Beauty and Personal Care Trends for 2018

In 2016, the U.S. earned the title of the most valuable beauty and personal care market globally, generating roughly 84 billion dollars in revenue. Considering how often I make it rain in the haircare section at Duane Reade, I’m not surprised.

As 2018 gets officially underway, I got to thinking: what can we expect from the world of personal care this year? What are the trends at the forefront of the industry, and how can marketers approach them?

After a little digging, I uncovered a few that are likely to crop up:

One-size-fits-all beauty is so… not 2018

According to Mintel, a global market intelligence agency, “brands will stop targeting consumers based on their age, gender, or body type as consumers increasingly demand personalized beauty defined on their terms.”

We’re at a point now where consumers are taking the reins back on how we’re defining beauty.Click To Tweet

We’re at a point now where consumers are taking the reins back on how we’re defining beauty; “traditional” perceptions are a thing of the past. This means demand for personalized/customized options will increase even more as time goes on. Appealing to the masses, even the “mass” of one demographic, no longer works for both new products and  the communication of those products.

Brick and mortar sales are staying, but individualized experiences are in demand

According to a recent analysis by the NPD Group published in GCI Magazine, a consumer and retail research group, brick and mortar still generates about 80 percent of prestige beauty dollar volume. People still like to try products in-store. However, what will increase this staying power is how stores can provide new experiences for customers. This includes “pop-up shops, the incorporation of augmented reality screens in-store and smaller, localized locations.” For marketers: experience is king for this industry. Consumers want to try on, snap photos, and experiment; campaigns that allow them to do just that and offer them the opportunity to curate an experience will win out.

Cream’s out, oil’s in

According to Cosmetics Design, this slow-burning (no pun intended) movement is poised to explode in 2018, with a huge increase in popularity of oil-based over cream-based products (haircare, lotions, cleansers etc.). What’s critical for this, according to Cosmetics Design, is consumer education. To keep the trend barreling forward and hop firmly out of the “fad” space, raising awareness about product benefits and putting to rest oil myths will be key. Which makes sense; if you told a teenage me to swipe some oil on my face in order to clean it, I might just accuse you of trying to sabotage my bumpin’ social life.

So, there you have it! Some trends on the horizon.

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