Clariant expanding digital capabilities
to provide more data in real time

What’s happening in the world of personal care? From an explosion in market digitalization, to the growing demand for new textures and formats, consumers are seeking quick and effective solutions for their ever-evolving needs. At Clariant, in 2021 and beyond, we believe these needs stem from a number of things - from e-commerce and tech tools that help customers get to market more quickly, to sustainable and innovative product formats with enabling ingredient technologies.

As a global leader in specialty chemicals, one of Clariant’s core business areas is Care Chemicals. It’s a highly consumer focused and lifestyle-driven sector based around comfort and wellbeing. As a formulation solutions provider, with products that offer superior performance and a favorable sustainability profile, our key relationships are with our customers, and we also have our finger on the digitalization pulse throughout the value chain and the end consumer. Working with industry partners, our personal care team helps to deliver optimal solutions to emerging trends and to stay ahead of the market.

What are some of the specific tools that Clariant has launched recently that help bring customers closer and help them to keep their fingers on the pulse?

Michael Haspel: Clarihub is our free digital portal that is a one stop shop for customers and that we have just launched. It helps us to respond immediately to customer needs, providing real time ingredient data, 24/7 access to documents and ingredient related information such as MSDS and TDS files, ecolabel information, trend reports, webinars and ingredient selection tools to inspire new formulations.

The portal also offers the latest insights through BeautyForward, our global trend platform for the Personal Care industry.  The purpose of BeautyForward is to inspire and guide – connecting market trends with formulations and Clariant ingredients. Relevant trends are identified and quantified through market research. These are then curated into kits and supporting materials to bring these prototypes to life for customers and their projects.

Another exciting digital development that has also just been launched is our North American Consumer Care Innovation Center virtual tour. Our Innovation Center in New Providence, New Jersey is a cutting-edge collaborative space where our highly talented formulators and chemists create new ingredients, formulations and product concepts to inspire customers. It’s a place designed for customers to work together with our teams and to come up with new ideas that capitalize on emerging trends, validate performance claims and solve problems with challenging product formulations. At a time when it’s more difficult to travel we still want to be able to connect with customers and the virtual tour allows us to do this, showcasing our capabilities and empowering them to access the resources needed for the development and use of new ingredients and formulations.  

Clariant’s Formulation Studio is another digital tool available to customers, showcasing creations from our Innovation Center in New Jersey using our innovative ingredients. The goal is to support customers in staying one step ahead of the current market trends and to provide data that’s relevant to validating performance claims, helping to envision the product and formulation concepts as a consumer would perceive them.

What key trends will have the biggest impact on customers in this coming year, and how will Clariant address them?

We're always looking at the different trends that are emerging and it’s evident that the current trends are not going anywhere, anytime soon. These include reconnecting safely post COVID-19 and the hygiene vigilance that comes with this; the importance of brand values in purchasing decisions, such as sustainability, diversity and inclusion; and the end consumer desire for personalized solutions that deliver individualized results.

As people emerge into post-pandemic life some product types are resurging, including skincare, haircare and the comeback of cosmetic beauty, particularly with a focus on the eye area. We see the trend that consumers largely want to maintain protective behaviors, and this will be made easier with value-added products. Clariant is at the forefront of solutions to create personal care products that offer hygiene claims but also care and experiential benefits. Our ingredients enable elevated sensory profiles, and the ability to create transformational and unique product formats. We’ve created formulations to showcase this, most recently in BeautyForward and ReMagine. Be on the lookout for even more to come next year.

Consumers will continue to seek inclusive and representative options on a growing scale. Consumers are looking for personalized products that fit their specific needs. Clariant helps our customers create solutions that are able to be tweaked based on individual consumers diverse day-to-day needs. It’s exciting to be at the forefront of helping to create technology and products that lend themselves to this level of personalization.

Sustainability is more than a trend in this industry, but more and more a must-have for consumers. As the demand for transparency and brand responsibility grows, Clariant’s Blue-Beauty formulations for example, showcase waterless formats to help save this precious resource.

All of these are driven forward by digitalization in a world where e-commerce is the norm, data-backed ingredients and substantiated claims are available at the click of a button and consumers use new tools like digital avatars to make product choices. This kind of digitalization is no longer a nice to have, it’s a customer expectation and therefore integral to Clariant’s commercial strategy now and going forward.  

How can interested formulators learn more about PC concepts and inspirations?

In this digital world it’s easy to connect with us online! Discover us at Clariant.com/personalcare, sign up for free to our digital portal Clarihub, find us on major industry channels such as UL Prospector or email us at pcnoram@clariant.com.

Our dedicated personal care team will also be at this year’s NYSCC Suppliers’ Day at booth #801, one of the most important annual events on the industry calendar in North America. It attracts thousands of the leading players in the market and has become the showcase for the latest innovations and educational programming, on top of being an excellent networking opportunity. We are very excited about reconnecting with customers, partners and other key leaders in the industry, and Clariant will be ready to showcase innovations that are addressing the latest consumer trends in the personal care space.