwanyeon, vice-president for cosmetics and perfumes at I.C.C. International Plc, the marketing arm for fashion of Saha Group, the country's leading consumer goods manufacturing conglomerate, said demand for colour cosmetics saw a huge drop during the third wave of Covid-19 infections, which weakened people's purchasing power.
With retail complexes closed by the government's latest lockdown measures, vendors have limited channels to sell their products, she said.
"Customers responded quite well to our promotions during the first outbreak," Ms Bussabong.
"Despite very attractive promotions this time around, the consumer response has been inactive."
Adapt to survive
Worrawan Chaikamnerd, chief executive officer, Rojukiss International Plc.
Worrawan Chaikamnerd, chief executive of Rojukiss International, the marketer of beauty brands such as Rojukiss and Sis2Sis, said the impact of Covid-19 is completely distinct from other economic crises in the past.
The deadly virus outbreak not only affects people's bodies, but also their mentality, sentiment and consumer behaviour.
"The impact on the beauty industry is the same as in other industries," said Ms Worrawan.
"People's spending priorities focus on necessities more than beauty products."
She said Rojukiss faces less of an impact than other players in the market because makeup sales contribute only 15-16% of its total sales.
"Rojukiss's business remains intact despite the virus crisis because the production is innovative and our products are affordable with a wide price range," said Ms Worrawan.
"After the outbreak is controlled, our business is gearing towards food supplements and we will join hands with O Shopping to sell our products on TV. Pursuing these strategies fits the current situation."
She said the company is scheduled to launch food supplements later in the third quarter as consumer spending on health products is anticipated to rise given prolonged Covid-19 infections for more than 3-6 months.
Rojukiss must still optimise product items and use effective inventory management, said Ms Worrawan.
"We believe consumers will look for products that make their lives easier," she said.
"Do-it-yourself products may be the new trend because consumers are still afraid of associating with others."
Rvisra Chirathivat, customer director of Central Department Store Co and Robinson Department Store Plc, said sales of both skincare and fragrances of are still doing well, particularly for body and home fragrances because people are staying home.
"We see potential to expand our beauty market because people still want to look good," she said.
"The past few months we imported Augustinus Bader, a popular skincare brand from Germany."
With department stores ordered to temporarily close, the company shifted to other channels such as Central App, Facebook Live, on-demand solutions and service personalisation, which have become new trends as customers of all ages are now more sophisticated and demanding, said Ms Rvisra.
Rachaya Veerapong, chief business officer of department stores for The Mall Group Co, the operator of The Mall, Emporium, Paragon and EmQuartier, said it is fortunate sales at beauty departments are still growing, boosted by higher spending from customers who cannot travel abroad during the pandemic.
"Though competition among beauty products via e-commerce channels looks fierce, sales of the top 10 beauty brands at our retail stores year-to-date still perform well," she said.
"We're shifting towards digital channels and offering exclusive brands."
Similarly, Tom Birsinger, general manager of A.Menarini (Thailand), said his company is set to fully expand into Thailand's beauty market.
"We predict greater opportunities, notably in Thailand's skincare and beauty business, as consumers pay more attention to innovations in taking care of themselves," Mr Birsinger said.
Essential outlays
Ms Nalinee says customers are only willing to spend on essential items.
Nalinee Paiboon, president of Giffarine Skyline Unity, the operator of Giffarine direct sales, said demand for beauty products on the direct sales channel has dipped.
Sales of colour cosmetics such as lipstick, foundation and powders all fell drastically because of work-from-home policies by most organisations.
People still use skincare at this point in the pandemic, but they have shifted to smaller sizes to save money, she said.
"Doing business is no longer easy. Everybody is frugal and only willing to spend on essential items," said Ms Nalinee.
"In response, we trained our sales representatives to know which priority products they should approach customers with. We also emphasised skincare, hot herbal drinks and weight control products, which are still in high demand."
E-commerce lifeline
A retail store of EVEANDBOY.
Hiran Tanmitr, founder of Eveandboy, the cosmetics and perfume retailer, said the company ramped up e-commerce in the third quarter of last year and started providing virtual store sales via its beauty advisers during the latest lockdown starting last month.
"Customers are concerned about their spending," said Mr Hiran.
"They bought fewer colour cosmetics in the first half this year, as evident by the sales proportion of our colour cosmetics plunging to 30% from 50% before the crisis."
He said the business of Eveandboy worsened during the first wave of the outbreak last year because the company had yet to offer online channels during that period, causing sales to plunge by 20% from the same period the previous year.
The company now offers its own app and sells its branded products through digital platforms like Shopee and Lazada.