Beauty IO, Interview, Rodman/Nutraceuticals World

August Issue

Comments from Maryellen Molyneaux, Managing Partner, Natural Marketing Institute

How has the market for beauty products (topical and ingestible) been performing in recent years?

Household penetration for both topical and ingestible beauty products is increasing specifically across natural and functional topicals as well as new beauty from within formulations.

What principal factors are shaping the market today?

The desire for clean products/ingredients continues to grow with consumers who want less chemicals in their products due to increased concerns about those chemicals.

In addition, many brands both niche and mainstream have put new efforts into formulations as well as marketing communications. We’ve also seen more new brand initiatives from larger mainstream companies such as Ulta’s new clean product certifications. These types of programs are educating mainstream consumers and growing the categories.

What do consumers expect/demand from brands/products?

While Conventional attributes such as “effective” and “good value” are highly important to personal care product purchase; the highest growth is strong across sustainable attributes and they show the most growth over the past 5 years. Effective and good-value are declining indicating consumers are more interested in clean products.

% GROWTH in attributes consumers indicate are very important toward their personal care product purchase 2015 – 2019

Orange shading denotes conventional attributes; Green shading denotes environmental/sustainable attributes

How has the pandemic affected consumer behaviors and purchases? Is “beauty” a priority these days?

Due to stay at home jobs, more women are foregoing wearing make-up these days. However, skin care has remained just as important as it was prior to the pandemic and maybe more-so as the condition of your skin is more visible.

Natural Marketing Institute is an international strategic consulting, market research, and business development firm specializing in the health, wellness, and sustainability marketplace.