Quick Take: Three Shifts in the US Beauty Market—Opportunities and Implications

Executive Summary

Ahead of the Cosmoprof North America 2018 conference, which begins July 29, we assess three key developments in the US beauty market.

• The Korean-beauty (K-beauty) product craze may have already peaked, and consumers are turning their attention to skincare brands and regimes from Japan. Any sustained shift in consumer interest from K-beauty to J-beauty would suggest a change in acquisition targets and slower, more quality-focused product innovation cycles.
• Within the men’s grooming market, the beauty categories that male consumers have adopted more recently, such as skincare, are the categories that are growing the fastest. The progressive adoption of beauty products by men in recent years, coupled with younger consumers’ different attitudes about male beauty categories, suggests that sales of selected “low-profile” men’s color cosmetics that offer corrective enhancements could grow significantly in the near term.
• Social media influencers look set to entrench their strong positions as endorsers of beauty products. In the luxury market, the growing spending power of younger generations, which have grown up with social media, will likely prompt greater collaboration between upscale beauty brands and influencers.