In today’s beauty space, there exists an overwhelming consumer sentiment that mass market products can not be effective for everyone. As a result, the majority of consumers are gravitating towards personal care products that more closely align with their personal values, lifestyle aspirations and individual beauty needs. Against this backdrop of individualistic consumerism, the personalization trend - which captures a confluence of consumer and industry issues - looks set to exert a considerable influence on the beauty industry going forwards. This is particularly true for beauty brands pursuing a premium/luxury positioning, which compete on their ability to evoke exclusivity. Indeed, Datamonitor’s brand new 2011 consumer research has established that nearly half (46%) of consumers attach importance to personalized benefits when purchasing a luxury brand.
Whether a mass or premium player, amid today’s post-recessionary landscape, all beauty brands are now faced with a more value-driven consumer. Personalized offerings are proving pivotal in “winning over” this more pragmatic audience, with the ability of a product to address individualistic needs being crucial in how consumers form their value-for-money judgements. More than seven in 10 consumers deem products which best address their needs (i.e. personalized benefits) as most influential in deciding whether a product offers good value for money. More consumer-centric product features therefore increase the likelihood of a product becoming an indispensible part of consumers’ lives.
The rising demand for both “better-for-me” and more ethical personal care products is inherently linked to consumers personalization needs and therefore will also be enduring trends in the sector. This “green movement” stems from shoppers’ intensifying concerns over the safety of product formulations, as well as their growing awareness of ethical and environmental responsibility. The more informed and considered product choices that increasingly shape the consumption habits of today’s beauty consumer (41% routinely use ingredient information on health and beauty product packaging to help guide their choices) is a manifestation of these trends. Yet, the intrinsic link between ‘green’ products and the personalization trend is far from a guarantee of market success given, for instance, the seemingly conflicting demands for both natural products and efficacy-led formulations.
Nevertheless, some major obstacles exist for the beauty industry in communicating more personalized marketing messages and a consumer-centric brand aura. Firstly, given the natural resistance of individualists towards being told what to do or think, it is critical that personal care brands demonstrate subtlety and restraint when tapping into consumers’ self-concerned mindsets. Secondly, industry players must also be sensitive to the frustrations that stem from over-complicated product lines and too much choice (a negative implication of the personalization trend). Therefore, brands that focus too much on serving today’s introspective consumer risk diluting brand identity and alienating their audience. This is why a relatively large segment of consumers will continue to purchase all-encompassing products. Ultimately, Datamonitor believes that this will necessitate more diverse – yet well-managed - brand portfolios in order to appeal to the differing expectations that exist.
To hear more about how Datamonitor perceives consumers’ personalization needs – as well as other interrelated and pervasive consumer trends to be playing out in today’s personal care industry – visit Daniel Bone’s Marketing Trends Seminar at In-cosmetics Asia.
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