Post-Covid Beauty: trends and changes set to emerge and stay
The global sanitary crisis has marked a milestone worldwide and pushed the Beauty sector to cross the established frontiers, where new consumer patterns, innovations and a concern around sustainability are reinforced.
Beauty Innovation wave released due to COVID-19
The firm Accenture has recently released a global study in 19 countries on how global beauty consumer priorities, purchasing decisions and behavioral patterns shifted after a year of lockdowns. The following key findings have been highlighted:
- Consumers are now 400% more likely to purchase their makeup and personal care products online, compared to pre-pandemic
- 20% of consumers moved online for virtual consultations (e.g., hair) and 46% plan to continue to do so going forward
- 60% of people are still worried for their personal health, impacting comfort with visiting salons
- 95% of consumers have made at least one permanent change to their lifestyle since the outbreak of the pandemic
The beauty category was hit hardest by the pandemic, but as an innovation-led industry it has been able to adapt more quickly and has the potential to bounce back fastest.
Two waves of sustainability concern post-COVID expected
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has accelerated consumer focus on sustainability and planetary change, with a first wave of dominant interest set to splash over the next 18 months and drive sentiments mainstream by 2022. This is a statement from Oliver Wright, managing director and global lead on consumer goods and services at Accenture.
“We are seeing a lot more interest in understanding questions around sustainability and the impact on people’s health”, Wright told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.
The crisis had “definitely accelerated” consumer interest and concern around sustainability in the broader consumer goods category; interest that would inevitably “bring some really positive changes in consumption”, he said.
The second wave of long-term consumers concerns had already started to show “green shoots emerging” but the first wave set to drive concerns mainstream by firmly hit in 2022, Wright said.
Consumers concerns included interest around the provenance of ingredients, the contents of a final product and its overall environmental impact from start to finish, he said, with many actively seeking out certain “characteristics of beauty products”.
Late last year, CosmeticsDesign-Europe highlighted Green Beauty as a key trend to watch in 2021 (more sustainable packaging options, certified ingredients, and transparent insight into everything behind a brand. And as Europe aimed to become carbon-neutral by 2050, noise around this topic would only continue to grow.
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