Among the many trends powering the future of the global beauty and personal care products marketplace, there’s one that’s symbolized by the recent news that Rihanna (or “Riri,” as we semi-coolish types think of her) was launching a new makeup line, Fenty Beauty.
The line, only available at Sephora, was designed by Rihanna expressly with women of color in mind. The line features 40 shades of matte foundation, 30 shades of makeup sticks, and 6 highlighter shades. As Rihanna explained to reporters:
“In every product, I was like, ‘There needs to be something for a dark-skinned girl, there needs to be something for a real pale girl, there needs to be something in between.’”
It’s probably no surprise to learn that many women of color have felt chronically underserved by cosmetics marketers. As Nykhor Paul, a South Sudanese model, fretted on Instagram once, “Why do I have to bring my own makeup to a professional [fashion] show when all the white girls don’t have to do anything but show up?”
For women in less glamorous lines of work, the same problem has still held until recently. Manufacturers, unless they were owned and operated by people of color, seemed to think there was a fairly narrow palette when it came to this segment. But the reality, naturally, was far different.
Major brands have made strides in this area over the last few years, especially once they realized the demographic trends in the U.S. The Census Bureau predicts the majority of the U.S. population will consist of minorities by the mid-2040s. And African-Americans alone already comprise about 13 percent of the U.S. populace, but their spending accounts for approximately 22% of the $42 billion spent each year on personal care products.
That implies they’re buying more of these products than other groups, even when those products are potentially more hazardous than “mainstream” brands. Part of that issue? Their options, up till now, have been too limited.
It’s a multi-hued world (of opportunity)
There’s another huge reason why companies ranging from L’Oreal to MAC are aggressively developing and marketing products for women of color: the enormous growth predicted in worldwide markets, especially among premium segments, as economies grow and a staggering number of consumers begin to buy these products.
- That’s why Karen Buglisi Weiler, the global brand president of M.A.C., has said her company is seeing its “highest growth in the margin markets” such as China, India, and Brazil.
- And it’s why case studies like the story of Unilever’s success in marketing its Sunsilk Clean & Fresh brand shampoo Muslim women in Indonesia who wear headscarves are so often cited as examples of how in-market research and empathy for the target audience are crucial to creating a niche for a beauty brand in other countries.
- It’s also why Unilever just shelled out $2.7 billion for Carver Korea, an Asian cosmetics firm, as Unilever expects South Korea–the fourth-biggest skincare market in the world–to deliver beauty sales as high as $13 billion in 2017.
For product planners, formulators and marketers, attending to the product desires of women of color might be called a golden opportunity, but the truth? It’s a rainbow that’s reaching around the entire world.
