US Beauty Dollar Sales Up, Units Down: IRI Data

Sales have rebounded following the pandemic, but feature lower unit sales, per new IRI data for the U.S. beauty market.
Sales have rebounded following the pandemic, but feature lower unit sales, per new IRI data for the U.S. beauty market.
Ron Lach at Pexels

U.S. beauty dollar sales for the 52 weeks ending March 20, 2022 totaled $45,594,897,024, according to data provided by IRI, which is set to merge with NPD. That's a 4.2% gain from the same 52-week period ending March 2021 ($43,750,668,017). It's also a 5.6% gain versus the same period ending in 2020, a moment when the pandemic's impacts were just emerging in the United States.

Report: Beauty 2021-2024 Decoded  

However, unit sales are down. Units for the 52 weeks ending March 20, 2022 totaled 7,870,011,816, a 3.4% drop from the 8,147,765,721 units charted in the comparable period one year earlier. It's also 5.5% lower than the same period ending in 2020.

The dollar gains can be explained by higher prices and, perhaps, consumers' turn toward more premium products. In February 2022, Global Cosmetic Industry reported that beauty experienced average unit price increases of 10% year-over-year

More in Consumers & Markets