Germany: Natural Cosmetics Conference visualises future scenarios

The overarching theme of this year’s Natural Cosmetics Conference was the future - the question addressed was how natural cosmetics and trade concepts will develop up to 2020. The fact is that in 2014 natural cosmetics are growing significantly across the length and breadth of the cosmetics market, and consumers’ preference for them was especially high in the first half of this year. The speakers at the Natural Cosmetics Conference (7 and 8 October) examined the changing behaviour of consumers and presented to the nearly 200 attendees some interesting concepts, ranging from e-commerce to Slow Retail.

(Picture: International experts gathered in the Ellington Hotel Berlin for the Natural Cosmetics Conference 2014)

At the beginning of the conference, the host Elfriede Dambacher gave an overview of current consumer trends and of what is highly valued by today’s consumers. The fact is that they are now influencing the market much more then ever before. She gave the examples of the Lifestyle of Resilience (LOR) that has taken over from the Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS). Through their communication behaviour (Web 2.0, social media), a new generation of smart shoppers is exhibiting different shopping behaviour and is finding totally new ways to access products (the Consumer Journey). She pointed out that people today are often no longer using the classic method – buying products from bricks-and-mortar retailers – but are researching quality and price on the internet in advance and then deciding whether to buy in a web shop or a store. One conclusion drawn by Dambacher was that the marketing and sales strategies used hitherto are no longer effective. The art of being successful today, she said, is the authentically communication of a brand’s added value and its benefits. (Picture on left: Elfriede Dambacher and Udo Funke, NürnbergMesse, welcoming around 200 participants. Picture on right: Future researcher Dr. Harald Welzer, Futurzwei, Berlin, asked critical questions about our contemporary lifestyle)
 

Apps, blogs and communities now play a significant role when customers are deciding what to buy, and the values people pay attention to are, for example, health, ethical consumption, ecology, fairness and transparency. It is evident that consumers are making their demands and expectations known much more powerfully than before and that industry is reacting much more quickly, as the example of aluminium salts in deodorants has demonstrated. Other examples are endocrine disruptors (German BUND App Toxfox, with 360,000 App downloads), animal welfare, genetic engineering, urban life and environment and, of course, veganism. (Picture from left: On the first day of the conference experts addressed issues that guide customer in their purchase decisions. Angelika Carl, carl.com, Sarah Häuser, BUND, Franziska Schmidt, Blog veggie-love.de, Elvira Hermenau, Just Nature, Jürgen Stellpflug, Öko-Test, Christian Mönninger, Karstadt, Moderator Gerald A. Herrmann, Organic Services)
 

At the end of the first half year, the German market glorified in growth in turnover of natural cosmetics reaching 11 %. “Growth was achieved at the expense of nature-based products,” Dambacher explained. More and more consumers are well informed and decide very carefully what lands in their shopping basket. Drugstores continue to be the leading sales channel, not least because they are often innovation leaders as well. The organic and health food trade registered rising demand on account of vegan hype. A trend survey by Biopinio illustrates the connection between what we eat and cosmetics: 82 % of vegans stated that natural cosmetics are an important part in their personal care. In the case of flexitarians, the figure was 70 % and for omnivores it was 46%. The survey revealed that vegans are also prepared to spend more money. (Picture: The Biopinio survey makes it clear that vegans favour natural cosmetics)
 

Dr. Susanne Eichholz-Klein from the research institute in Cologne Institut für Handelsforschung (IFH) considered in her lecture among other things the role of e-commerce in the cosmetics and personal care segment. In the past six years the online market volume has increased almost by a factor of four from €183m to €725m but, compared with fixed-location trading, it still has a very small market share of 2.9 % (2013) in all sales channels. Trend researcher Lola Güldenberg from the trend research agency Agentur für Trendforschung in Berlin explained which trends could influence the natural cosmetics market in the future. “Our everyday life will be dominated by the internet,” Güldenberg said, and it begins in the bathroom in the morning. “There won’t be online and offline any more in the future, we’ll be online all the time.” From her perspective, she sees four trends affecting our future lifestyle: SciencePlus, which includes nano, gene and bio-technology; the Do-it-All trend takes over from  Do-it-Yourself and sees consumers handling even complex systems: you make your own style of cosmetics, and this trend also involves the participation of others. (Picture: The audience listening attentively as Lola Güldenberg talked about trends)
 

Extreme Nature denotes the tendency of consumers to acquire skills that eventually become high expectations of holistic, 100 % sustainable solutions. There are already brands like the French absolution, that try to fulfil this aspiration. Finally Güdenberg dealt with the Tech Vital trend: the amalgamation of living cells and dead material that gives rise to completely new materials. What still sounds like science fiction will, according to Güldenberg, inspire consumption in the future. In four totally different types of consumer, she showed the points of contact with natural cosmetics and explained that brands will not function in the same way as in the past. In demand will be precise information and transparency. Brands have to do justice to lifestyles. (Pictures from left: Marie Christie Schmidt and Mandy Heindke presenting their natural cosmetics web shop Najoba)
 

Various contributions addressed the subject of e-commerce. Philip Grote, the founder and owner of the online natural cosmetics brand Naturtalent2, believes “totally in the future of online marketing”. Grote is involved at top management level in a number of internet start-ups (including www.fashion.de) and he has also built up a food home delivery service in Hamburg. His credo: smart data evaluation and a personalised offer for particular target groups. The skilful and strategically clever use of the various internet formats and social media (Google, Amazon, Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.) makes brands known to a huge public in an instant, thanks to the snowball effect. (Picture: Internet expert Philip Grote showed how to improve customer appeal on the net. He believes in the future of online marketing)
 

The pharmacist Dr. Christina Kraus is the owner of GreenGlam, a fixed-location specialist natural cosmetics store and a website of the same name. Kraus is convinced that we need both: “The atmosphere, the contact with customers, the advice and events of the bricks-and-mortar business just as much as the reach of the internet. The shop gives a boost to the online shop, and the other way round too.” You’re there on the internet 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – which is both an opportunity and a challenge at the same time. (Picture: For Dr. Christina Kraus, fixed-location business is on an equal footing with e-commerce)
 

The internet offers many opportunities to inform, inspire and also to emotionalise (telling stories) – the experts were in agreement that you can’t survive if you don’t have a presence on the internet. “A good modern website must make a strong visual impact, have a variety of content material and be responsive and authentic,” were the characteristics named by Sandra Kröger. The managing director of the strategy agency Rascasse advises companies on everything to do with e-commerce and website creation. She revealed in particular that women shop quite differently from men. Pictures, product details, blogs, comments, Youtube films and evaluations (Ökotest, etc.) are considered to be much more important by women. In Kröger’s opinion, natural cosmetics are not seen often enough on these channels. (Picture: The Consumer Journey of women is much longer than that of men. It’s important to bear this in mind)