Affordability is key when buying body care products: Study

That is the reason contributing to a 10% decline in sales of body care products from 2007 to 2012, says the study.

Mintel senior analyst Molly Maier feels that the body care market’s poor performance ispossibly due to the prolonged period of economic uncertainty that has made consumers adjustitheir use of nonessentials.

"Product affordability is the most important attribute right now, therefore keeping products within a medium or low price point will be key in maintaining consumer participation," added Maier.

According to the study, in the saturated body care market, the hand and body lotion are the most common segments.

The study has revealed that 81% of consumers use body lotion and 89% hand lotion, up from 76% and 84% respectively, since 2011.

Women are leading the sector on more than men as 97% of women use hand lotion and 96% use body lotion, compared to 80% and 66% among men, respectively.

The study has found that in order to be careful, most of the people are using lotions designed for a specific body part on other areas. 94% of respondents, however, said they use hand lotion on their hands, another 28% say they use it on their feet, 43% on their arms and 23% on their legs.

But, there are some areas where people are very particular when it comes to to their body care needs.

The researcher said approximately three-quarters (73%) of people use more lotion in the winter/colder months and 67% say they buy different products depending on their need at the time, such as dry skin in the winter or gradual tanner in the summer.

While 67% of lotion users prefer bottles with pump dispensers to jars and tubes, 59% would consider buying hand or body lotion in refillable packaging.

With all the options available, only 27% of body care consumers, however, say they have yet to find a lotion that works well for them.

The research has shown that the majority of interest of body care product by users are mainly in products that offer extra moisture (61%); nevertheless, there is a growing interest in products that claim to have anti-aging qualities.

Mintel said 30% of weekly users buy anti-aging products compared with 23% in 2011.

Products that claim to be all natural are also growing in popularity with nearly one-third of product users (31%) plumping for them.