Body care appliances

While the market seems saturated for traditional products, such as the hairdryer, there is still room for those released on the market more recently, like the hair curler and the electric toothbrush, still enjoying growth margins.

Generally, small appliances are not surveyed by the official statistics of the household appliance sector.

Only in two among the world nations, in fact, France and Switzerland, trade associations release data about their sales.

We can then add Spain to them, since sector reviews publish there the figures issued by a market research agency; these data have an unofficial character here.

In various other Countries, they indicate the sales of some small appliances, with particular focus on electrical coffeepots, vacuum cleaners, irons and blenders or mixers, which have nothing in common with the body care. For some other nations, we have sales data concerning one single appliance for the body care; it is the case of razors and epilators in Japan and of hairdryers in Brazil. Finally, in some nations, like Germany, the survey concerns small appliances in their whole, without distinguishing between one appliance and another.

The global spending

The overall spending trend is positive in 5 nations among the 7 examined ones, negative only in France and Switzerland, where globally markets are already close to saturation.

The spending per inhabitant shows the presence rate of appliances. We range from the maximum values in Japan, Switzerland and Germany to the lowest figures of Russia, where this kind of appliance is still deemed a luxury product. Obviously, in many cases the growth of a determinate appliance, like electrical toothbrushes, can be counterbalanced by the market saturation for another already highly diffused appliance, like the hairdryer.

The table shows the market variation referred to the last triennium. Situations here are very different from one nation to the other.

In France, the growth was neatly positive from 2012 to 2014, while in 2015 a settling took place. The variation between 2015 and 2014 was in fact by 0.8% for female epilators, by 11.3% for man shavers only while hairdryers, whose market is already saturated, were affected by the -2.0% downturn. GIFAM association does not survey electrical toothbrushes but it has confirmed their positive trend.

Spain lived instead a serious general crisis from 2013 to 2014, which has literally caused the drop of the sales of all durable consumer goods. Body care appliances were not spared by this situation. The recovery started in 2015 only, with modest rises for all mentioned appliances, by about 5-6 %.

Completely opposite is the situation of Switzerland. Here the trend was positive until 2014, with a setback in 2015. Nowadays, in this nation, appliances have a very high diffusion degree and the sales per inhabitant confirm it. The market saturation is its logic consequence.

In Japan and in Brazil they score sales respectively for electrical razors (in which are included here also epilators) and for hairdryers.

In the case of the first, the seat-warmer for the toilet holds instead notable relevance, since its sales and diffusion are neatly growing.

In conclusion, we can say that the markets of “traditional” products have basically reached their highest levels in the richest and most evolved nations, while “new” products, such as hair curlers, electric toothbrushes, electric scales for the bathroom and others are strongly growing everywhere.

In the less developed, but today growing, Countries, from Russia to South Africa, from Brazil to China, markets still seem to show prospects for all body care appliances. In China, for instance, the toilet seat warmer, of Japanese origin, is arousing notable success.

The news about these general trends are anyway based on fragmentary information: unluckily, there are no statistical data permitting to confirm them.

sales of body care appliances in some european countries (Millions of Euros)

(*) Estimate

Sources: GIFAM, FEA, ZVEI, Elektromarket, JEMA, IBGE

sales and diffusion of some body care appliances in some nations in 2012 and 2015

Sources: GIFAM, FEA, Electromarket, JEMA, IBGE