Skin Care in the United Kingdom

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Time-conscious and sustainable consumers begin to slimline their routines

Consumers have been slimlining their skin care routines in the past year and cutting down on the number of products they use due to rising fatigue among consumers with the multi-step skin care routine of the past. Not only are consumer lives becoming busier, but people are also becoming more concerned about the effect of mass consumption of these products on the environment.

Rise in cosmetic treatments show growth of “tweakment” terminology in skin care

Cosmetic treatments are on the rise in the UK due to social media pressure as well as an increased availability through local beauticians as well as through Superdrug. This trend is leaching into skin care, with an increase in “no needle” and “filler” claims, as well as the inclusion of hyaluronic acid, an ingredient used in fillers, in a vast number of products.

Major players snap up niche brands; single-ingredient products prompt retailer ingredient transparency

Acquisitions in skin care have been rife in the past year with Dr Jart, Tatcha and Drunk Elephant acquired by Estée Lauder, Unilever and Shiseido, respectively. This highlights the decline of large multinationals, with four of the top six companies losing share in 2019, as smaller players gain share, with this due to niche brands gaining share through both bricks-and-mortar and online retailers.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

Sales of skin care are now expected to grow by 1% in 2020 at constant 2019 prices in light of the impact of COVID-19. This compares to the stagnating performance forecast for 2020 during research conducted at the end of 2019 before the spread of COVID-19.

Affected products within skin care

With repeated exhortations for the general public to thoroughly wash their hands on a regular basis or, failing that, to use hand sanitiser to clean the hands in order to combat the spread of COVID-19, this has also been driving sales of hand care products, with consumers hands dried out due to all the washing/sanitising. Only face masks, with consumers looking to treat themselves with small luxuries, but also having more time at home to apply such products during the lockdown, will join hand care in registering strong value growth in 2020 at constant 2019 prices.

Recovery and opportunities

After the slight uptick in value growth in 2020, skin care will return to performing in line with the annual stagnation predicted for the rest of the forecast period during research conducted at the end of 2019 before the spread of COVID-19. After its surge in demand in 2020, hand care will return to its longer-term norm of declining value sales at constant 2019 prices over the rest of the review period.

Files are delivered directly into your account within a few minutes of purchase.