Circana recently reported that Gen Alpha continues to drive prestige beauty sales among households earning more than $100,000, with kids' households growing at twice the rate of households with no children.
Notably, "spending per buyer was directly influenced by the presence of children: among households with children, the average spending per buyer in Q1 increased at five-times the rate as those without children," per the firm.
This is about more than makeup and skin care.
In fact, in December 2023, Circana's Larissa Jensen told the National Post, “Consumers aged 13 through 26 rank highest when it comes to heavy fragrance usage. Gen Z shoppers are also most likely to buy a scent for themselves several times a year. Eighty percent of fragrance users say that scent is critical for enhancing or lifting their moods.”
To learn more, CivicScience recently dug into consumer data to decode Gen Alpha's impact on beauty. While the firm will not survey individuals younger than 13, it was able to compare parents of children aged 6-11 to the parents of older generations.
Gen Alpha is Beauty Brand Sensitive
The differences identified point to how young consumers are impacting sales patterns. Notably, Gen Alpha households are more brand-sensitive than their peers and often engage in categories more than their counterparts.
Forty-four percent of all U.S. adults with children of any age have purchased skin care, perfume, makeup and/or hair care in the last three months.
Yet 60% of parents with children ages 6-11 have purchased hair care products for their children in the last three months, while 46% bought skin care.
Furthermore, 30% of this group purchased makeup for their children in the last three months, while 20% purchased perfume.
Brands matter for Gen Alpha's parents, who are 6% more brand-sensitive than the general market (totaling 35%), per CivicScience. To compare, just 25% are primarily price-sensitive.
Gen Alpha's Favorite Beauty Brands
The parents of Gen Alpha kids over-index for usage/interest in brands include:
- e.l.f.
- Sol de Janeiro
- Rare Beauty
- Drunk Elephant
- Bubble
- Tarte
- Milk Makeup
- Glow Recipe
- Summer Fridays
About 35% of Gen Alpha parents have purchased an e.l.f. Beauty product in the last six months, while an additional 17% are interested in the brand. About 26% of these parents are also interested in purchasing Rare Beauty products.
Interestingly, CivicScience adds, "[I]t’s worth noting that parents with younger children (aged 6-11) are more likely to have purchased from all the brands surveyed (except Summer Fridays) than parents with Gen Z tweens and teens (ages 12-17)."
Notably, e.l.f. was also a top performer in Piper Sandler's recent teen survey.
