Polish cosmetics market performing well during crisis

2010-01-22



The year 2009 brought growth on the Polish cosmetics market despite the economic downturn, according to a report in Rzeczpospolita. By way of example, Ziaja, one of the largest Polish cosmetics producers, reported sales revenues of PLN 138m (€33.8m) in 2009, a 21% year-on-year increase. The company offers budget goods, and its growth was, therefore, significant, as the economic recession boosted the sales of inexpensive products.
The turnover of Laboratorium Kosmetyczne Dr Irena Eris also increased by around 4%, to PLN 164m (€40.1m) in 2009. Dorota Soszynska, the co-owner of Oceanic, a producer of cosmetics and pharmaceutical cosmetics, emphasises that both the cosmetics and pharmaceutical markets have appeared to be very stable during the recession. The company succeeded in introducing a new exclusive line, AA Exotic SPA, in the autumn of 2009, and its revenues increased by 15% to PLN 172m (€42.1m) in 2009.
Dax Cosmetics, another Polish cosmetics producer, achieved a record-breaking result, reporting a 21% y-o-y increase in 2009.
Foreign companies such as Nivea Polska and L’Oreal also reported improvements in sales, although they will not disclose their results before the official publication of their global financial reports.

We estimate the value of retail market of cosmetics and drugstore items in Poland at PLN 21bn in 2009 which represented an increase of 4.8% year on year. We expect that the market will develop further and in 2010 will be worth PLN 22.1bn. We define this market as total sales of drugstore and cosmetics shops, and sales of cosmetics, toiletries, personal hygiene products, accessories and household chemicals via all distribution channels.
Cosmetics seem to be resistant to the crisis as these are goods on which Polish female consumers do not like to cut spending. Thus even in difficult times they will want to be able to purchase cosmetics, especially those from the middle price shelf, which represent the main group of products sold by the majority of drugstore chains. On the other hand, sales of toilet items, personal hygiene products and household chemicals are more likely to suffer as consumers may tend to switch to cheaper substitutes or sacrifice those they deem to be less essential.

Patrycja Nalepa
PMR Retail Analyst