A triumph for hair care

Export activities going strong

Export activities were very successful. Exports of beauty care and household detergents amounted to 9.5 billion Euros. This was an increase of 3.1% in comparison to 2017. 

Exports of beauty products, with 7.2 billion Euros, attained an increase of 2.9% while exports of 2.3 billion Euros of household detergents saw a growth of 3.6%. 

Successful beauty categories at a glance

Consumers spent 13.8 billion Euros on beauty care products, 1.8% more than in 2017. Hair care and skin care, the main personal care categories, saw the biggest growth rates.
Hair care products attained sales of 3.1 billion Euros, a growth of 5.1% in comparison to the previous year.
Consumers bought skin and facial care products for 3.2 billion Euros, 3.3% more than in 2017.
Oral care, the fourth biggest product segment with 1.570 billion, grew by 2.2%.
Deodorants saw a similar growth of 1.9%, up to 757 million Euros.
While men’s fragrances obtained a sales plus of 1.2%, the sales of women’s fragrances stagnated at 976 million Euros.
Soaps and syndets, a rather small category with sales of about 354 million Euros, increased their sales volume by 2.6%. 

How did natural cosmetics perform in 2018?

According to IRI Information Resources, pure natural cosmetics, which account for 10.1% of all beauty products, managed to see a growth of 5.2%. Nearly natural cosmetics, whose share of the cosmetics market constitutes 6.6%, grew by 3.7%. With a marginal growth of 0.3%, traditional cosmetics stagnated, with their share at 83.3%.  

What categories suffered sales losses?

Miscellaneous beauty care products suffered the highest loss. Sales decreased by 5% down to 425 million Euros. This category comprises foot care, depilatory products and baby care excluding shampoo, bath and shower products as well as soaps. 

Next in line were shaving products, pre- and after-shaves for men and women. Their sales went down by 4.7% to 201 million Euros. 

While these losses were in rather small product segments, colour cosmetics is the third biggest category. Here the segment suffered a loss of 2% down to 1.805 billion Euros. This third biggest category stagnated in 2017 and before that continuously performed extremely well, growing by more than 4.1% since 2013.

IKW in a nutshell

IKW, the German Cosmetic, Toiletry, Perfumery and Detergent Association, was founded with 106 companies in December 1968. The initiative was a merger of the Association of German Soap Producers and the Association of the Toiletry Industry. The aim was to support member companies in taking advantage of their opportunities in the European market. For most of today’s member companies Europe is still one of the most important export markets. 

In 1969, the IKW became member of the German Chemical Industry Association VCI. In 1975 the IKW merged with the German Association of Hairdresser Products and in 1994 with the Household and Maintanance Products Association. Since 1996, the IKW has shared its head office with the German Aerosol Association IGA. 

Today the IKW supports, advises and represents the interests of more than 430 companies with more than 18 billion EUR sales, which represents 95% of the market. Since 2011, IKW has been acting with two lighthouse departments – beauty care and home care to serve its members and all stakeholders in the best possible way.

What are the association’s major benefits?

As the voice of an industry which secures employment for half a million people through-out the entire value chain, IKW is a central contact for the political community and public authorities. 

Apart from economic policy issues, the focus is on consumer safety as well as environmental protection. 

This work contributes to consumers being able to rely on a maximum of product safety and environmental protection.