The market for skin lightening products is tipped for global sales success. Projected to reach AED 36.75 billion (US $10 billion) by 2015, driven by new markets in the West and sustained growth in Asia-Pacific, the skin lightening market offers huge room for devel-opment as consumer awareness grows.
“Skin lightening is one of the increasingly growing segments of the global beauty industry, with Asia holding the maximum market share and the most potential to expand,” said Ms. Elisabeth Brehl, Manag-ing Director of Epoc Messe Frankfurt GmbH, organizers of the Beautyworld Middle East event.
Beautyworld Middle East is marked as the uncontested platform of the region for the beauty, cosmetics, fragrance, spa and wellness in-dustry. With a strong international profile, Beautyworld Middle East has played a major role in the last 14 years in contributing to the growth and development of the beauty and wellness industry in this market. The 15th edition of the show is scheduled to run from June 1 -3, 2010, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Ms. Brehl added, “The growth in ethnic populations in the UK and US is now said to have accelerated demand for lightening products in the West. Over time, skin whitening products have grown from being lim-ited to only facial care, to encompass overall skincare. Another trend witnessed in the skin whitening market is the huge rise in usage of skin lightening products by men.”
Out of the 15,089 visitors that attended Beautyworld Middle East in June 2009, over 36% of the attendees were interested in knowing the latest about skincare and beauty products. The general visitor feed-back highlighted skin lightening products to be of specific interest.
Skin lighteners are gradually being identified as multi-usage cosmetic products. For example, consumers in the West often use lighteners for their anti-aging benefits, while the Asian consumers use them to lighten the overall color and tone of their skin.
A phenomenon for the skin lightening market is sweeping the Middle East, where having light, porcelain-like skin is considered ideal by Arab women. While, the West marketplace is saturated with self-tanning lotions, due to the desire by women there to have a year-round copper glow; in the Arab world, beauty is defined by the white-ness and suppleness of a woman's skin.
Arab women are known to have the healthiest and youngest looking skin in the world. For them, maintaining the flawlessness of their skin is the most important factor of their everyday beauty regime. It is es-timated that Emirati women alone spend close to AED 1 billion (US $272 million) per year on beauty products and treatments.
Preventing the harmful effects of sun on their skin is the product of a tradition kept alive by generations of women throughout the Arab world. Being tanned is not a desire for them, far from it in fact. They use all kind of measures to prevent themselves from sun exposure.
While many women cover their faces for religious or cultural reasons, others who do not do so, still use parasols or scarves to protect their skin.
The beauty and grooming business in the UAE and the region is ex-pected to buck the recessionary trend. A host of major international brands are making a beeline for the region, seeing it as is one of the few remaining budding spots in an otherwise gloomy global scene.
94.5% of the exhibitors, who participated in the 2009 edition of Beautyworld Middle East, intend to exhibit again in 2010. With more than seven months to go before the opening of the show, the event has already witnessed a remarkable increase in participation from country pavilions, the increase percentage, at present, is noted at: Switzerland (45%), Poland (38%), and France (9%).
