The next phase in the commercial health and beauty market will be governed by the dynamic relationship between technology, consumers, and brands – set to revolutionize the sector like never before.
Current market data shows us that supply chain challenges will continue with the Ukraine conflict putting significant strain on ingredient supplies. These impacts are coupled to the global recession, burgeoning water shortages, and significant climate change as consumer demand for natural ingredients continues to play center stage.
At Oleon Health & Beauty, we follow all the latest trends by making use of key data such as Mintel’s Beauty & Personal Care Trends for 2025.1 This latest report highlights three key areas that suppliers and brand owners must incorporate into their business plans to stay competitive and future-proof their offering. The time to evolve and innovate has never been more urgent.
Water: a precious commodity
Water consumption rates are increasing at an alarming rate with World Wildlife Fund figures indicating that two thirds of the world’s population could be at risk of water shortages by 2025.
This year alone has seen unprecedented drought conditions globally. According to the Palmer Drought Index2, severe to extreme drought affected about 26% of the contiguous US by the end of September 20222, while Great Britain was gripped by drought after exceptionally hot temperatures with minimal rainfall was recorded. In Europe, research shows us that the continent’s extreme weather in 2022 was the worst seen in the last 500 years. This was confirmed by the Global Drought Observatory.3
As water scarcity continues to grow, this natural commodity is fast becoming the ultimate luxury in the manufacture of health and beauty products.
To offset water challenges, it is imperative that brands respond and where water was once an essential part of any beauty regime, new formulations are being developed that require little or no extra water to enhance their functionality.
Mintel furthermore predicts that future product development will move from the existing water saving beauty products to those that work without any water at all. Waterless beauty and personal care products are an appealing value-proposition for most consumers with statistics showing that in the UK, 13% of consumer say that they will used dry soap, bath and shower products with this figure rising to 24% for consumers aged between 16 and 24.
Cellular energy boosters
The relationship between fitness, diet and skin health is well documented. In China, 72% of consumers want to improve their skin through improving the quality of their sleep, eating a balanced diet and getting more exercise. This also tops the list for Brazilian consumers, while in the US one third of men say that they are exercising more than in the prior year. In this vein, cellular claims are on the rise of the beauty and personal care market too.4 This trend refers to how good health impacts on our skin.
According to Mintel Global New Products Database5, facial skincare products that offer cellular or energy claims are showing a substantial increase and for formulators, energy-boosting products are a focus for new product development. Boosting and optimising cellular activity by supporting the reproduction of energy in the skin is a trend that resonates and is spilling into the haircare category too. Another interesting area of growth is how beauty brands are now investigating opportunities to create healthy living products with a range with ingredients and claims that complement each other.
At-home beauty
Mintel believes that the attitudinal change towards natural ingredients is acting as a catalyst in the rise of ‘kitchen beauty’. Although these products can be made at home, they still require the input of brands, but on a different level. Companies interested in targeting this growing demographic must offer additional guidance to enable consumers to make these products at home.
One of the most anticipated next steps could be found in the retail aisle. Beauty ingredient retailers could start stocking aisles of raw ingredients that will assist consumers in creating their own, personalised products in the comfort of their own home.
From a manufacturing perspective, fresh formulations that concentrate on vitamins and nutrients without preservatives will need short batches and require refrigeration to ensure potency and freshness. The food industry has been incredibly successful in supplying kits and the subscription beauty box model could be the next big thing with consumers receiving complete kits of ingredients or phased products to create their own beauty product.6
This is a challenging time for the beauty and personal care industry but staying ahead of the curve and putting these developments in place could just mean that your company evolves with changing environmental and consumer trends – beating your competitors to the post.
For more information on how Oleon’s range of ingredients and products can assist you in your development journey, please contact our team now.
References:
1,4,5,6 https://downloads.mintel.com/private/fqI07/files/800475/
2 September 2022 Drought Report | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) (noaa.gov)
