Euromonitor International, a provider of strategic market research, says that emerging market consumers are still spending a good amount of cash on beauty and personal care. Value sales across emerging markets were up almost 10% in 2014 over the previous year at fixed U.S. dollar prices. However, annual growth did not reach double-digit levels for the first time in more than a decade.  

GCI reports that global beauty and personal care brands are now faced with a more reticent China, where the consumption culture of its mid-income consumers is changing; a more cash-strapped Brazil as the Brazilian economy is veering toward recession, and a more inward-looking Russia. Will India be the new China? GCI asks, since it was one of the best performing emerging markets for beauty and personal care in 2014, with retail sales climbing 15% from 2013.

India has some of the best growth prospects over the next five years from among all the emerging markets. India’s economy is notably being boosted by lower oil prices, and increasingly beauty-conscious urban consumers will have the money to spend on beauty products. These trends bode well for beauty and personal care categories such as deodorants, color cosmetics and men’s grooming.