Successful beauty and personal care brands retain loyal customers by evolving with shoppers’ ever-changing lifestyle choices. But staying up-to-date with the dynamic needs of today’s consumers can be easier said than done.
Global Cosmetic Industry magazine caught up with Nolte to discuss the top lifestyle changes impacting beauty innovation, how brands can respond and how consumer archetypes may be the future of creating connections with beauty shoppers.
Global Cosmetic Industry: What are the top lifestyle changes that would impact future beauty innovation?
Michael Nolte (MN): Ongoing rapid urbanization will greatly influence beauty innovation as we seek to protect ourselves from urban health hazards, including air pollution and the daily stressors of living in crowded environments. Linked to this will be the ever-increasing importance of achieving a work-life balance, whether this means finding solutions to working from home or implementing beauty and wellbeing rituals that help us restore equanimity and peace of mind.
The fastest-growing demographic is the oldest population segment. The 65-plus age group will reach one billion by 2030 and this will have huge implications for what was once a largely overlooked segment of the population. While inclusivity is the buzzword du jour, we have yet to incorporate the full spectrum of what being inclusive means beyond race, including gender, sexual orientation, identity, age, disability, self-expression and even AI companionship.
Global Cosmetic Industry: What will be required to respond to these changes?
MN: Embracing inclusivity will result in hyper-personalization where high-tech innovation will play a starring role. “Beauty for all” will mean DNA-driven, bespoke skin care and color cosmetics based on skin type and tone, with fully customized products as unique and multi-varied as individuals themselves.
Targeting an older demographic once meant products tailored to the 40-plus age group. In the future, it will mean products adapted to consumers twice that age. The definition of inclusivity will stretch to include our furry friends, as the trend towards the humanization of pets will command product innovation worthy of their human “parents.”
Global Cosmetic Industry: If you could impart one takeaway for our readers, what would it be?
MN: As we move towards a world of hyper-personalization, the era of analyzing consumers in generalized groups or tribes—the traditional segmentation model—will be replaced … Archetypes will play a defining role in how brands will connect and resonate with consumers at the deepest level.
For more information on the in-cosmetics Global 2020 education program, visit:https://www.in-cosmetics.com/global/
