Rexam says hair care is most likely to drive future global packaging sales

According to figures from personal care packaging specialist Rexam, the total personal care packaging market in 2010 is estimated to have been over 122bn units, with hair care accounting for 49bn units, a whopping 40 per cent of the total.

In the hair care category, 50 per cent of total sales came from Western Europe, the US and Japan in 2010, with the highest per capita consumption.

Within the hair care category, growth is expected to be driven by products that aid consumers to colour and style their own hair. This includes low maintenance hair care routines like colourant products to retouch roots.

The trend in hair care is for easy, straightforward solutions with minimal product usage combined with added value.

This means that consumers are not looking for ‘one product fits all’, but simple yet specific products that have been adapted to consumer needs, the Rexam data reveals.

Overall, volumes for the personal care packaging market worldwide are expected to grow by five per cent per year to reach around.147bn units by 2014.

Emerging markets lead the way​

The emerging markets will impact the packaging industry significantly as these markets drive global sales, whereas traditionally successful markets such as the US and Western Europe will continue to stagnate.

This is particularly evident in the second biggest category by volume, bath and shower, which is also the biggest category in all markets worldwide, except for Asia where hair care is dominant, simply due to population size.

Another category that is booming due to its popularity and growth in the emerging markets is deodorants.

This is thanks to deodorants being incorporated into consumers’ daily routines in many emerging markets. Latin America, more specifically Brazil is driving global sales as there is a tendency for consumers to use deodorants as body sprays.

All this means that the focus is on BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as these are now major players. Per capita spending is low in these market because of lower disposable incomes, but this effect is counterbalanced by bigger populations.