Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are thought to be the largest and strongest markets (both in terms of their size and their volume), according to the market analyst, which believes that they are likely to attract a lot of new sales and that international producers of anti-ageing products that support wellbeing will be attracted to the area, as they try to get the lion’s share of the new sales potential.
Facial care in particular is an area of skin wellness that is growing amongst populations in the UAE and Iran, with Iran experiencing a 26 per cent increase in the uptake of these types of products during the past year.
In the UAE, facial care is a similarly growing market, with products such as anti-ageing products, nourishing creams and facial moisturisers being by far the most popular choices (57 per cent of all cosmetics sold in the country). This is expected to grow even further in the year ahead, and is estimated to reach AED 307m (€65.4m) by the year 2015.
In Saudi Arabia, it is hand care that is proving the most popular area of the cosmetics market, with sales in this category growing a staggering 11 per cent during the past year. Alongside this, anti-ageing products and skin whiteners also proved popular, representing 50 per cent of total sales.