The New Table Stakes in 2025:

Balancing global business and market dynamics with the demands of increasingly personalized local preferences and micro communities are dual imperatives to win in high value, fast growing beauty markets.

Expertly leveraging AI and consumer insights to find partner alignment and build consumer affinity within and across emerging and developed markets have become the cornerstones for successful global expansion.

Homegrown brands: Across fast growing emerging markets, homegrown brands leverage a built in advantages building consumer affinity through the immediate power of localization leapfrogging their western counterparts across fragrance, makeup and more recently, skincare. Nowhere is this more visible than in China where multiple homegrown skincare brands comprised Douyin/TikTok’s Top 10 list on 11.11.24 displacing well-known western brands.

Double down on insight-led localization: To counter this intrinsic advantage, in 2025, western brands must double down on insight led localization to successfully enter and achieve scale in high value beauty markets.

At the same time, brands must be laser focused on getting partner fit and alignment right: this cornerstone of global brand building is often given short shrift as US growth strategy frequently isn’t de-coupled from the international roadmap. The assumption that the US partner has the same footprint ex-US creates a mismatch in expectations.

Bridging that gap when roadmapping expansion is essential to ensure that global business goals are fully met.

Market Snapshots: India, MEA

India’s beauty market is forecast to grow from $32.5BN in 2025 to $36.5BN by 2028 at a 2.8% CAGR according to Statista.

Notably, within MEA, the Beauty and Personal Care market in the GCC is projected to experience an annual growth of 3.8.% through 2029 reaching over $11B from $9.6B in 2025 according to Statista. Both UAE and Saudi are the standout markets in the region where pharmacy and specialty retailers are dominant channels.

Playing the Long Game in China: By contrast, China’s beauty market is projected to reach $96BN in 2027 growing at a 8% CAGR outpacing the overall market.

Clearly, while all eyes are trained on India and MENA, rule out China at your peril. Brands playing the long game will reap the rewards.

Similarly, table stakes for success in China, India and MENA, is a deep knowledge of rapidly evolving market and consumer dynamics and channel mix. Those brands armed with strategic, actionable insights will reap the rewards by striking a meaningful and resonant chord with an increasingly sophisticated Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern consumer.

Future proof global expansion: To successfully grow,, scale and win,, brands must understand their brand moat, its defensibility and benchmark effectively across markets. By expanding through insight-led localization, brands will identify those levers of their value proposition that resonate; get purpose-led innovation and product/market fit right, and message effectively to drive engagement, brand momentum, conversion, repeat purchase and scale.

Let’s connect to explore how Frisson Beauty can roadmap, drive and future proof your global growth.