The clean beauty boom has gone mainstream.
According to data from NielsenIQ, the movement for free-from and natural products has hit the mass market. Growth in such products overindexed when compared to beauty and personal care sales, which grew 2 percent in the past year.
Anna Mayo, client director, NielsenIQ, believes the result is due as much to retailers as it is to consumers. “People have really taken the time and are educated on it,” Mayo said. “There’s been a lot of retailer push behind it, Sephora has a clean program, which is probably the most famous. Ulta has done a lot of work with its Conscious Beauty program, and Target and Walmart have badges now.”
Equally considered, though, are claims around sustainability — a hot-button issue Mayo expects to only gain more traction. “Where we really see things move in the future is around sustainability. Consumers have really adopted this mind-set of their products that are “free-from,” and now they’re looking for recyclable packaging, water-free packaging, refillable, and maybe products in glass packaging,” she added.
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Here, see a snapshot of clean beauty’s growth, according to NielsenIQ.
- Total beauty and personal care grew 2 percent in the past year.
- Products free from parabens grew 3.6 percent, those free from parabens and sulfates grew 5 percent, and those free from parabens, sulfates and phthalates grew 13 percent.
- In total, clean beauty grew 8.1 percent.
- Of the most important product attributes, 40.2 percent of consumers look for natural ingredients.
- 17.6 percent of consumers look for products that respect the environment.
- 15.8 percent of consumers look for recyclable packaging, while 7.9 percent of consumers look for reusable packaging.
- Gen Z shoppers are 1.3 times more likely to want to try products that are “environmentally friendly.”
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