The MENA (Middle East and North Africa) beauty and personal care industry is projected to reach $60 billion by 2025 from its current value of $46 billion, with a double-digit growth expected across all major beauty categories in the region by 2027, with a total CAGR of 12%, the highest globally, a report revealed, citing McKinsey and Euromonitor.

Beautyworld, the largest international trade fair for beauty products, hair, fragrances and wellbeing, in cooperation with BeautyMatter, revealed new insights into the Middle East’s fast-growing beauty industry, with their report Beautyworld x 2024 Middle East Market Report – Past, Present, Future, offering a timely and in-depth statistical look at the evolution, development, and future growth of the region’s beauty industry.

It provided industry professionals with all-new research, core data and intelligence into the region’s beauty industry for the first time.

The report uses data, intelligence and insights from industry executives and experts to distil the intricacies of consumer demographics, the driving forces behind evolving trends, and the emergence of the new beauty consumer in the region.

The data not only analyses the rising demand for beauty and wellness products in the region, it also illustrates the high potential for continued growth rate in the sector, in part driven by the Middle East’s younger and digitally connected demographic, urbanisation, rising disposable incomes and a growing expat community – with insightful predictions as to market worth in the near future.

Findings on the region’s consumer demographic show that Gen Z leads the charge across MENA, with under-30-year-olds making up 55% of the population in comparison to 36% for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development countries.

Beauty companies wanting to tap into this influential younger consumer generation must have a digitally-savvy, values-first approach, with Gen Z’s purchasing habits increasingly looking beyond pretty packaging to brands with storytelling, purpose, and unique selling points.

The report also spotlights the growing demand for A-beauty (Arab beauty) brands and products that are designed to meet the specific needs and preferences of Middle Eastern beauty consumers, as well as the impact of regional brands on a Western market, with beauty brands such as female-run Saudi-based Asteri and Omani luxury fragrance house Amouage setting their sights on both global expansion and international recognition.

Flyn Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer of Messe Frankfurt Middle East, organisers of Beautyworld said: “With Beautyworld Middle East and Beautyworld Saudi Arabia the premier industry events in the region, this report was an important collaboration with our trusted partner BeautyMatter.

“We hope the report sets a new industry benchmark with the goal to bring key market data and research into one place to provide the global industry with a blueprint to better understand and capitalise on the growing opportunities for both local and foreign brands in this dynamic and ever evolving region.”

Key Insights

• The GCC (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) is home to some of the world’s fast-growing economies, with the World Bank anticipating the region’s GDP to triple to $6 trillion by 2050, but could grow to $13 trillion.
• Double digit growth is expected across all major beauty categories in the region by 2027 with a total CAGR of 12%, the highest globally according to McKinsey and Euromonitor
• In terms of the global fragrance market, Expert Market Research predicts it will be worth $7.21 billion by 2032, largely driven by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
• Women in the GCC spend an average of $63 on make-up and $52 on skincare per month, with men spending an average of $16 per month on skincare.
• Despite the growth of e-commerce, mall culture remains firmly engrained in the Middle East, a market set to grow from $376 billion in 2023 to $586 billion in 2028 according to the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres and Retailers
• There were 8,762 spas across MENA in 2022, representing $4.4 billion, according to the Global Wellness Institute, a 49.2% increase since 2020, while Stellar Market pegged MENA’s spa service market at $25.77 billion in 2023.

Kelly Kovack, Founder and CEO of BeautyMatter, said: “Our approach with this market report was to do a deep dive into an incredibly dynamic region to arm readers with data and intelligence framed with historic and cultural context to inform their Middle East strategies.”

Complimenting the report, a webinar will be hosted on August 13 (6 pm, Gulf Standard Time), bringing the beauty industry together to dive deeper into the report’s findings, with a panel of beauty and wellness experts including Senior Consultant – Beauty & Health at Euromonitor – Amna Abbas, clean beauty advocate Anisha Oberoi of Secret Skin and Polly Williams, Managing Director at Dubai based health and beauty PR agency Tish Tash. – TradeArabia News Service