1.1 Definition and Introduction

The organic cosmetics market is a sub-segment of the cosmetics market. A cosmetic product includes any substance used to clean, moisturize or alter a person's skin, hair, nails or teeth.

Cosmetics can be divided into two categories:

Beauty products which includes make-up, perfume, skin cream;
Hygiene products which includes shampoo, soap, deodorant.

Natural and organic cosmetics are made from raw materials, ultimately causing less harm for the body and the environment. Organic cosmetic products are certified by various private labels such as BDIH , NaTrue or EcoCert. These aim to ensure that the usage of chemicals or products of animal origin such as silicone, paraben, PEG (polyethylene glycol), synthetic dyes and perfumes, etc., are not included in the end-product. However, as we will develop in section 4.3, labelling remains subject to uncertainty, and terms such as "organic" are often diluted.

The global market for organic cosmetics is booming. Sweden is also experiencing strong growth, driven mainly by increased consumer awareness and health trends.

The Swedish market is relatively concentrated when looking at company sales, where L'Oréal prevails in terms of market share. Moreover, E-commerce is gaining prominence as a distribution channel of organic cosmetics.

1.2 The global market's growth

Source: ****

The global market for organic and natural cosmetics is projected to grow at a strong pace of CAGR *.**% per year to reach $**.* billion in ****.

Europe is the largest consumer of this product category, followed by North America. Moreover, hair products will see the highest growth in demand (***) until **** according to ...

1.3 The domestic market signals strength

Source: ****

The Swedish market for organic cosmetics represented a mere *% of the total cosmetics market size in ****. Nevertheless, the market is growing at rapid pace, and between **** and **** the market is expected to demonstrate a CAGR of **.**%. This implies that in **** the market share of the organic cosmetics in Sweden will ...

1.4 International Trade

This section analyses Sweden’s trade with cosmetics. Data is retrieved from UN Comtrade and in particular we use the code **** – “Cosmetic and toilet preparations; beauty, make-up and skin-care preparations (***), manicure or pedicure preparations " in order to obtain the figures below.

Although this code is not specific to organic cosmetics per ...

2.1 Profile Analysis: The Swedish Consumer

Overview

In general, three types of customers can be identified for organic cosmetics: first, we find consumers who buy organic products to treat or mitigate skin problems. Secondly, we find a customer segment which looks to limit effects on for example the environment or animals involved in the production. By using ...

2.2 Demand Trends

Increasing life expectancy

Source: ****

The Swedish population is ageing and living longer. This is evident from the graph above, which shows that the life expectancy for women will increase from **.* years in **** to **.* in **** (***). For men, the increase will be *.* years which will put the life expectancy in **** to **.* years.

For ...

3.1 Market Overview

Source: ****

*this is the distribution in **** for cosmetics overall, so it is a proxy for organic cosmetics and may vary slightly.

3.2 Production

According to COSMOS organic cosmetics contain five categories of ingredients:

Water; Mineral elements; Physically processed agro-ingredients; Chemically processed agro-ingredients; Other ingredients.

Each category of ingredients must comply with specific requirements and different regulations. In addition, it is necessary to identify the percentage of organic products in each category. For more information ...

3.3 Distribution

In Sweden, approximately ** natural and organic cosmetics brands are distributed through eight primary retailers which include The Body Shop, Medstop Apotek, Åhlens, Kronans Droghandel, Apoteket and Nature – Livets apotek, Life – Naturligt Hälsa, and Kicks.

The Swedish cosmetics market is characterized by intense competition in the sector and is dominated by ...

4.1 Product Analysis

Labelling in cosmetics can cause confusion; for instance, products which are natural are not necessarily organic. The FDA states that they have no exact definition of organic cosmetics, and the same applies in Sweden. Nevertheless, in general, if different criterions are adhered to, it is plausible to assume that a product ...

4.2 Price Analysis

Source: ****

The graph above depicts the evolution of prices in the Swedish cosmetics market. In particular, we use the code **** “Cosmetics” from the Swedish National Statistics Office (***) to identify the evolution of prices.

The base year is ****, where the value is ***; accordingly, a value of *** means that, on average, prices have ...

4.3 Supply Trends

Labelling and certification

Although there are no bodies with exact defintions of an organic product, labelling is an important step in the process of identifying products which adhere to the organic paradigm. However, many consumers express a difficulty in navigating through the djungle of different labels. The fact that so many ...

5.1 Current Regulation

Regulation within cosmetics is strict, and in particular there are specific rules and guidelines around marketing.

Sweden is impacted by EU regulation. On this level, we find the following guidelines:

Regulation (***); Regulation (***) No ***/**** of ** July **** laying down common criteria for the justification of claims used in relation to cosmetic products

Moreover, ...