The Cosmetic Outlook

For several years, the cosmetic market in Indonesia has been very promising. Brand owners are now competing to create new, diverse and efficient products. Based on data provided by compas.co.id, a market insight platform, the top three ranking beauty products are facial cleansers with the product achieving 26% of total sales, followed by serums with a 16% share and thirdly, moisturizers, accounting for 13% of sales.

As of now, facial cleansers are still dominated by multi-national companies such as Unilever with brands such as Ponds and Garnier, followed by local brands such as Wardah, with their Wardah Perfect Bright facial wash. On the contrary, most sales of serums and moisturizers are dominated by local brands ranging from MS Glow to Implora, and Somethinc as they compete with each other to create a product as good and attractive as possible.

Natural or Chemical?

Nowadays, Indonesians are very well-educated about the ingredients in the skincare they use. Consumers tend to do their own research about the ingredients in the skincare products they are looking for. The information about the ingredient can easily be found on the internet and the results obtained may determine the purchase. Therefore, it is very important for brand owners to always follow the trends that are currently loved by skincare users in Indonesia.

Based on a survey done by Statista, almost 96% consumers who use skincare in Indonesia choose products that contain natural ingredients, and the rest opt out of the one made of chemicals. However, natural ingredient takes a longer time to get the results in contrast to the products using chemicals.

There are lots of popular natural ingredients used in personal care products, such as Bakuchiol oil used for anti-aging, Centella asiatica to sooth the skin, or Aloe Vera for dry skin and sunburn. There are many advantages from using natural ingredients, one they’re less irritable to the skin which is good for sensitive skin, environmentally friendly, and they can provide the same efficacy as chemicals although requiring more time.

Natural ingredients in Indonesia are also relatively easy to register at the Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan (BPOM), the Indonesian Food and Drug Registration Agency. In fact, using traditional or natural ingredients has become a part of popular culture in Indonesia since several decades ago and these natural ingredients have been used in these products including body scrubs, flower water, and lotions. The ingredients commonly used are coconut oil (minyak Kelapa), aloe vera (lidah buaya), Aleurites moluccanus (Kemiri), rose water, etc.

Back to Basic Ingredients

Despite the love of natural ingredients in Indonesia, the popularity of using chemical or synthetic-based active ingredients still exists. Up until now, the use of skincare ingredient containing retinol or niacinamide is still very popular because of their clinically tested significant effect. Although these ingredients are considered old-fashioned ingredients, in these recent years, they are back on trend as it claims to improve the skin barrier for niacinamide and retinol for its anti-aging effect.

These basic ingredients are usually formulated for serum preparations which are very popular in Indonesia. One of the local brands popular with their retinol and niacinamide serums are Somethinc, Implora, and Azarine (who will be speaking at in-cosmetics Asia in November) and according to compas.co.id they can sell a total of up to 8 billion rupiah in total sales in 2021.

Following the K-trend

Trending ingredients in Indonesia are heavily influenced by Korean beauty. For example, in 2020, improving skin barrier was a trend in Korea. Soon, the niacinamide ingredient immediately went viral and majority of the brands produced skincare with it as an active ingredient, followed by the Retinol trend. This trend also influenced Indonesian’s product and named Niacinamide and Retinol as the most popular actives used in skin care nowadays.

Newest Hero Ingredient in Indonesia Market

The competition in the Indonesian cosmetic industry has become saturated. Currently, skincare manufacturers or brand owners need more unique new ingredients to freshen up the market. Active ingredients such as Evodia Rutaecarpa Fruit Extract as the example, can improve skin microcirculation which helps to boost the skin for a glow as well as reducing skin redness and even minimize skin pores. There is also Acmella Oleracea Extract which can give an instant botox or tightening effect right after its application. These two are the examples of unique actives that could bring something new in the market instead of using a ‘not-so-new’ active ingredient.

Good News from Indonesia

Good news came from the Indonesian government which stated that “Indonesia has the potential of plants that grow in various regions with a total of about 30,000 out of 40,000 species of plants in the world and with a high prospective to be developed due to the potential needs in local and global markets”. The government will continue to support the development of local natural cosmetic ingredients ahead in the 4.0 industrial era. In addition, the registration process of the natural ingredients cosmetics is not complicated anymore.

Enjoyed this article? Get more by subscribing to our newsletter!