Have you noticed more and more beauty retailers opening physical stores, as well as IRL beauty events all over the place? I definitely have.
In the past few years we’ve had the first Boots UK Beauty open, 25 new Superdrug stores in just 2023, Harrods Beauty have been steadily opening up outside of London, the launch of SEPHORA UK, Debenhams closing and opening a standalone beauty store, a ton of smaller brands in retail spaces and H&M opened their first beauty standalone store in Oslo.
At a time when other types of retailers (fashion, department stores etc), and even some beauty brands (like The Body Shop) seem to be shutting down/closing stores, there’s a cost of living crisis and online shopping is booming, how come beauty’s opening physical stores?
I think there’s a few things going on here (these are just my opinion):
- The fact that beauty keeps on growing – new brands, new interest, new products, new markets.
- Post-covid desire for IRL experiences, events and visual launches.
- Shoppers aren’t always willing to buy beauty products “blind”.
- You can “treat” yourself to a beauty product for a relatively low cost, and adding in the experience makes it feel like more of a treat.
Stats on beauty retail and online beauty buying habits:
- In the past 12 months online searches for beauty dropped by 6% in the UK, according to MediaVision Metis.
- 91% of people browse beauty on social.
- 46% of people buy beauty products online in the UK (only second to the US for online beauty purchases).
- Around 50% of people PREFER to buy and browse beauty in store.
- The share of shoppers buying beauty via in-store channels generally declined from 2019-2023 going from 63% to 53% in December 2023.
- In the second quarter of 2023, nearly two-thirds of consumers in the UK purchased beauty products through the internet.
- Boots is the most popular online retailer in the UK.
- Northern England is home to the largest share of digital health and beauty shoppers compared to other UK regions.
When it comes to geographical searches for beauty retailers in the UK:
- “Boots near me” – 368k UK searches p/m (this could also be confused by people searching for actual shoes)
- “Superdrug near me” – 90.5k UK searches p/m
- “Sephora near me” – 22.2k per UK searches p/m
- “Debenhams near me” – 5.4k UK searches p/m
- “Harrods near me” – 410 UK searches p/m
Here’s a piece on UK beauty retail from Premium Beauty News 👇
https://lnkd.in/eaFEuVss
Info on beauty growth from McKinsey & Company 👇
https://lnkd.in/eVRBaU-R
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