How the pandemic transformed the beauty market?

Less is more: How the pandemic transformed the beauty market

• Weekly makeup usage falls 28% and lipstick usage down 40% compared to 2019
• Women now wash and style their hair less often, embracing longer hair styles
• Market recovery driven by less, higher quality usage with environment in mind.

Kantar, the world’s leading data-driven analytics and brand consulting company, today releases a new study revealing how COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and the related work from home (WfH) culture shift have transformed the beauty market. The data shows a striking decrease in the weekly use of cosmetics in every market, with weekly usage down an average of 28% Vs pre-pandemic levels and down 31% vs five years ago, as women choose simpler routines.

The study also identifies that more shoppers are opting for fewer, higher quality usage occasions. The increase in premium beauty product usage along with a surge in demand for natural beauty products, which moved from, on average, 18% of sales in 2017 to 24% of sales in 2021, helped the market recover to pre-pandemic levels of revenue. 

1. Transformed beauty regimens

The study shows a global trend towards fewer usage occasions, particularly apparent amongst European beauty consumers. Face and lip occasions have significantly decreased YoY, and there has been an increased focus on eye makeup, which may be a consequence of face mask wearing during the pandemic: 

2. The Haircare market

Through the pandemic period, the percentage of women choosing to wear their hair longer grew from, on average, 58% of women in 2017 to 62% in 2021. Simultaneously, women chose to wash their hair less frequently, down almost 10% over five years to 2.8 times per week on average. Illustrating the premiumisation trend, despite falling usage, hair conditioners and treatments grew in sales value, generating 5% growth in 2020 (vs 2019), and 7% growth in 2021 (vs 2020). 

3. The shift to environmental consciousness

Natural and vegan cosmetics continue to grow in popularity as the world becomes more conscious of ingredients and sustainability in the beauty products they buy:

Commenting on the findings, Ashley Kang, Global Beauty Director at Kantar said: “Our study underlines an opportunity for beauty brands to understand the lifestyle changes triggered by the pandemic, and therefore the evolution in needs in consumers’ lives."

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*Notes to editor 

• Purchase Behaviour: Great Britain, Spain, France, Mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia
• Markets for Usage Behaviour: US, Great Britain, Mainland China, Spain, France, Germany, and Brazil.
• *Data for countries of TH, GB, TW, KR, CN, SP, FR.