There is good reason to be optimistic about ethnic hair, skin, and cosmetics products in the United States, and for marketers to be ramping up in new products and marketing campaigns now rather than later. With the rapid expansion of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. over the next ten years, ethnic health and beauty care product (EHBC) marketers have a fast growing target market. Hispanic, African-American, and Asian population growth is far outpacing that of whites, with minorities expected to collectively be the majority of the U.S. population as soon as 2042.
Compared to many consumer packaged goods categories, EHBC did remarkably well during the recession, continuing to chart steady growth even though U.S. minorities were especially hard hit by the economic downturn, including in terms of high unemployment rates. The loyalty of the minority populations to their HBC products kept the market on track to resume impressive growth as soon as economic conditions began to improve.
During 2010, the EHBC market posted growth of nearly 13%, and during 2011 the market continued to advance at a healthy pace to reach almost $3 billion.
Cosmetics Products in the U.S.
As more and more EHBC products are introduced, they are meeting the needs of people of color that had previously been either ignored or mis-marketed to. As of 2012, market drivers include a desire for more natural products; greater participation in HBC categories on the part of men overall, but especially men of color; and the surge of innovative, better quality products entering the market. At the same time, ethnic consumers still spend vastly more on general market HBC products than they do on targeted ones, a discrepancy that highlights the opportunity for EHBC marketers to dramatically expand their reach.
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