Beauty to Grow on Three Pillars 2015–2025

Wellness and technological beauty will be the next big skin care trends, says Diagonal Reports. The beauty market has, until recently, been almost exclusively about the cosmetic but will now grow on the three pillars of wellness, technology and cosmetic beauty for the foreseeable future. Although that latter originated from outside the cosmetic segment, they have been the growth drivers of the skin care market.

Women worldwide are falling out of love with, and moving away from, the cosmetic beauty model. They are willing to experiment with alternatives that they believe can deliver dramatic improvements to their skin condition and appearance. This change happened under the radar, as both wellness and technological beauty were popularized by spas tapping into a rich seam of consumer demand and market opportunities.

Wellness has been competing for beauty spending for many years. It was early 2000 when Diagonal Reports and others first noted that salon professionals in the U.S., Europe and China were providing wellness or "beauty from within" services. Beauty spas were the platform that rolled out innovative treatments based on reducing stress or increasing energy to deliver a younger looking skin. Since then, changes in buyer behavior created a sector worth billions.

More recently, and at the other end of the spectrum, it is beauty technology transforming the inherited (cosmetic) beauty culture. Here, devices and tools (cleansing brush, IPL, laser, etc.) are being incorporated into daily skin care regimes because they deliver effective and efficient results. The era of the superfacial has arrived. But this trend had been noted as early as 2006, when Diagonal Reports identified that devices were being added to spa treatment protocols because of dissatisfaction with traditional products. Demand for new solutions was so widespread.

Additionally, changes in spending will transform beauty companies' approach to market because skin care can account for up to 50% of all beauty product sales in some key markets. Wellness and technological beauty are already impacting on what many people want from their products, making even the most conservative of beauty consumers more open than ever to new skin care technologies and formulations. Diagonal Reports' research shows that consumers in mature markets are adopting new products while those in developing markets are taking their own traditions with them.

Scientific skin care has been both the engine and beneficiary of this market change. It is displacing cosmetic products traditionally used for facial care (especially cleansing and moisturizing). Scientific skin care developed under the radar, and so remains somewhat misunderstood. For starters this is really an umbrella category that melds cosmetic, medical and natural skin care. In consequence, the value of scientific skin care sales has been seriously underestimated because so many small players account for, in aggregate, a significant market share.

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