We Are Witnessing Beauty’s Indispensability

By Jeb Gleason-Allured, content director, Global Cosmetic Industry

What is going on with beauty?

Just as economists repeatedly and wrongly predicted unemployment spikes and imminent recessions, some have asked: "can beauty really keep up its vibrancy?"

Yes. At least for now.

For example, Kohl’s recently reported challenged Q1 results—and yet, to quote Tom Kingsbury, CEO of Kohl’s, "the Sephora business has been very, very good."

The comments came amid the retailer’s Q1 2023 analyst call. Kingsbury added, "Sephora at Kohl’s continued to outperform our expectations, driving a total beauty sales increase of 150% year over year. We achieved mid-teens comparable beauty sales growth in the 200 Sephora shops opened in 2021, and the sales trends in the 400 shops opened in 2022 continued to exceed our plan."

Beauty has been a strong driver for other retailers, too, notably Target.

While Target posted mixed Q1 2023 results, the beauty sector continued to boom. The retailer’s EVP and chief growth officer, Christina Hennington, noted on an analyst call, "Q1 [2023] performance was led by beauty, which delivered comp growth in the mid-teens, in light of continued strength in both core beauty and Ulta Beauty at Target assortment."

So ... what is going on?

In the United States, prestige beauty is the driver, increasing both sales revenue and unit sales, per Circana, making the sector the top-performing industry across all general merchandise and consumer packaged goods industries tracked by the firm.

Even among beauty shoppers who are cutting back overall spending, 70% are not reducing their spending on beauty products.

Beauty spend is also eroding spending in categories like fashion, particularly among younger shoppers, reinforcing beauty’s special place in the consumer’s heart.

Circana’s Larissa Jensen said it best: "For many consumers, beauty is an indispensable category. An industry seeped in emotion, beauty has proven its resiliency by creating connections that go deeper than the physical product. And, with consumers focused on their mental wellness more than ever before, beauty products are benefiting."

This editorial appears in the July/August issue of Global Cosmetic Industry; read or download the full issue here.