Grow Your Brand By Knowing Myanmar Women’s Beauty Products Buying Insight

         Social media and online websites have become a central platform to check the quality and effectiveness of beauty products. Through this article, we will share the insights of women’s beauty products. This essential knowledge will be effective guidance in gaining market share or penetrating the beauty segment of the Myanmar market.

Healthy skin improves women self-confidence

          In today’s world, natural and glow skin is the new trend of beauty. According to the perception that everyone is beautiful in the way they are, Myanmar women are taking care of themselves more to look good naturally. Even if you have fair skin, light skin, or dark skin, you can be beautiful too.

        Myanmar women are now into the beauty product that contains natural extract and can give their skin moisture. The common reason is that they feel safe and skin will look healthier with moisture. Hence, to be a successful brand in the Myanmar beauty market, showing specific solutions to fulfill customers’ needs is the key factor of this success.

        Nature Republic is a very good case study. In Myanmar E-commerce Trends 2020 I have mentioned that Shwe Pyi Nann , The Exclusive Distributor of Nature Republic in Myanmar claimed that Nature Republic is Top 3 Best Selling Korean Cosmetics Brands in Myanmar. Nature Republic presents a strong highlight of the brand which is providing various solutions for different skin troubles and gives healthy skincare with a mild prescription from natural extracts such as aloe vera, honey, and black bean. This highlight can fulfill the requirements of the customers perfectly.

         Healthy skin can make women feel confident without wearing much makeup. Hence, Myanmar women these days are spending more on skincare products than makeup. When women use skincare, they all have different purposes. The most popular purposes are taking care of themselves, preventing signs of aging and pimples, and looking better.  Of course, if women invest money in something they must choose it carefully and expect the best result too. 

Effectiveness and reasonable price is the main point

           Last 10 years ago, famous beauty brands were getting strong brand loyalty from customers but not in these few years. Brand loyalty decreased slightly in the Myanmar market. Especially in the beauty market, there are many new products offering customers to try. 

           According to Deloitte’s Myanmar Consumer Survey (2019),  survey respondents appear to have become less price-sensitive. They were prioritizing quality as the most important factor in their buying decisions.  One contributing factor could be the increase in foreign investments and the rapid growth of foreign brands in the Myanmar market. These factors have in turn led to higher employment rates in the services and manufacturing sectors. Especially in urban areas, there is a higher consumer spending power and reduced price sensitivity.

Product benefits must match with my skin type.

           In 2020, many ladies mentioned that the most important factors in their buying decisions are the product benefit (quality) and reasonable price.  Product benefits must match with their “skin type”. Some have dry skin when some have oily skin or even someone has sensitive skin. So, the beauty product that they want must be suitable for their skin type. Especially for skincare products, the more effective, the more women appreciate it.

            For makeup such as foundation, powder, and lipstick, “skin tone” is also the thing that Myanmar women consider.  Anyway, the only way to prove that the product really works is by trying. Women will keep trying new products as long as they find the best product that works with them.

            The key factor of success for the brand is to sell straightly to the point. Myanmar women are caring about skin type and skin tone. Therefore, show them that your product has a perfect benefit for a specific skin type and suitable for a particular skin tone.

           Another key that can fulfill Myanmar women’s desire is the trial kit and travel kit. Myanmar women prefer to buy a small kit when they want to try a new (high-priced) product. Cheap price of the trial kit helps to make decisions become easier.

           Before making the decision many women usually do a small research to check about the product benefit and more detail. Some ladies follow the suggestion of the BA (Beauty Advisor) at the counter, some ask from people around them and the most popular way is reading the product review from many people in the online world. 

Research online then buy from the offline channel 

            More than half of Myanmar women prefer buying beauty products at the store more than shop from the website. They shop online only when the brand is very famous and have its own official online store or the product is not available in their area. 

           The main reason is that women love to try the product first. They need to make sure that the color tone, smell, or texture of the product is suitable for them. On the other hand, with online shopping, sometimes the delivery service cost is pretty painful. The delivery process also takes too long.

           Even though Myanmar people don’t really shop online but online media is still necessary. Because the information about the latest trend of beauty products and many product reviews is in online media. So most Myanmar women still use the website and social media to check out beauty product trends. 

            As I mentioned before, the thing that most Myanmar women do before buying a beauty product is reading product reviews in the online world. Myanmar women in 2020, read more than 20 reviews from online. Some of the women go to Google and search for the product review which is not only in Myanmar but also around the world. Another trend is reading the comment below selling posts on the brand’s Facebook page and beauty bloggers’ posts.

Word of mouth is more powerful than influencers

             In 2020, The most famous beauty bloggers in Myanmar are Nay Chi Oo (Beauty by Nay Chi), Win Min Than (Yangon In My Heart), and Teddy (Beauty by Teddy). Many people in Myanmar like to watch their makeup tutorials videos and self-care routine live. Three of them have a different style of doing makeup but the same thing that they have is confidence and self-esteem. They encourage people to proud to be themself and be beautiful in the way they are.

            Beauty bloggers are one type of influencers that followed by many people. They can create product awareness very well but not everyone believes them and buy a product according to their advice.  

• The first reason is personal needs. Women have different kinds of skin so they need a different product. Then, most people just watch their videos and learn the techniques of applying makeup. 
• People know that sometimes beauty bloggers review products because they get sponsorship. So they trust the review from influencer only 50/50. 

           Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that beauty blogger has no impact on buying decisions. The thing is most Myanmar women are now believing in the comment or the review from normal people more than bloggers (that might review because they got sponsored).  Most Myanmar women buy products based on real customer reviews and discussion amongst women in social media. Then they will check the product’s benefit on each skin type and make a purchase.

Another source for checking beauty product reviews is Facebook Group. In the groups, members are sharing their beauty problems and giving suggestions to each other. Some also share the promotion of beauty products and give reviews too. More than 10k-50k of Myanmar members in the group interested in the reviews because they feel more comfortable and feel that the reviews are honest reviews from users. 

Thai brands get awareness but not much sales lead.

           The impact of internet access makes the world smaller. Myanmar women get to know more global brands and many brands from Asia countries like Korea, Japan, and Thailand.
Myanmar women’s Top 5 beauty brands for skincare are Innisfree, L’Oreal, Nature Republic, Garnier, and SKII. For makeup are Maybelline, Catrice, L’Oreal, Revlon, and Innisfree. 

Innisfree is one of the brands that can be a very good example of beauty brands that succeed in the Myanmar market. The brand can create its own social presence, get positive customer reviews, and build trust in e-commerce platforms too.

           For Thai brands, Cutepress, De Leaf Thanaka, and Beauty Buffet are the most famous Thai brands in Myanmar. They mostly knew Thai brands from Facebook. Especially when the brands launched online campaigns or from big influencers’ content. Most of the Myanmar women said that they know Cute Press from the online campaigns with a gift box.

Thai Brands are well known in Myanmar but are not their first preferred options to buy since Korean brands remain the first choice of purchase. This according to a woman in Yangon could be because of how they trust Korean quality over Thai, another woman informed us about how some Thai brands prove to be difficult to buy and are available only at retail stores.

The important things that many brands are missing are…

• Understanding the customer journey and insight
• How to build awareness, trust, and sale lead
• Strong e-commerce platforms and distribution channel

We are happy to help you!

           No matter if you want to sell products for Myanmar people in Thailand or Myanmar people in Myanmar, the Happio team will pave the way for you. With our Myanmar specialist team, we can provide the solutions to all the problems mentioned above with our service.

Myanmar market research:
We can research the Myanmar market and find the best opportunity for your brand to capitalize on it. As for this article, we did the research in Thai, English, and Burmese to get the most information and did the survey with Myanmar women from over 10 cities to get insight from them.

Build a brand’s social presence with local influencers:
          We have a very strong connection with nano and micro-influencers both in more than 10 cities in Myanmar. These influencers are ready to give a positive real customer’s reviews and comments on your page in a natural way. The honest review by comments or simple posts can build trust and persuade people in their circle more than the famous people review.

Strong O2O service to a strong e-commerce platform:
understanding Myanmar market provides us a platform to solve problems of a lack of trust and product reachability. Moreover, we have our own platform to solve the problem of delivery service which is the main barrier to e-commerce too.

          If you are interested to enter the Myanmar market, you don’t have to be worried about anything that would happen. Just contact us, we will provide you the best consultation from finding customer insight until selling on the e-commerce platform. Our service is available not only in big cities like Yangon and Mandalay but also in other cities all over Myanmar too. Any problem you concern, let the Happio team fulfill it.  

References:

https://www.duwun.com.mm/women/beauty-fashion/2020-mha-etsalamy-mitkpapama-id24565
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/sg/Documents/consumer-business/sea-cb-myanmar-consumer-survey-2020.pdf
https://mystylemyanmar.com/how-to-get-glow-skin/
https://mystylemyanmar.com/choose-the-best-lipstick-as-per-your-skin-tone/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/724626/reasons-for-women-s-skin-care-use-united-kingdom-uk/