Specialty actives, which includes botanicals, proteins, peptides and enzymes are set to grow at an annual rate of 4.6 per cent from 2010 to 2015, comparing favourably against general personal care ingredients which are set to grow at just 2.6 per cent during the forecast period.
Growth in specialty actives is being specifically driven by the fact that consumers are increasingly opting for skin care products with specific functionality, including anti-ageing, whitening and acne treatment.
“Since the early 2000’s functional activity has increasingly been a key marketing focus in skin care, and more recently hair care,” Rob Field-Marsham, a research analyst at Kline Group told Cosmetics Design in an exclusive interview. “By launching products with proven activity, personal care marketers are answering a consumer demand for efficacy.”
Consumer trends dictate growth of specialty actives
Field-Marsham also explained that the evolution of the specialty actives category has been dictated largely by consumer trends, specifically demand for non-animal sourced products in the 90’s and plant-based products at the start of the 2000’s.
“As a result of these trends animal-sourced actives disappeared at the of the 1990’s, hence botanicals became the fastest growing segment in the 2000’s,” Field-Marsham said. “The trend is now towards efficacy but from a natural sustainable source.”
Much of the growth in the specialty actives category has been driven by research and development within the raw material supply base, which in turn has led to a significant number of scientifically advanced launches in the segment.
Research and development key to further growth
However, the Kline Group believes that in the future, further research and development will have to be made into substantiated actives if consumer demand is going to be met.
“Substantiated actives are those which have a therapeutic-benefit label claim. Due to the consumer desire for high efficacy, notably in the anti-aging segment, it is expected that higher-end actives will be preferred by formulators in the future,” said Field-Marsham.
Although the growth of specialty actives has relied heavily on the increasing demands for functionality in anti-ageing products, Kline research indicates that other area within the skin care category to watch in the future will be sun care.
Sun care likely to be a big future driver of actives
“We forecast that the growth in sun protection functionality will surpass anti-ageing active growth, albeit from a much smaller market base. This will be due to the increased consumer awareness regarding the risk of sun exposure, and incorporation of sun protection in a wider range of product than simply traditional sun screens for example make up products,” said Field-Marsham.
Specialty actives in sun care are including increasingly functional UV filters, as well as actives that are promoted as providing DNA skin repair, giving anti-ageing claims based on protection against photo-ageing.
Rob Field-Marsham will explore this subject in further detail at the Marketing Trends theatre at in-cosmetics Asia where he will present ‘Specialty Actives: Insights from the Mature Markets’ at 15.45 on 14 December.