What you need to know

The laid-back approach to facial skincare taken during the lockdown period is expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels once public health and business restrictions ease. Canadians will be trading down in light of economic struggles, but will be on the lookout for trusted brands that offer healthy and safe ingredients. Multi-purpose and hybrid skincare products will resonate strongly with consumers who are looking to make their facial skincare routines simpler and more convenient.

Key issues covered in this Report

  • The impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour and the facial skincare market.

  • Trading down behaviours resulting from the recession.

  • The loss of traditional sampling strategies.

  • Consumer attitudes towards skincare and new innovations.

Definition

For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:

  • Anti-aging facial products (can include cleansers, moisturizers and treatments)

  • Facial cleansers including scrubs and toners

  • Facial moisturizers

  • Acne treatments

  • Lip balm.

This Report covers only the at-home facial skincare market and does not include professional services or body care products such as body wash or hand and body lotion.

COVID-19: Market context

This report was written in August 2020 and updated in September 2020. Consumer research was conducted in April 2020 and reflects consumer attitudes during the pandemic period.

At the time of writing, the number of confirmed cases in Canada reached 143,649 as of September 21, 2020.

Economic and other assumptions

The subsequent analysis is driven by our analysts’ understanding of consumer behaviour in this market, alongside an evaluation of how exposed this sector is to the crisis, and how quickly demand will return to previous levels once a degree of normality returns to the market. Our economic assumptions are based on the updated global forecasts released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June 2020. The IMF expects Canadian gross domestic product (GDP) to fall by 8.4% in 2020, recovering by 4.9% in 2021. Its April forecast predicted unemployment to rise sharply in Q2 2020, before recovering slightly to 7.5% by the end of the year, and to 7.2% by the end of 2021.

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