The beauty sector describes the industry that manufactures and distributes cosmetic products.
These include colour cosmetics, like foundation and mascara, skincare such as moisturisers and cleansers, haircare such as shampoos, conditioners and hair colours, and toiletries such as bubble bath and soap.
The manufacturing industry is dominated by a small number of multinational corporations that originated in the early 20th century, but the distribution and sale of cosmetics is spread among a wide range of different businesses. The largest cosmetic companies are Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal Paris, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, LVMH, Beiersdorf, Estée Lauder, Shiseido and Chanel.
Some things are starting to change. The beauty industry as we know it was built on western beauty standards. Now it has to cater to black and other ethnic minority standards as well due to changing market and political realities.
Western country populations are aging. This means that the product mix needs to change for these companies and aesthetic standards need to evolve.
South East and East Asia has gone from being the poorest parts of the world to hosting the fastest growing economies. The ranks of the middle class have exploded in Asia as they declined in the western world due to globalisation.
This also means a very different aesthetic and expectation of what it means and looks like. These are also the the markets were the next generation of industry manufacturing giants will hail from. Shiseido from Japan has an early mover advantage, although others like Innisfree from Korea are expanding across Asia and beyond.
When I was a child my Dad taught me how to use an electric razor and helped me buy my first one a Philips Philishave Tracer.
Wet shaving wasn’t as popular in the 1970s and 80s as it was synonymous with cuts and pieces of tissue paper stuck to your face. My Dad used a vintage Philips two-head razor from the mid 1960s that fitted comfortably in the palm and came in a smart case. All of this packaging gave out the message that razors were expensive.
When it came to getting my own razor, something expensive was a waste of good money that could have been spent on records or a great personal stereo from the likes of Aiwa.
The second decision you wanted to make was did you want a ‘foil razor’ like Braun or Remington? Or a rotary razor, which was the Philips unique selling proposition. My Dad was a Philips fan, he valued that it was easy to repair and less delicate than its competitors.
That’s where the Phillishave Tracer came in. It was Philips cheapest razor.
Cheap didn’t mean cheaply made, Philips still made a razor that was built to last. It was small, easy to use and care for. After almost 20 years, this one still works.
Compared to modern Philips razors it was was unsophisticated. The beard and sideboard trimmer has a habit of yanking hairs right off your face. The heads don’t shave terribly close, because don’t have the fancy head geometry of newer razors that match the shape of your jawline.
You couldn’t ‘wet shave’ with it as water didn’t agree wit it. Rechargeable batteries were a novelty on high end razors so you were tethered by the cable. I personally didn’t find this a problem as I used to shave in the bathroom mirror.
The graphic design and logo typography aren’t the greatest examples of classic design, but when you are 14 or 15 and you had one of these it started to feel that you were growing up fast. More product write-ups here.
What is Carlos Slim up to? | beyondbrics – Carlos Slim has been buying distressed mobile telecom assets in Europe and Argentina. Carlos Slim is a Mexican businessman. Grupo Carso is the holding company that Carlos Slim uses to buy these firms.
It’s the outlets, stupid | Material World – interesting that outlets are big earners for luxury brands when you think about luxury being about exclusivity and scarcity. Coach and Tory Birch make more at their outlets than they do in their ‘normal’ retail
Cathay’s Discovery to go digital – I prefer the thinking time that air travel provides so am not a universal fan of in flight wi-fi but I appreciate the technical feat that making it happen has caused
Ferdinand A. Porsche, 76, Dies – Designed Celebrated 911 – NYTimes.com – Butzi Porsche dead. Butzi Porsche came from a family of engineers. His grandfather led the original team behind the Volkswagen Beetle. His father had been part of that engineering team and went on to found what we now know as Porsche. However, Butzi Porsche wasn’t engineer but a designer with technical chops. After an infamous meeting of the Porsche family, no members were allowed to work at Porsche. Butzi Porsche didn’t get to do more after he designed the 911. Instead Butzi Porsche started Porsche Design. Butzi Porsche did product design for other companies. Porsche Design also came out with its own products with Butzi Porsche designing watches, glasses and more. Butzi Porsche resigned from Porsche Design in 2005 due to ill health.
Why Are So Many Americans Single? : The New Yorker – single living was not a social aberration but an inevitable outgrowth of mainstream liberal values. Supported by modern communications platforms and urban living infrastructure: coffee shops, laundrettes
Kraft break-up yields marketing shift: Warc.com – the break-up is ironic when you look at the trouble they went to, in order to buy Cadburys and then break their business down broadly into Cadburys + Jacobs Suchard vs Kraft US.
HK’s rich hesitate to have babies | SCMP.com – interesting takeaways: didn’t want the emotional commitment, time poverty, financial stability / too small a living space and concerned about the local environment not being suitable for children. It was interesting that the education system was given such a hard time, given that it’s better than the UK system (paywall)
agnès b. | VICE – great interview with French fashion designer agnés b
Marketing
Fueling the hunger for The Hunger Games – The New York Times – really interesting comment: …during the 1980s you bought the poster and once a year went to a convention and met your people for something like Star Trek (and Star Wars). It misses out the fact that you are likely to have had real-world friends that you would have talked about it with as well – marketers now seem blindsided to the real-world
The Little White Box That Can Hack Your Network | Wired.com – the Pwnplug is a low-powered Linux computer loaded with hacking tool kits. The Pwnplug can crack wi-fi or power over ethernet connections in theory. It also illustrates the James Bond world that we live in, where the Pwnplug could look like anything, the only challenge being power. Bring your own technology poses additional challenges and would help conceal a Pwnplug. Also IT can’t dismantle or x-ray every every plug socket, phone charger, desk fan or extension lead in the building looking or a Pwnplug. Over time the components for a Pwnplug will get smaller and smaller
Sugar Cane 洗护包-牛仔裤洗护包心水推荐“洗濯屋 仕上屋” ‹ CatWhy 潮流追踪 – interesting move by Sugar Cane jeans – detergent to keep your denim in tip-top shape, coming in both premium care and vintage wash look options
Nissan May Revive Datsun – WSJ.com – brings back memories of the headmistress at my primary school who used to drive a Datsun Cherry 100a two-door in bright yellow (ironically this had sportier styling than the Coupé which looked more like a van from some angles)
The final piece of Zynga’s Z Cloud revealed — Cloud Computing News – Zynga is a gaming company with the action being online rather than in the client device hence the need for Z Cloud computing platform. Z Cloud would facilitate player accounts, the sale of virtual goods and real time game play for tens of millions of game users. Given this requirement Z Cloud must be secure in nature and have extensive computing, storage and network assets.
UK, France may lose top Moody’s rating – not terribly surprised, the increased VAT likely affected government income and the UK is inextricably linked to the EU by trade
