We bring you the results of a recent monthly survey on makeup and skincare products. We sampled women, age 16 and older, in each of our Asian panels. See sampling details below.

The most remarkable finding from this survey is that women in Japan have vastly different purchase habits from women in other Asian markets (Figure 1, Figure 2). While most Japanese women primarily purchase skincare and makeup at drugstores and mail order stores, women in the rest of Asia are more likely to purchase at supermarkets, specialty cosmetics stores, and department stores.

We also asked women to tell us the main reasons why they purchase skincare and makeup at the locations they chose. Japanese women shop at drugstores largely to keep costs down, while they use mail-order stores for a variety of reasons, including the special line-up offered through this venue (Figure 3). In India, whether women shop at specialty cosmetic stores, department stores, or supermarkets/convenience stores, they are more concerned about the abundance of selection, convenience, and ability to make comparisons to other products than they are about cost (Figure 4).