Asian health and beauty brands catching up with F&B: Kantar

Asian health and beauty brands are catching up with their food and beverage counterparts in terms of value growth, thanks to their speed of innovation and better engagement with consumers, according to Kantar Worldpanel's fifth annual Brand Footprint study.

Indian skin-whitening brand Fair & Lovely is one of the Asia-based brands with the highest value growth. FMCG brands Brook Bond and Good Knight, both from India, as well as Indonesian coffee brand Kapal Api, were also cited for strong growth.

Overall, Asian F&B brands have surpassed their multinational counterparts by growing over twice as fast over the past year. The report names Clinic Plus, Colgate and Lifebuoy as the most chosen MNC brands in Asia, while Oishi, Sunsilk, Dettol, Chik and Vim and the top five MNC brands in terms of growth in Asia.

Asia recorded a profound slowdown in FMCG growth last year, falling from 6 percent in value growth in 2015 to 3 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, emerging markets such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Philippines are the drivers in FMCG value growth globally, with value growth of 9 percent in Sri Lanka and 6 percent in both Indonesia and Philippines. 

The report suggested that FMCG brands need to fight harder for their share of consumer spend, as the Asian salary growth hovers between 5 to 6 percent last year on average, while FMCG growth is between 2 to 3 percent.