The beauty industry worldwide has been evolving over the past few years, with social media and changing definitions of attractiveness driving forces. In today’s Insight Flash, we dig into how the Beauty Products subindustry has been changing in the UK, focusing on online versus offline sales for direct-to-consumer brands, top spend growth, and average ticket sizes.
Like many sectors, UK Beauty Products saw a decline in spend at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring. Although the subindustry recovered to positive growth of 6.7% y/y in July, this was driven entirely by 55.4% growth of online spend, while offline spend declined -20.1%. In recent months, those trends have reversed as UK stores reopened. In July 2021, online Beauty Products spend was down -24.7% while offline spend was up slightly by 0.8%.
Subindustry Trends
Although many brands were lapping last year’s store closures, it is still interesting to see which brands have seen the most direct-to-consumer growth in the last year. The top performers spanned several different types of beauty products, with Ameliorate’s skincare growing the fastest, followed by Lancome’s broader offering and local Jo Malone’s fragrance-driven line.
Brand Growth
The top growth brands also tended to be higher-end brands. Jo Malone had the third-highest spend growth last year but the highest average ticket at £87.06. Lancome, with the second-highest spend growth, had the third-highest ticket at £64.85.
Average Ticket
