Beauty and personal care consumers are leaving their pre-pandemic shopping mentalities behind as they return to stores with a reprioritized sense of self-care. State-wide shelter-in-place mandates pushed millions of Americans into their homes, fueling a reliance on grocery, convenience and drug store retailers to fulfill in-store beauty and wellness product needs. As a result, consumers’ purchasing behaviors transformed alongside their newly developed at-home personal care routines.

Tara James

It should be noted that shelter-in-place ordinances posed massive barriers between the beauty and personal care industry and its consumers, resulting in an average weekly decline of $95 million (five-week period ended April 25) across all Nielsen brick-and-mortar tracked channels. Although overall consumption rapidly decreased, Nielsen data shows that a substantial shift towards e-commerce (+54%) occurred during the same period as 75% of beauty and personal care consumers purchased products online at least once. This trend paints a revealing picture of consumers looking to sustain their pre-quarantine lifestyles even as societal pressures of maintaining appearances seemingly evaporated.

Within U.S. drug stores, in March overall beauty and wellness dollar sales expanded beyond medical items (pain, upper respiratory, vitamins) with a shift towards bath/shower, facial skin care and hair care products as consumers embraced their natural beauty, with some developing an entirely DIY personal care routine. Looking back on Nielsen’s drug store channel measurement (week ended March 14 to week ended June 13), consumers enlisted in products such as facial skin care (+10.8%), false eyelashes (+21.6%), box hair dye (+23.9%) and artificial nails (+73.7%). Even though overall beauty and personal care has been on the decline, drug stores have managed to capture 0.6% growth within the health and beauty space — pointing towards a spike in consumer interest towards drug store health and beauty. After three months of at-home maintenance, many realized that they have the skills and experience to continue DIY beauty and personal care post lockdown and may think twice before resorting back to more costly professional services.

The pandemic-fueled decline in total beauty and personal care will have lasting effects as retailers reopen to the public. Consumers’ newfound sentiment for natural beauty goes hand in hand with the fall of “full glam.” Protocols requiring masks in public spaces have deemed some products (e.g., lipstick/gloss) less necessary, while cosmetics that draw attention to eyes (e.g., false lashes) are beginning to take priority. Posing another problem for beauty consumers, masks can create skin irritations and clogged pores when wearing a full face of makeup, otherwise known as maskne. In an effort to avoid breakouts and irritation, consumers will stray away from heavy, full-coverage face makeup and move towards lightweight, natural-looking makeup and skin care that promotes natural radiance.

Tested and measured by Nielsen BASES, consumers’ response to innovation goes relatively unaffected during historical periods of disruption similar to COVID-19. Americans have been consistent in their intent to purchase beauty and facial care products and quickly developed a preference for products with immunity-boosting and disinfecting claims. According to Nielsen, beauty and health product innovations drove 10.4% of sales during the 12-week period ended April 24, compared to the pre-pandemic average of 11.4%. Although overall innovation sales maintained their stride, the amount of new products launched within the category decreased by as much as 55% month over month, presenting a golden opportunity for brands and retailers to launch new products.

While consumers recalibrate their beauty and personal care routines, it’s more critical than ever for brands and retailers to understand trends, engage more effectively with shoppers and heavily invest in building customer loyalty. As seen in the past, cutting back on advertising and going dark during a recession can lead to a negative 2% revenue impact per quarter and take up to three to five years to recover equity losses. On the other hand, those who maintain or even ramp up advertising efforts have the potential to gain 0.5 points in market share. The newfound DIY beauty movement offers an opportunity for brands and retailers to deliver knowledge and guidance pertaining to at-home care. By dedicating efforts towards rewards programs, pricing and promotion strategies, and high-impact marketing campaigns, brands and retailers will be able to maintain and expand their customer base as we transition into global market regeneration.

Drug store brands and retailers looking to get ahead need to capitalize on consumers’ reprioritized sense of self-care, especially while the world anticipates a second wave of COVID-19. Consumers were increasingly incorporating self-care into their daily routines before the pandemic, and this interest has rapidly accelerated since then. While the U.S. adapts to the “new normal,” maintaining healthy, natural skin and hair at home will take top-of-mind while consumers look to maintain their habits developed during lockdown. The ripple effects of COVID-19 drove new traffic within the drug store beauty and personal care space. Drug stores’ preexisting reputation as a source for health and wellness presents a unique opportunity to further capture consumers and become a mainstay staple in their beauty and self-care regimes. After discovering or reconnecting with the drug store segment, consumers may be more willing to continue using drug store outlets as their premier beauty destination in the “new ­normal.”

Tara James is senior vice president of Nielsen’s beauty ­practice.