China's male skin care market continues to bring big opps in 2016

According to the president of Frost and Sullivan's China division Neil Wang, this segment is the fastest growing grooming category in China with more than 80 per cent of men willing to spend about 25 minutes every day on skin care products.

This means that as we venture into another fast paced year on the region, opportunity is rife for small and giant beauty players alike to develop ranges for appearance-conscious consumers despite Western Europe - the largest male grooming market in the world, stagnating in terms of growth.

Fellow market researcher Kline predicts the category's figures to reach $15.5 billion at the manufacturers' level by 2017.

Shiseido, which launched Aupres Mens beauty line for the Chinese market in 1994 is one major beauty player to use the rise in demand for an opportunity to boost spending in China.

"We anticipate huge growth potential in the male beauty market as more and more men are paying attention to their appearance. This year, sales of Shiseido Men's lotion and emulsion in China rose by more than 10 per cent from the levels in 2014," ​says company representative, Satoshi Hirota. 

Rapidly increasing trend​

In China and India; male grooming is a fairly recent trend, developing its significant potential, bolstered by greater disposable income among a large number of consumers.

Savvy male grooming product marketers, both foreign and domestic have been enlisting film and sports stars as brand ambassadors to attract new consumers to the segment.

In India, Kline uses the example of the highly influential Indian film industry, 'Bollywood' which has seen L'Oréal recruit actor John Abraham as its brand ambassador in recent years while Emami similarly appointed actor Sharukh Khan as the face of its brand shortly afterwards.

Advancement ​

In Japan and South Korea, the use of cosmetics is socially encouraged wherein men are seeking to retain a youthful appearance is benefitting the market.

There is a similar influential approach adopted here too as local TV stars and the K-Pop music phenomenon has invigorated the South Korean male grooming market.

The localization of imported brands is a significant trend in the South Korea as exemplified by Biotherm Homme signing Daniel Henney, an American actor and model whose mother is a Korean-American, as a brand ambassador.