2025
9
UK Beauty and Personal Care Retailing Market Report 2025
2025-02-27T16:01:27+00:00
REPBAA93E0C_0BCA_4551_8E96_51B10E5C35F4
2195
179981
[{"name":"Health and Beauty Retail","url":"https:\/\/store.mintel.com\/industries\/retail\/health-beauty"}]
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 Beauty and Personal Care Retailing Market Report 2025

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As sales in the beauty retail industry shift to the more convenient online channel, retailers are redefining the role of their stores, making them more immersive and interactive.

The UK Beauty Retail Industry – Current Landscape

Despite consumer finances being under severe pressure for the past three years, real terms spending on beauty and personal care products has grown. This is partly due to the ‘lipstick effect’ of people treating themselves by spending on smaller items while foregoing larger purchases, but also the explosion in social media engagement with beauty content, which has allowed new brands to emerge.

TikTok Shop has provided digital beauty brands with the missing link in social commerce, being able to make in-app purchases of products. This allows brands to bypass major store-based retailers altogether. However, most sales still go through stores, so it remains an attractive channel for brands looking to build a large customer base.

Beauty Retail Market Statistics

  • Beauty Retail Trends: As social commerce is gaining traction, 21% of Gen Z are interested in digital shopping assistants, which highlights the possibility of digitalising services such as skin consultations.
  • UK Beauty and Personal Care Market Size: In 2024 beauty retail market research measured £12.5bn consumer spending on beauty and personal care products.

UK Beauty and Personal Care Market Report – What’s Inside?

Key Topics Analysed in this 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.

Meet the Expert Behind the Analysis

This report is written by Natalie Macmillan, European Analyst at Mintel. Natalie is a senior analyst with over 25 years of experience in researching and writing reports for Mintel’s European retail market coverage.

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.

Picture of Natalie Macmillan, Retail Analyst for European markets at Mintel.
Natalie Macmillan
European Analyst – Retail

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  1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    • Opportunities for beauty and personal care retailers
    • Unlock growth through health and wellness integration…
    • …to become a trusted partner in consumers’ overall wellness journeys
    • Elevate store experiences with pampering services…
    • …and encouraging product discovery and experimentation
    • Utilise technology for enhanced product information…
    • …and to deliver hyper-personalised experiences
    • Market dynamics and outlook
    • Market size and forecast
    • Market predictions
    • BPC spending growth slows due to lower inflation
    • Beauty increases share of BPC spending
    • Graph 1: breakdown of consumer spending on beauty and personal care products by segment, 2019-24
    • Health and beauty specialists’ sales grow strongly in 2024
    • Graph 2: health and beauty specialist’ sales (including VAT), 2019-24
    • What consumers want and why
    • Fragrance sees strongest uplift in purchasing in the past year
    • Graph 3: beauty and personal care products purchased in the last 12 months, 2023-24
    • Smartphone shopping jumps among younger consumers
    • Graph 4: method for shopping for beauty/personal care products, 2023-24
    • Boots remains the most popular specialist
    • Graph 5: retailers used to buy beauty and personal care items in the last 12 months, 2024
    • Hair styling and health checks are most used in-store services
    • Graph 6: in-store beauty and personal care services, levels of interest, 2024
    • Loyalty rewards and freebies most likely to encourage in-store shopping
    • Graph 7: factors to encourage in-store shopping for beauty/personal care products rather than online, 2024
    • Stores with pharmacies can capitalise on high trust levels
    • Graph 8: agreement with statements about trust in pharmacists, 2024
    • Retailers must make the physical aspects of stores work for them
    • Graph 9: agreement with statements relating to the in-store environment for beauty and personal care products, 2024
    • Exclusive products help a retailer stand out
    • Graph 10: agreement with statements about selected aspects of buying beauty and personal care products, 2024
    • Retailer activity
    • Specialists and grocers account for three quarters of BPC spending
    • Graph 11: estimated channel of distribution of spending on BPC products, by type of retailer, 2023-24
    • Boots is the leading BPC specialist
    • Graph 12: estimated specialist BPC retailer market shares, 2024
  2. MARKET DYNAMICS

    • Market size and segmentation: beauty and personal care products
    • BPC inflation masks the true pattern of growth
    • BPC spending growth slows due to lower inflation
    • Beauty outpaces personal care segment growth
    • Graph 13: breakdown of consumer spending on beauty and personal care products, 2019-24
    • Beauty category performance
    • Facial skincare buoyed by innovation and marketing
    • Fragrances and body sprays growth led by strong fragrance performance
    • Social media and experimentation boost colour cosmetics
    • Bodycare demand rebounds after a post-pandemic dip
    • Personal care category performance
    • Unisex deodorants boost sector growth
    • Styling aids growth boosts haircare
    • Oral hygiene growth is being driven by innovation
    • Market forecast: beauty and personal care products
    • Spending on beauty and personal care products set to hit £14.5bn by 2029
    • Future trends impacting BPC spending
    • Beauty segment set to grow ahead of the market in next five years
    • Personal care spending to grow at slower rate
    • Specialist BPC retailer sector: market size and forecast
    • Specialist BPC retailer business numbers are falling…
    • Graph 14: health and beauty specialists’ enterprise numbers, 2019-23
    • …but store numbers have held steady
    • Graph 15: health and beauty specialists’ outlet numbers, 2019-23
    • Health and beauty specialists’ sales grow strongly in 2024
    • Graph 16: health and beauty specialist’ sales (including VAT), 2019-24
    • Specialists’ sales are highly seasonal
    • Graph 17: average weekly sales of specialist BPC retailers, by month, 2024
    • Specialists sales to reach £19.1bn by 2029
    • Competition for specialists will intensify
    • Channels of distribution
    • Specialists and grocers account for three quarters of BPC spending
    • Graph 18: estimated channel of distribution of spending on BPC products, by type of retailer, 2023-24
    • Online grows strongly on the back of social media trends
    • Graph 19: market size for online BPC, 2020-24 (est)
    • Specialists’ online sales are growing faster than average
    • Graph 20: estimated online sales of store-based BPC retailing specialists, 2019-24
    • Online is set to grow steadily
    • Online BPC sales forecast to reach £4.3 billion by 2029
    • Market drivers
    • BPC price inflation eases
    • Graph 21: trends in overall CPI inflation and BPC inflation rates, 2019-24
    • Pressure on household finances continues
    • Graph 22: agreement with the statement ‘The UK cost of living crisis is…’, 2024-25
    • An ageing population presents opportunities
    • Social media offers many touchpoints with beauty shoppers
    • Growth in social commerce will impact beauty retailing
    • Pharmacy First is proving a valuable footfall driver
  3. WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY

    • What they buy
    • Fragrance sees the strongest uplift
    • Graph 23: beauty and personal care products purchased in the last 12 months, 2023-24
    • Discretionary usage is driving fragrance purchasing
    • Retailers launching own-brand fragrance
    • Target demographics and lifestages with tailored products
    • Gen Alpha and Gen Z are hands on and experimental
    • Older consumers want products to enhance appearance and promote wellbeing
    • Boost engagement with different male demographics
    • Graph 24: beauty products purchased in the last 12 months, 2024
    • Remove taboos around beauty products for men
    • How they shop for beauty and personal care
    • Smartphone shopping increasing most
    • Graph 25: method for shopping for beauty/personal care products, 2023-24
    • Physical stores can build on the success of online-only brands
    • Use in-store digital innovation to elevate the in-store experience
    • Holland and Barrett uses tech to enhance customer advice
    • Leverage social media trends to engage younger shoppers
    • Tap into TikTok Shop’s success
    • Where they shop
    • Supermarkets are the most popular place to purchase
    • Savvy shopping and quality own-labels make grocery stores an attractive destination
    • Three quarters of 16-24 year old women use health and beauty specialists
    • Graph 26: types of retailer used to buy beauty/personal care items, by age and gender, 2024
    • Department stores appeal strongly to younger men
    • Younger men overindex at online pharmacies
    • Graph 27: customer profile of pharmacies and online pharmacies, 2024
    • Boots remains the most popular retailer for BPC products
    • Graph 28: retailers used to buy beauty and personal care items in the last 12 months, 2024
    • Boots enhances appeal to younger shoppers with new brands and sponsorships
    • The growing importance of Amazon
    • Sephora challenging the status quo
    • Usage of and interest in in-store services
    • Potential to build on interest in in-store grooming and wellness services
    • Hair styling and health checks are most used
    • Graph 29: in-store beauty and personal care services, levels of interest, 2024
    • Build haircare merchandising around styling services
    • Making people feel good with pampering beauty services can drive sales
    • Graph 30: in-store beauty and personal care services, levels of interest, 2024
    • Make services accessible, but also something special
    • Usage of health screening already well established
    • In-store workshops can build community and tap into wellness
    • H&B bolsters its standing as a wellness brand through personal connections
    • Speak to the needs of different lifestages
    • Growing acceptance of medical aesthetics
    • The medicalisation of beauty…
    • …can unlock opportunities for retailers
    • Factors to bring shoppers in-store
    • Loyalty rewards and freebies appeal most
    • Graph 31: factors to encourage in-store shopping for beauty/personal care products rather than online, 2024
    • Feature-rich schemes can build engagement and loyalty
    • Innovate to stand out in a crowded loyalty market
    • Hands-on learning can engage younger shoppers
    • Cult Beauty Playground’s funfair format let visitors play and learn
    • L’Oréal’s interactive ‘The Beauty Playground’ pop-up
    • Enable practical sustainable shopping behaviours
    • Design an eco beauty in-store space
    • 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
  4. 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
  5. 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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