Sales of plant-based beauty products are surging forward as more brands on both sides of the Atlantic go vegan.
The sale of vegan prestige beauty products in the UK reported an increase of 38% in the 12-month period February 2017 to end of January 2018 according to The NPD Group. The total market for natural prestige beauty products (of which vegan is a category) was valued at £124 million in 2017 and accounts for 26% of prestige women’s face skincare.
Driven by social media and campaigns like Veganuary, the popularity of a vegan lifestyle has grown as consumers embrace a more wellness-oriented lifestyle.
Helen Duxbury, senior account manager, NPD UK Beauty says: “There has certainly been a rise in the number of vegan brands in prestige beauty and this coincides with consumers adopting a more conscientious approach when purchasing products, looking closely at the underlying philosophies and actions of the brands. They not only investigate ingredients and efficacy, they want to know about traceability, and how animal friendly they are. Vegan and cruelty-free are two of the big issues for customers in 2018, but still remains a niche segment of the skincare market.”
Natural driver
The prestige beauty market has also been boosted by the growth of natural beauty. Natural brands (including organic, naturally-derived and vegan) are growing at 16%, ahead of the market growth which is at 7% in the 12-month period to the end of January 2018. The top five product sectors for naturals are anti-ageing, cleansers, moisturisers, eye treatment and masks. The biggest contribution to growth from natural beauty products is with anti-ageing (18%), cleansers (14%) and masks (39%) which are all ahead of the category. Natural cleansers in particular perform well, accounting for 18% of sales, compared to all cleansers which is 11%.
Cruelty-free
As consumers become more aware of the ingredients used in beauty products, ethics are now becoming a more important to individual brands. More consumers are aware that if a brand is selling in China then their products need to be tested on animals. Having a clear stance on these ethical issues can provide a valuable boost to sales. For instance, beauty brands with cruelty-free certification account for 20% of the women’s face skincare and are grew by 18% compared to the overall category which grew only 7%.
Milk goes … vegan
In the US, on trend cosmetic brand Milk Makeup, is the latest high profile beauty brand to commit to being 100% vegan. The company made the announcement on its website earlier last month.
Milk co-founder, Dianna Ruth, told US website PopSugar, “While we’ve always been a majority-vegan line, the shift to 100% vegan is important to us because using animal byproducts is an unnecessary practice.”
The company has stressed that its commitment to being entirely vegan will not compromise product effectiveness, but it has confirmed that is has had to drop a small number of lines that it was unable to make vegan.
Main image: Milk Makeup announces on its website that its range is now 100% vegan