Each year, CEW holds the State of the Beauty Industry event. This blog is the first part of a recap series from Anna Keller, our Director of Trend & Marketing Strategy, and it outlines the future of the beauty & personal care industry through 2030.
On February 7th, Mintel kicked off CEW's 2020 State of the Beauty Industry event with a look at the evolution of humanity and the inherent feelings of mistrust and misunderstanding that is guiding consumers into the next decade.
Presentations from past years have set the stage for a rising sense of stress and global turmoil, focusing on an interest on sub-zero waste and wellness culture. While the new decade ushers in a new set of problems and concerns, it also sets the stage for fresh innovation and a renewed sense of commitment to fixing the many problems that lie ahead for humanity.
While exploring “the panorama of humanity,” Mintel explains how consumers will explore the relationship between science and the natural world, with a renewed focus on technology, education, and safety. While “free-from” claims rule the current personal care space, chemical-free claims are impossible to achieve, and science and nature must support each other in order to move the industry forward.
The presentation also pointed to the advances in hardware, software, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and apps that are bringing about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, forever changing the way that consumers shop for and interact with their purchases.
What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a movement that describes the exponential lifestyle changes that humans experience due to the adoption of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Systems, and the Internet of Things. Smart technology has entered homes, factories, and the workplace, and this revolution will eventually enable machines to impact all industries, economies, and disciplines.¹
Planning for 2020 – 2025
In anticipation of this great change, Mintel suggests that brands and contract manufacturers such as Twincraft Skincare work towards a waste-free future, embrace lab-grown materials, and partner with tech companies to push the boundaries of personal care.
Facilitate a Waste-Free Future
2019 was a great year for growing awareness about the waste associated with personal care. We saw enormous interest from our brand partners in creating products with reduced plastic waste, and bar soap and shampoo bars are both easy products for conscious consumers to introduce into their routines to reduce waste without compromising on performance.
In the next 5 years, though, consumers need this initiative to go even further, focusing on supply chain. Precision farming and AI will help manufacturers cut packaging needs, waste, and energy demands, and decentralized production centers will help centralized communities with local sourcing.
Brands and manufacturers need to be pushed to find ways to treat waste as a resource, as Twincraft does through our partnership with Clean the World – our bar soap waste is reused and pressed into new bars that are distributed through the non-profit to help those in need all over the world.
Embrace Lab-Grown Materials
Consumers may not realize it, but biotechnology is quietly bringing lab-grown products into the market and shoppers are increasingly comfortable with this idea. Rebranding these materials as “engineered natural ingredients” can help satisfy consumer safety concerns while allowing brands to address sustainable supply chain issues.
For example, Aderans and the Japanese biomaterial company Spiber have come together to develop artificial hair made of 100% protein. It can be permed and colored, but won’t easily break. This kind of development has the opportunity to dramatically change the wig and hairpiece industry.
Partner with Tech Companies
Today’s consumer is increasingly reliant on wearable technology such as smart watches and fitness trackers to help optimize their overall wellbeing, and the personal care industry is moving in this direction, too. Responsive technology allows users to constantly monitor the state of their well being, from heart health to UV exposure.
Mintel encourages innovative brands to look ahead and focus on partnerships that will guide their products to push the industry’s boundaries.
Planning for 2025 – 2030
Use Biotech to Move Clean Beauty Forward
Clean beauty has been a major – but not certifiable – claim in the skincare space over the last few years, and we can expect that the industry as a whole is moving towards a future that all beauty products will be considered safe, transparent, and eco-ethical.
Biotechnology will evolve to help suppliers provide ingredients that are both functional and safe, allowing brands to develop and consumers to use products that are effective while also achieving their desired claims.
Combine Smart Technology and Self-Instinct to Build Trust
Marketers of the future will have the ability to combine data, technology, and human instinct to help understand and guide the consumer decision process. Today’s brain-reading technology can capture non-conscious pieces of the shopper’s journey, using tools such as gave mapping.
Emotion-driven tech will give brands new ways to tap into the mind of the user and predict the future success of a potential product.
Cutting-edge technology and innovation outside of formulation will drive much of the industry’s growth over the next decade, but the key takeaways from this portion of the presentation are still very approachable for brands both big and small: work to give shoppers exactly what they want and need, be transparent, support the power of instinct (even in a digital world), and try to hack the future every way we can.
Read the next part of this blog series: Global Personal Care Trends 2030 - Identity Traders
Be sure to subscribe to the Twincraft Skincare blog for additional recaps on this important industry event.
Source: Mintel, Global Beauty & Personal Care Trends 2030. The State of Beauty, CEW, February 7, 2020, NYC | ¹ The Fourth Industrial Revolution Is Here – Are You Ready? Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/08/13/the-4th-industrial-revolution-is-here-are-you-ready/#6b524f56628b
