SYBILLE CORNELSEN, ANSGAR BEHLER, HANS-MARTIN HAAKE
BASF Personal Care and Nutrition GmbH, Rheinpromenade 1, 40789 Monheim, Germany

 

Abstract

Environmental awareness influences consumers’ day-to-day purchasing decisions in an increasing number of product categories, including personal care. As a result, the market for natural and naturally derived personal care products has seen significant growth across all regions. Products, which are based on naturally derived ingredients have gone from niche to mainstream. However, at the same time, consumers still expect these products to deliver in terms of performance, functionality and efficacy. To meet this soaring demand, manufacturers of personal care products are constantly on the lookout for enhanced natural-based ingredients. Focusing on consumers’ desires and needs has led to the development of a new high-performance conditioner compound that is a combination of an emulsifier, a consistency agent and a conditioning agent, and consists solely of renewable and biodegradable raw materials.

INTRODUCTION

Consumers’ purchasing decisions are increasingly influenced by considerations about a product’s origin and its ecological impact. That is why naturally derived products have become popular and have moved from niche products to mainstream. Demand for such products continues to soar, reaching the personal care market long ago: many consumers are looking for environmentally compatible personal care products which still provide the desired performance. This neo-green trend has led to increased segmentation of the personal care market, and continues to offer significant opportunities for growth. Global sales of natural personal care products experienced double-digit growth between 2005 and 2010, to a total sales volume of 23 billion US dollars (Figure 1). There has been growth across all regions, with particularly high rates in Brazil and Asia Pacific (Figure 2) and a very consistent growth in the European market for natural personal care products. In recent years, total sales in Europe have risen steadily, with a compound annual growth rate of 11.1% between 2006 and 2011 (Figure 3) (1).

CLOSING THE GAP
As the ...