Understanding consumer profiles had long been front-of-mind for the beauty sector but grouping these into ‘personas’ of the future – those that will become important by 2023 – would prove critical in future new product development efforts and marketing strategies as the beauty industry edged out of its pivotal post-pandemic year.
And at WGSN’s online Beauty Live event last month, Clare Varga, head of beauty at WGSN, outlined the five beauty personas set to define the next two years: skinimalists; refillutionaries; beautopians; super basics; and the skillusionists.
These personas tied in nicely with the five big beauty ideas defined by WGSN at the same conference.
1. Skinimalists – ‘hybrid products’ for intelligently streamlined beauty routines
The first beauty persona set to take centre stage in the market over the next two years was the ‘skinimalist’, Varga said.
“Skinimalists are one of the most important consumers. Committed to reducing consumption and taking pride in buying well, this group of informed beauty consumers value efficacy and efficiency; using multi-tasking products to streamline their beauty routines and reduce waste. These are beauty-smart consumers. It’s all about intelligently streamlining beauty routines.”
Demographics-wise, these consumers were both male and female and trended towards gender-inclusive brands. They would be “well established” in Europe, Asia and the US by 2023 but also gain momentum in Latin America.
US active beauty brand Venn Skincare and Swedish prestige brand Verso Skincare were two examples of brands that held strong appeal amongst skinimalists because of their ‘streamlined’ and ‘genderless’ offerings, respectively.
Going forward, Varga said skinimalists would favour “hybrid products” that merged skin care and cosmetics and offered multiple active ingredients. They would also invest in tools and supplements they considered to be a “natural extension” to their beauty routine.
“Performance is a key motivator for the skinimalist – they measure value for money by results rather than cost. They’re also really at ease with technology and innovation and are the early adopters of beauty. They use beauty devices to enhance or maximise results and they’re happy to embrace new innovation like lab-grown ingredients.
“To resonate with the skinimalists, brands, products and systems will need to align with core values …….