UK Beauty and Personal Care Retailing Market Report 2025
2025-02-27T16:01:27+00:00
REPBAA93E0C_0BCA_4551_8E96_51B10E5C35F4
2600
179981
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Report
en_GB
Experiential shopping is invigorating the beauty and personal care industry UK. The concept of holistic wellness, alongside the increasing responsibilities granted to pharmacists, opens up opportunities for more in-store services.
UK
Health and Beauty Retail
simple
UK Beauty and Personal Care Retailing Market Report 2025
"Experiential shopping is invigorating the beauty retail sector in the UK. The concept of holistic wellness, alongside the increasing responsibilities granted to pharmacists, opens up opportunities for more in-store services."
UK Beauty and Personal Care Retail Industry – Trends and Insights
Despite financial pressures over the past three years, real-term spending on beauty and personal care products has grown, with beauty spending leading the way. This is driven by the “lipstick effect,” where consumers indulge in smaller treats while cutting back on larger purchases.
The majority of sales of beauty and personal care products still occur in stores, which remain crucial for brands seeking to build a large customer base.
Retailers are redefining the role of physical stores. Pop-ups and flagship stores are increasingly designed as immersive, interactive destinations to engage shoppers.
Key Topics Analysed in the Report
Consumer spending on beauty and personal care products, and how different segments are performing.
Beauty retail trends and how leading specialists are performing relative to one another and the market as a whole.
How consumers engage with beauty and personal care products in terms of types purchased, where they buy, and usage of different channels.
Levels of usage and interest in a variety of in-store beauty services and how these could be developed as part of the in-store retail offer.
How the changing role of pharmacists opens up new opportunities in health and wellness.
How retailers are using flagship and pop-up stores to bridge the gap between physical and digital and showcase their products in an immersive, experiential environment.
Report Attributes
Details
Published Date
February 2025
Data Range
2019-2029
Measurement Metrics
Revenue in £
Country Focus
United Kingdom (UK)
Consumer Data
2,000 internet users aged 16+, November 2024
Number of Pages
126
Market Segmentation
Soap, Bath or Shower Products, Deodorant/Body Spray, Oral Hygiene, Haircare, Facial Skincare, Shaving/Hair Removal Products, Fragrance/Aftershave, Body Skincare, Makeup, Beauty Accessories, Nail Care, and Electronic Beauty Appliances
Leading Companies in the UK Beauty Retail Market
Boots, Superdrug, Savers, The Perfume Shop, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Amazon, THG Beauty, Morrisons, John Lewis, Aldi, Marks & Spencer, Jo Malone, Cult Beauty, Lookfantastic, Lush
Attract value-driven shoppers with in-store money saving tools
Use tailored sampling to begin a relationship
Look to emerging tech to provide in-store advice
But there is a need to reassure and enhance trust in AI-driven solutions
Events can draw younger shoppers into stores
Use in-store events to create a buzz and engage with shoppers in real life
Attitudes to shopping for BPC
High levels of trust in pharmacists
Boost retail engagement through in-store health services
Graph 32: attitudes relating to health care when shopping for BPC, 2024
Building on holistic wellness
Expand pharmacy-led services
Use health screening and diagnostic tests to help prevent ill health
Graph 33: attitudes relating to shopping for beauty and personal care, 2024
Combine technology innovation with the human touch
Exclusive products drive interest
Use exclusives to capture social-media-savvy early adopters
Graph 34: attitudes towards shopping for beauty/personal care, 2024
The convenience of rapid delivery can justify a higher price
Emphasise time saving and reliability to target time-poor shoppers
Graph 35: agreement to “I would be happy to pay more for the convenience of receiving a product through a rapid delivery service”, by age, 2024
RETAILER ACTIVITY
Key metrics and market share
Boots is the dominant specialist BPC retailer
Leading specialist health and beauty retailers: revenue
Leading specialist health and beauty retailers: stores
Beyond Boots and Superdrug, pharmacy is a fragmented sector
Leading pharmacies: revenue
Leading pharmacies: stores
Beauty retailing has been the prime growth driver for Boots
Graph 36: Boots UK sales and segment performance, Q1 22/23-Q4 23/24*
Online is a main factor behind BPC market growth
Graph 37: Boots.com sales performance and share of total retail sales, Q1 2022/23-Q4 2023/24*
The role of stores is shifting
Graph 38: trends in Boots store numbers, 2021-24*
Superdrug moves towards prime locations
Boots looks to third-party brands to boost beauty sales
Retailers use loyalty schemes to build stronger relationships with customers
The future of convenience is now
Space NK carves out a premium niche
Sephora shakes up the market
Space NK leads ranking of fastest-growing BPC retailers
Graph 39: top 10 fastest-growing retailers by year-on-year change in key spending metrics, based on Snoop SpendMapper cohort, 2024
Jo Malone grows customers and spend
Graph 40: leading specialist BPC retailers, year-on-year sales change with Snoop Spendmapper Cohort, 2024
Leading non-specialists
Tesco and Sainsbury’s expand their beauty offerings
Food discounters see strong BPC growth in 2024
Graph 41: trends in non-specialists’ BPC sales, by broad category, 2020-24*
Leading supermarkets are the biggest non-specialist sellers of BPC products
Market shares
Boots is the dominant player
Graph 42: leading specialist and non-specialists’ estimated share of all spending on personal care products, 2024
Boots has clear market leadership…
…and is the largest overall retailer of BPC products in the UK
Launch activity and innovation
Digital brands brought to life
Expansion from established players and new faces on the high street
John Lewis expanding its beauty offer of brands and services
Selfridges opens new beauty hall
Retailers look to make it easier to recycle
Benefit explores digital shopping
Tesco pilots in-store healthcare services
The Perfume Shop partners with Deliveroo
Lush offers personalised perfume discovery
Private label launches grow as more retailers expand their offering
Graph 43: % of BPC launches accounted for by private label BPC products, 2020-24
Advertising and marketing activity
Beauty and personal care campaign spending remains stable
Graph 44: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising on beauty and personal care, 2020-24
Spending on digital advertising is increasingly important
Graph 45: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising on beauty and personal care, by media type, 2024*
Ad spend by leading retailers of beauty and personal care products
Lush Cosmetics join forces with EachOther to bring essential human rights to British high streets
Boots introduces over 25 new beauty brands and launches biggest ever beauty marketing campaign
Sephora’s ‘We Belong to Something Beautiful’ campaign
APPENDIX
Supplementary data – market dynamics
The ageing UK population
Market forecast data and methodology
Market size and forecast – beauty and personal care spending
Market forecast and prediction intervals – beauty and personal care spending
Market size and forecast – beauty spending
Market forecast and prediction intervals – beauty spending
Market size and forecast – personal care spending
Market forecast and prediction intervals – personal care spending
Market size and forecast – specialist beauty and personal care retailers’ sales
Market forecast and prediction intervals – specialist beauty and personal care retailers’ sales
Forecast methodology
Report scope and definitions
Market definition
Abbreviations and terms
Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
Consumer research methodology
Snoop SpendMapper methodology
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