We are all still living through and trying to find our footing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the African cosmetics industry is no different. African governments across the continent, much like the rest of the world, didn’t take a standardized approach to the outbreak of the virus.

South Africa, one of the largest cosmetics markets and one of the worst hit by the pandemic, reported its first confirmed case on March 5, and just 10 days later the country declared a national state of disaster. Color cosmetics and fragrances were not classified “essential” by the South African government and this meant that during the height of COVID-19 lockdown, these companies and brands were forced to halt all production.

The manufacture of personal hygiene, skin care, hair care, deodorants and sanitary items continued— with a reduced work force and output, due to strict health and safety policies.

L’Oréal South Africa dedicated its Midrand, Johannesburg facility to produce hand sanitizers under its Garnier brand to support the needs of local health facilities, communities and retailers. L’Oréal donated 20,000 hand sanitizers from the initial production run to the South African COVID-19 Solidarity Fund.

These changes echoed across the continent with plans to contain the spread of the virus and mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 virus. As we went to press, 34 of the 54 nation states at some point introduced lockdowns or curfews. As a result of these emergency procedures, the supply of raw materials to the cosmetics industry, as well as the transportation of finished products to the end-consumer, was thrown into disarray for several months. Complete operational shutdowns meant that services, retail, wholesale, hospitality, supply chain and all operational aspects of the industry came to a grinding halt overnight.

Much like the rest of the world, once lockdowns started to ease, contactless deliveries for prepaid packages were rapidly implemented in major cities.

“In my 15 years of doing business, I have never had to close shop—ever,” insists Ego Iwegbu, founder, president and CEO of Miss Salon London. Iwegbu describes herself as a “multi-beautypreneur” with two service salons in Johannesburg, South Africa and Ms London Cosmetics, a mineral makeup range that’s available online and in national department stores including Woolworths, Superbalist.com, amazon.co.uk.

Observers estimate 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25 and has the added burden of coping with infectious diseases such as HIV, coronaviruses, tuberculosis, cholera, malaria, typhoid and ebola to name a few. African governments responded by setting up field hospitals in an attempt to keep the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. As a result of their history with infectious diseases, African countries demonstrated their ability to respond to and to handle the pandemic in a timely manner.

At the same time, relief efforts went into effect to bolster national economies. But as the virus spread, some countries were forced to introduce a tiered system of relief. The widespread impact on food, transportation and essential services meant that unless classified as essential, businesses couldn’t and weren’t allowed to operate or trade for months across the continent.

According to Euromonitor International, COVID-19 will lead to a slight decline in demand in value terms in 2020, as consumers focus on more essential products and availability is limited by store closures.

Liberating Technology

Jumia, an c-commerce, multi-brand site, adapted quickly to the changes, reworking its online portals in South Africa to offer essential items during the height of the COVID-19 crisis, working alongside Reckitt Benckiser and Procter & Gamble to offer essential products on its own site.

Most importantly, in Africa the service side of the cosmetics industry is primarily made up of female-founded businesses; these mostly small businesses empower women with much needed jobs and skills, and provide the opportunity to create a steady income. These businesses managed to survive by investing in social media and content creation.

“As business partners our strategy was to increase our social media reach and amplify our content, showing our potential and existing customers our products through lifestyle and entertaining content,” said Kika Osunde, co-founder of Good Hair Limited. “At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic we saw a big spike in sales.”

The pandemic without a doubt has influenced and shaped the consumer’s everyday life, as well as their purchasing behavior across personal care and beauty products. Only time will tell if the pandemic’s effects will be long lasting or if things can go back to “normal.”

Consumer-centric Strategy

Although average consumers are not pressured to look their best in the pandemic, they do have more time on their hands and very limited access to professional services that were so readily available pre-pandemic.

According to insights from the June edition of Global Data’s COVID-19 Recovery Survey Tracker, 31% of South African consumers bought fewer products since the outbreak of coronavirus while just 9% purchased more, or significantly more, than before.

Keeping a business operational in a pandemic when social distancing and no testers are permitted has been a challenge for most beauty brands globally; for most local African brands, surviving the pandemic has been a test of their business models as well as an opportunity to focus on what matters; the customer and their sustainability practices.

“We were lucky, as a digitally native brand that started selling our products off Instagram and later our website, we have always had a direct to consumer business with only a handful of stockists,” said Ore Runsewe, founder of Arami Essentials, a Nigerian affordable luxury brand.

“Particularly, during the lockdown we focused on sharing valuable content around wellness and self-care,” Runsewe noted.

While the retail implications as a result of complete lockdowns have been a stark reminder of the value of technology and the part it can play at creating long-term sustainable businesses, the African cosmetics industry is set to see changes for both large and small brands. The best way forward is a focus on consumer-centric strategies and digital innovations that aim to connect with consumers in an honest way.

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Zeze Oriaikhi-Sao
Malée, Founder
[email protected]

Zeze Oriaikhi-Sao is an entrepreneur, influential speaker, sought-after brand consultant and freelance columnist with a focus on Innovation, sustainability and leadership in the cosmetics, luxury goods and start-up industries. As the founder of Malée, Africa’s first global luxury fragrance and body care brand, an advisory board member at Innocos, the world beauty innovations summit, Oriaikhi-Sao has established herself as a leader in the African-made luxury goods market. She has been featured on CNN, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail. She hosts the podcast Third Culture Africans, and inspires a vast audience with entrepreneurial and lifestyle Insights at zezeonline.