Beauty industry fails to meet demand

LONDON: The strength of the ‘brown pound’— the term referring to the purchasing power of British Asians — is growing exponentially, but the multi-billion pound British beauty industry largely ignores this important segment of consumers.

Shop owners in areas with large minority of Indian origin such as Southall, Ealing, Harrow and Wembley in London, Leicester, Birmingham and Bradford continue to stock favour beauty products that are imported from the Indian sub-continent.

Few prefer to buy mainstream British beauty products. Products imported from India are endorsed by film stars such as Aishwarya Rai and others and are popular among women with roots in the Indian subcontinent.

A report by market analyst Mintel reveals that the £3.7 billion beauty industry is failing women from the Indian subcontinent and of Afro-Caribbean origin.

The report says that women of ethnic origin are big spenders and mainstream brands are starting to recognise this with the introduction of their own ethnic lines.

However, major retailers are yet to spot the potential of the ethnic beauty market.The report said that, with the right investment in products and advertising, the beauty market could be worth £88 million by 2012.