Beauty Trends 2020, What’s Next? A Look Into This Year & Beyond.
9 Min Read |
With the avalanche of products and brands entering the beauty space, consumers’ choices have become overwhelming. To cut through all the confusion, some marketers are beginning to recognize underserved gaps in the market. Personalization, sustainability, intimate care, technology, and online are some of the most talked-about topics that are driving the boom in today’s beauty horizon and beyond.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Personalization rises in popularity as consumers seek products targeted to their specific needs. From mass to professional, customization takes various shapes in today’s beauty landscape and is set to break through even higher in 2020.
Many new brands entering the space turn to online quizzes to identify the profile and preference of a consumer. Examples of such brands include Hairstory and Madison Reed. Others, such as Lancôme and Bare Es-centuals, allow customers to customize a foundation based on their skin tone, desired coverage, and skin type.
Technology plays a key role in driving bespoke beauty experiences. In beauty devices, personalization is achieved via designated smartphone apps. These apps empower consumers with self-diagnosis, procedure timing, step-by-step directions, and much more. In retailing, Ulta teams up with You Cam Makeup app developer Perfect Corp, for online and in-store rollouts of its latest app, combining artificial intelligence with augmented reality to make product and shade recommendations, as well as live try-ons and skin diagnosis.
Professional beauty marketers are also becoming involved with personalization. TIGI launches Copyright Care custom hair services that allow consumers to receive an extensive diagnosis, which is translated into a personalized in-salon color application and at-home care routine. Goldwell’s Pure Pigments system enables hairdressers and customers to create personalized shine and tones, adding pigment drops to the standard Goldwell colors. SkinCeuticals’ Custom D.O.S.E serums allows doctors to customize treatment products for their patients in the office while they wait.
Cannabis Reaches New Highs
The cannabis craze continues as new brands continue to flood the market, from luxury and mass to professional. Retailers recognize the high growth potential of the cannabis market and expand shelf space to increase product offerings. High Beauty launches in Urban Outfitters, while Sephora and Ulta continue to bring exciting new brands to stores, such as Saint Jane, which launches its best-selling Luxury CBD Beauty Serum on Sephora’s website.
Spa marketers have also started to tap into this lucrative market that digitally native and luxe brands have already started to explore. Brands like Babor and Naturopathica incorporate CBD into their offerings throughout the year, while spas take the art of relaxation to a whole new level with the addition of CBD-infused treatments.
Education plays a key role in reaching new boundaries with cannabis, and marketers take it upon themselves to inform consumers about the properties of CBD. Brands such as Saint Jane Beauty and Cannabliss use social media to educate consumers on the soothing and anti-inflammatory benefits of CBD.
Beauty Care ‘Down There’
Intimate beauty is one of the hottest topics in beauty. Consumers and marketers alike are reexamining vaginal care with an eye on caring for the skin in the area beyond washes and wipes. Products that are trending in facial skincare, such as serums and oils, are gaining momentum in the segment, in addition to vaginal fitness products. Brands such as Vfit and Elvie offer Kegel devices to train muscles in the pelvic floor.
While those in Generation Z and millennials are driving the conversation around intimate beauty, many brands, such as MegsMenopause, are geared toward older consumers, targeting concerns such as vaginal dryness and others commonly associated with menopause. Other brands, such as The Honey Pot Company, target new and expecting mothers with their “Mommy-to-Be” lines. These brands seek to tackle common issues women face but are uncomfortable voicing to medical professionals.
Brands in the segment pay careful attention to ingredients and formulations in products, with many newcomers positioning themselves as natural or clean, Quim is a new, naturally positioned brand, inspired by multiple trends sweeping the industry. Its Happy Clam Everyday Oil, a moisturizing oil for the vagina infused with hemp CBD (cannabidiol) oil, has garnered press attention since its launch in January 2019.
Beards Are Here to Stay
A tiny but mighty category — beard care products — makes the biggest impact of all in the male grooming market. Tremendous growth of over 35% has been seen in 2018 due to the increased education by brands and media, coupled with new innovations. Consumers gravitate to beard care products with citrus or musky scents for treating and maintaining facial hair, as shaving continues to be less popular. While the beard care category was started by small, niche, indie brands entering salons and barbershops, larger players follow suit. Although entering the category recently, L’Oréal makes its way into the top 10 leading companies with its House 99 by David Beckham. As leading players and indie brands will continue to enter/expand in the category, merger and acquisition activity will begin to amp up.
In salons, beard services are on a roll. Remarkable double-digit growth has been seen in both the service count and the associated revenue so far this year. Salons have either added this service to their menu, or stylists are suggesting a beard trim; to their existing clients as profitable add-ons.
Buzz Around Sustainability Transparency
With more brands than ever declaring themselves natural or clean, the natural beauty movement is expected to continue to thrive. Key markets for natural personal care products, such as the United States and Canada, increase by 10%. Sustainability and transparency are the buzzwords with which the industry is complying. Companies are looking at various ways to become more sustainable, be it from the product or package perspective.
In the United States, indie brands pioneer the new standards of natural by using ingredient exclusion lists or hero ingredients to establish their positioning in the market. Wave-making newcomers, such as Bawdy Beauty and Tula, promote transparency in formulas and continue to research ingredients to create the safest formulas available. Other marketers, such as The Ordinary and Dr. Bronner’s, fully disclose ingredients on the product’s package.
Producing a naturally positioned product isn’t enough for today’s demanding consumer — it should also be packaged in recyclable materials. Brands such as Rocky Mountain Soap Co. take this eco-friendly commitment further by eliminating the use of plastic bottles for packaging shampoos and instead of creating a shampoo bar. In the professional haircare arena, Kevin. Murphy is in the process of making all of its packaging 100% from ocean waste plastic. Another example of a player widely involved in sustainable practices — this time, from the opposite part of the world — is Takara Belmont. O’Right, its professional organic brand from Taiwan, innovates with its packaging by making shampoo bottles fully biodegradable and suitable for growing a plant out from them.
Key markets for natural personal care products, such as the United States and Canada, increase by 10%. Sustainability and transparency are the buzzwords with which the industry is complying.
The Retail Revolution Is Online
The Internet is changing the way consumers shop, driven by convenience and the rise of digitally native brands. Amazon, in particular, has grown to be one of the most powerful online destinations for beauty in the last several years. From creating platforms dedicated to professional skincare and luxury brands to introducing its own private-label skincare line Belei, the e-retailer has become an unstoppable force.
In particular, Amazon is betting big on indies. Indie brands collectively account for nearly one-fourth of the overall beauty industry in the United States, and in 2019, Amazon increases its commitment to these brands by re-energizing its Indie Beauty digital shop, with enhanced navigation tools and emerging brands in the spotlight. Additionally, the company becomes devoted to beauty professionals with the launch of Amazon Professional Beauty Store. The online hub helps streamline the shopping experience for professional stylists, barbers, and estheticians, competing with cosmetics supply locations like Sally Beauty.
In China, the online giant Tmall is increasingly involved in selling professional beauty products. Beauty behemoths such as Henkel, L’Oréal, and Coty are creating their flagship professional stores with Tmall as their platform. Other markets also have their online platforms that are visibly engaging more with professional brands. This includes Nykaa in India and Beleza Na Web in Brazil.
Amazon, in particular, has grown to be one of the most powerful online destinations for beauty in the last several years.
Ankle Biters Threaten Legacy Brands
Around the world, new brands continually emerge, threatening the position of legacy brands. As a group, indie brands are continually increasing their share of the total market, as their collective growth has been far outpacing total market growth. The disruptors enter the market with unique offerings, plus interesting founder stories and hero ingredients, becoming cult favorites. In skincare, clean and clinical have challenged the conventional players while artist-driven, influencer-driven, or community-driven indies are driving growth in makeup.
In China, the biggest indie disruptors are digital natives. Emerging with a flair for consumer experience and control over their own distribution, these brands are often found on China’s prominent e-commerce platforms such as Tmalll, JD, and Xiaohongshu.com and are growing at double and triple-digit rates. At the core of these brands’ success is their use of key opinion leaders (KOLs) and social media. The products are also relatively affordable and of decent quality. One of the biggest KOL success stories is beauty blogger Austin (Jiaqi), who sold 150,000 lipsticks to his 50 million followers in just 10 minutes of live broadcasting.
The ankle-biter phenomenon is also in full force in Brazil, with the growth of indie brands surging above 40%, well ahead of the total market, which is in recovery at low, single-digit growth. As with indies seen around the world, the most successful indies in Brazil focus on digital marketing and participate in niche segments with specific product concepts. Many of the brands such as Bioart Biocosmetics, Cativa Natureza, and Feito Brasil focus on wellness and sustainability; others, such as Barba Brasil and Barba Brava in men’s care or Pinkcheeks in sports performance cosmetics, concentrate on meeting individual needs. Many also feature local Brazilian ingredients.
While many indies seem to disappear as quickly as they appeared, in some cases indies grow to become market leaders. In the salon market, Davines has continually risen in the ranks thanks to its focus on ethical, natural hair care and strategic focus on growing its distribution. The brand has experienced double-digit growth for five straight years, landing a spot among of top 10 professional hair care companies in the world in 2018.
Source: Kline Group
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