Raconteur Media, a publishing house and content marketing agency that produces special reports for The Times and The Sunday Times released their latest report on the state of the British ‘Beauty Economy’ yesterday.
Image source: raconteur.net
As an ardent follower of the business of beauty, I always find this report informative and insightful, allowing one to keep up to date with the market trends, the industry movers and shakers and potential opportunities.
The British Beauty Industry is buoyant – according to the report it is worth £17 billion and it is forecast to grow 16 per cent by 2016. Despite the recession, retail sales in the UK beauty market grew 15.5 per cent from £6.1 billion in 2008 to an estimated £7.1 billion in 2013.
A category of the beauty industry that did suffer slightly during the economic downturn was the premium beauty sector. As choices needed to be made between everyday essentials and beauty requirements, spending on premium did take a hit, but the Raconteur report states that this sector is now bouncing back, with premium make-up growing at the fastest rate, up 11 per cent in 2013, according to Imogen Matthews, author of The Premium Market Report.
I am glad that premium beauty is making a resurgence. Premium beauty – the Cliniques’, Estée Lauders’, Lancômes’ and Fashion Fairs’ of this world, along with the newer niche brands such as Charlotte Tilbury, Jo Malone and REN often set the trends and create those ‘must have’ products that then trickle down to the ‘masstige’ and the mass levels.
I have always had a special place for the premium beauty sector in my heart, as I shared in my recent feature on BrownBeautyTalk.com, recounting my Teenage Skincare Life. My love affair with beauty was kindled by the lure, fantasy and aspiration of premium beauty products.
I used saved up my pocket money to purchase the products I saw emblazoned on the pages of glossy magazines and was enamoured by the textures and scents.
Yes, the price of many of these items is funding the glossy packaging and the stylised advertising campaigns – to which some do object – but it is well to remember that many of the large premuim brands employ thousands of women in the UK, many of whom go on to hold senior positions and the newer brands have been started by women – giving them an opportunity to create a wave in this lucarative market and become the megabrands of the future
Women such as Antonia Burrell are a case in point. I featured Antonia and her wonderful brand on my blog last year , so it was fantastic to hear that she was awarded ‘Best Skincare Brand for Black and Asian Women’ in the recently announced Psychologies Magazine’s ‘Positive Beauty’ Awards.
Although I love to peruse the beauty counters of the department stores and the the specilist spaces such as Space NK, the rise of online shopping has made it much easier and more convenient to shop premium any time of the day.
Sites such as Salon Skin Care provide an edited selection of the best brand! Featuring some of my favourites such as Glamglow and Kérastase, shopping for the best in beauty is a breeze!
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