Despite a persistently subdued consumer climate, the beauty care sector is proving extremely robust in 2025. The highest growth is recorded by other beauty care products — including foot care, hair removal, and baby care products excluding bath or shower additives — with an increase of 14.1 per cent. Skin and facial care products are also growing strongly, up 11.1 per cent, followed by hair care products, which see their turnover rise by 8.1 per cent. This development underlines that consumers are consciously investing in their wellbeing even in uncertain times.

Clean and well-kept clothing remains highly important to consumers in 2025. Despite an overall subdued consumer climate, the home care sector continues to grow, confirming its high relevance in everyday life. The highest growth is recorded by delicate and specialist detergents, which are up 14.8 per cent. Fabric softeners also remain popular, rising by 5.8 per cent. Consumers are likewise spending more on universal, full-wash, and colour detergents (up 3.9 per cent).

In 2025, drugstores remain by far the most important sales channel for beauty care products. 53 per cent of purchases are made through this channel, confirming its leading role. In second place is specialist retail with 18 per cent, which continues to represent a stable force in the market. E-commerce is developing particularly dynamically, recording strong growth of 22.5 per cent and reaching a market share of 9 per cent. Online retail has now edged ahead of discounters and is becoming increasingly important to consumers.

In the home care sector, 2025 clearly shows that consumers continue to rely primarily on traditional retail. 36 per cent of laundry, care, and cleaning products are purchased in drugstores, which thus occupies an unchallenged leading role in distribution. Discounters also remain a key sales channel with 27 per cent. E-commerce is developing dynamically and growing by 12.7 per cent, yet with a market share of just 5 per cent it still reaches only a comparatively small segment. Despite this limited share, online retail demonstrates that digital shopping channels are gaining in importance in the home care sector as well.

The economic situation of companies has deteriorated significantly compared to the previous year. Whilst in 2024 already more than half of IKW member companies reported suffering strongly or very strongly from rising costs in energy and raw materials, the figure has now risen to almost all of them: 92 per cent consider themselves considerably burdened. This is compounded by continuously rising regulatory requirements. Particularly alarming is the fact that 12 per cent of respondents now consider the existence of their company to be at risk — a marked increase compared to 9 per cent in the previous year.