- Contents
- *Introduction
- Definitions
- Market size
- Market shares
- Retail sector size
- Financial definitions
- Abbreviations
Changing shopping habits, the growth of discount channels and the migration of spending online are reshaping beauty retailing.
For many years, supermarkets were seen as the threat to high-street beauty specialists, particularly those in the midmarket, like Boots. However, grocery shopping habits are changing – gradually, fewer consumers are undertaking big weekly grocery shops at large superstores. More shoppers are buying from smaller supermarkets, including limited-line discounters such as Aldi and Lidl, and from convenience stores. So there are new opportunities for specialists to position themselves as complementary to these channels, given the often-limited choice in these smaller grocery stores.
But at the same time, mixed-goods discount stores, like Poundland and B&M Bargains, are growing fast, providing alternative channels for shoppers seeking mass-market beauty and toiletries products at low prices. And internet-only retailers are further price-competitive rivals, providing particular opportunities for shoppers to buy off-price prestige beauty products. So there are new threats to specialist high-street retailers.
Our report addresses these changes in sections such as: Channels of Distribution, Market Size and Forecast (five-year forecasts for consumer spending), Sector Size and Forecast (five-year forecasts for specialists’ sector sales), Online, The Leading Specialist Retailers and The Leading Non-Specialist Retailers.
And our in-depth consumer research this year asked the following questions:
Which retailers have shoppers bought from in the last year by online/in-store;
Attitudes towards buying beauty products from discount stores (like Poundland or Aldi);
Attitudes towards technology and social media in shopping for beauty products;
Which types of brands or own brands respondents have bought (ie budget own brands, premium own brand, mass-market brands, luxury brands) by retailer used;
Attitudes towards skincare, make-up and fragrance brands.
Market size
Mintel’s market size covers beauty and selected relevant personal care goods, and is broken down into two segments for which we also provide historic and forecast data:
| Market | Includes |
| Beauty and personal care goods | Body, hand and footcare; colour cosmetics; facial skincare; men’s and women’s fragrances; deodorants; depilatory products; hair colourants; hair styling agents; oral hygiene; shampoos and conditioners; shaving products; soap, bath and shower products; suncare. |
| Includes: | |
| Beauty | Body, hand and footcare; colour cosmetics; facial skincare; and men’s and women’s fragrances. |
| Other personal care | Deodorants; depilatory products; hair colourants; hair styling agents; oral hygiene; shampoos and conditioners; shaving products; soap, bath and shower products; and suncare. |
And we provide category size data, 2013-14, for the four consistent categories of the beauty segment size: body, hand and footcare; colour cosmetics; facial skincare; and men’s and women’s fragrances.
Mintel market sizes are based on data from Information Resources, Inc. (IRI). Our consumer spending data in the UK report is quoted including VAT and is for sales through retail outlets, excluding channels such as salons.
National statistics data
In addition, we provide the total market size for all personal-care goods, as outlined by the Office for National Statistics. This data includes the following products sub-categories.
| COICOP | Market | Includes |
| 12.1 | Personal care | All personal care goods and services |
| Includes: | ||
| 12.1.2 | Electrical appliances for personal care | Electric razors and hair trimmers, hairdryers, curling tongs, sunlamps, vibrators, electric toothbrushes, etc. |
| 12.1.3 | Personal care products (excl. appliances) | Non-electric appliances: razors, scissors, nail files, combs, shaving brushes, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, personal weighing machines, baby scales, etc; articles for personal hygiene: soap, cleansing oil and milk, shaving soap, shaving cream, toothpaste, etc; beauty products: lipstick, nail varnish, make-up, hair styling products, pre-shave and after-shave products, sunbathing products, hair removers, fragrances, deodorants, bath products, etc; other products: toilet paper, paper towels, sanitary towels, cotton wool, nappies, etc. |
Market shares
Because ONS spending data covers all personal care-related product categories, we use this as the basis for our market share figures in this report.
Our Market Shares section provides data on share of spending for leading beauty specialists (such as Boots, Superdrug and The Body Shop), major chemist chains and generalists (such as supermarkets, discount stores and department stores).
Retail sector size
We also provide five years of historic data and five years’ forecast data for the health and beauty specialists sector.
Retail sales data is adapted from ONS data for specialised retailers of “Pharmaceutical, Medical, Cosmetic & Toilet goods”. This data excludes income from dispensing NHS prescriptions. The ONS data excludes Boots, so we add Boots UK H&B sales into our sector size.
All retail sales data in the UK report is quoted including VAT.
Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Financial definitions
Financial definitions used are:
Sales: turnover as reported by the company, excluding VAT.
Operating profits: pre-tax profits plus interest, less non-trading income such as the sale of fixed assets and any exceptional items, including provisions.
Pre-tax profits: the net trading profit after deducting all operating costs including depreciation and finance charges, but before deduction of tax, dividends and other appropriations.
Operating margin: Operating profits as a percentage of sales.
Pre-tax margin: pre-tax profits as a percentage of sales.
