The recession of the Italian personal care market continued in 2013 to EUR 9,500 million, a decline of 1.2% compared to 2012, according to recently released figures from Cosmetica Italia.
According to the trade association, this recession, which remains modest compared to the crisis the country has been facing since 2007-2008, confirms the counter-cyclical nature of the sector. However, some channels are particularly sensitive to the economic context and suffer more than others. This is particularly the case of professional circuits: sales in hair salons have plummeted by -8.4% and sales in beauty parlours declined by -5.5%. In this context, only the direct sales channel (doorstep sales or mail order sales) pulls out of the game, with an increase of 4.4%. Sales also rose in pharmacies (+0.3%).
In this context, the turnover of Italian companies rose by +2.6% to reach 9.3 billion euros in 2013, mainly boosted by sales in foreign markets, which reached 3.2 billion euros in 2013, increasing by +11%. On the contrary, imports increased by only +0.8%.
“Continuous investment policies in innovation and development have enabled Italian companies to gain competitive advantage in international markets, where there is a significant increase in sales, including in volume, indicating a competitive and reliable offer," says Cosmetica Italia.
As far as cosmetics are concerned, France remains the largest customer and the leading provider of Italy, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain and Russia.
