Flexibility is the new secret recipe of the cosmetics industry

Despite the overall weak economy, the cosmetics industry in Germany is holding its own in the end of 2023 with a national record turnover of more than 21 billion euros, with a renewed growth forecast for the coming year. The export of German products is also developing equally positively and will exceed 12 billion euros in 2023. Based on the number of members in the German Body Care and Detergent Industry Association (IKW), which claims to represent 95 percent of the members of the German market, this turnover is distributed among around 460 companies. Despite this overall positive picture, especially against the background of overall economic development, manufacturers are facing growing challenges. Above all, numerous contract manufacturers are affected, whose task is to develop ideas that are usually designed according to marketing aspects and to produce them ready for the market.

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Traditional patterns are losing importance.
Particularly in Germany, many companies in the cosmetics industry base their success on long-standing traditions and products developed many decades ago, from which brands have emerged that today help shape the reputation of entire corporations. At the same time, this principle of product-based success is increasingly reaching its limits. While in the past companies were able to retain customers in the long term and generate constant sales with special, carefully kept secret recipes, the market has changed significantly in recent years. On the one hand, it is now hardly possible for manufacturers to keep recipes “secret” in the long term; on the other hand, young consumers in particular are much less conscious of tradition and, above all, demand product properties, especially in terms of environmental friendliness, sustainability and health safety, which “old” ones do not. Recipes often no longer correspond. In return, innovative ability and trend awareness are becoming increasingly important.

Existing know-how increasingly worthless
Where cosmetics companies can no longer rest on past achievements, research and development are becoming increasingly important. At the same time, these are the areas that are increasingly putting pressure on medium-sized companies in particular and making it more difficult to enter the industry. In addition to the costs incurred in developing new products, the time factor is a difficult hurdle to overcome given the ever-faster changing trends in fashion and cosmetics.

Today, cosmetics companies focus primarily on marketing and sales issues. Small and medium-sized companies in particular are increasingly forgoing their own production facilities and instead commissioning highly specialized contract manufacturers. They, in turn, face the challenge of having to implement their clients' ideas as quickly as possible.

Functional mixtures accelerate product development
If you look closely, the number of ingredients in modern cosmetic products is limited. This opens up the opportunity for contract manufacturers to put together new products based on prefabricated mixtures, for example in the form of emulsifiers, stabilizers or thickeners. On the one hand, this eliminates the development effort and, on the other hand, the process of approving finished products is significantly shortened, as their components already have their own approvals. Contract manufacturers and manufacturers with their own production rely on suppliers such as PolyNeo GmbH  from Frankfurt am Main. With raw materials and functional mixtures, PolyNeo offers a growing selection of components for common types of cosmetics and care products, on the basis of which manufacturers can develop individual products with little effort. At the same time, PolyNeo takes on important tasks in trend management and thus supports manufacturers in developing products based on the recognizable and foreseeable wishes and needs of consumers. With a diverse international network of raw material suppliers, producers and developers, PolyNeo is able to provide a growing portfolio that also reflects trend topics such as sustainability, vegan cosmetics or neurocosmetics. As an exclusive partner of various international producers, PolyNeo guarantees a permanently reliable supply and can implement a transparent cost structure even for smaller purchase quantities.

“We monitor current trends in cosmetics worldwide,” explains Eduard Albrecht, Managing Director of PolyNeo GmbH. “Together with our partners, we are able to produce functional mixtures that also open up an international perspective for smaller, local manufacturers.”

One of the prominent partners of PolyNeo GmbH is the Hamburg company Cosmacon, founded in 2013 by Rainer Kröpke. In cooperation with PolyNeo, the renowned service provider for the cosmetics industry develops emulsions, stabilizers and other functional mixtures with, for example, moisturizing, antibacterial or antioxidant effects, which, as components of innovative cosmetic products, can contribute to the success of contract manufacturers and their clients.