Copyright © 2021 HPCiMedia. This publication may not be distributed without prior permission.


for the department stores meant that their share declined from 19% to just 11% of total beauty, largely driven by Debenhams with its share in beauty halving from 11.4% to 5.5%. “Boots was also impacted, but to a much lesser extent as a number of its stores remained open. Its share declined from 28% to 26% with boots.com also helping to soften the decline in-store.” Pure play retailers such as Lookfantastic and Feelunique grew from 10% to 19% and charted combined sales growth of 60% in 2020.


But there are opportunities for physical retail players including Boots and Superdrug to expand their offer in beauty and win the lost share from department stores, and for brand-led beauty stores and specialist beauty outlets to provide opportunities for shoppers to buy prestige brands, says Maxwell. He adds: “We have already seen the likes of Next opening new beauty stores over the past year, so expect to see more fashion brands diversifying and expanding their range of beauty products as they look to win more of their consumers’ spend when in store. Beauty represents a great way to do this.”


Country highlights


OPENING UP OPPORTUNITIES


Cosmetics Business examines how beauty retail is changing across three key markets


UK With UK high streets open once again for business, bricks-and- mortar retailers will be feeling


more optimistic than they have in months. Early data collected by e-commerce specialist Salesfire found that during the first week that physical retailers reopened, online sales of health and beauty products declined by almost 19%, suggesting that consumers were keen to return to stores after three months of lockdown. And with one in five UK adults now having received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, it is hoped that footfall will start to return with higher levels than last summer. In 2020, beauty sales through physical stores declined by 39%, according to data from Kantar. And although online sales grew by 79%, it was not enough to offset overall category declines of 10% across skin care, cosmetics and fragrance. Matt Maxwell, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar, says: “The well documented challenges


16 cosmetics business May 2021


UK: BEAUTY RETAIL SALES GROWTH BY STORE TYPE, 2020


Store type Chemists


Drugstores


Department stores Multiple grocers Cosmetic outlets Perfume outlets Duty free Pure play


%+/- -17.2 -9.1


-46.2 +18.5 +15.6 -9.5


-78.4 +60.1


52 w/e 10 January 2021. Source: Kantar


Retailers can focus on the enjoyment of finding new products in-store and being able to offer advice to consumers before they commit to a purchase. 35% of UK consumers choose not to buy beauty online because they prefer to see or try the product in person, according to the Kantar WP+ Online Consideration Survey 2021, which Maxwell says indicates a huge demand from people who are still uncertain about buying beauty online. Nevertheless, e-commerce will continue to represent a strong growth opportunity for UK retailers. Rising from a 24% share of total beauty sales in 2019 to 47% last year, online sales are expected to account for around 40% going forwards, believes Maxwell, taking into account the impact of stores reopening. And with beauty e-commerce seeing a flurry of new indie online retailers that focus on curated selections of brands, including A Beautiful Life, which showcases the best of British beauty, and The C-List which curates ‘cancer kinder’ products for beauty lovers undergoing cancer treatment, UK shoppers have never had more choice when buying beauty online.


More fashion brands such as Next are diversifying with the launch of dedicated beauty stores


cosmeticsbusiness.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20