2026
9
UK Hand, Body and Footcare Market Report 2026
2026-06-29T10:01:12+00:00
REPEA6F966F_D766_47E4_AF96_6FD76617E4D7
2195
194479
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Report
en_GB
With 72% of users saying an immediate benefit would encourage them to add an extra product to their routines, demand is centred on fast, visible results which can drive engagement…
UK
Bodycare
simple

UK Hand, Body and Footcare Market Report 2026

With 72% of users saying an immediate benefit would encourage them to add an extra product to their routines, demand is centred on fast, visible results which can drive engagement and routine expansion.

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Source: G2.com, Inc.
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  1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    • What you need to know
    • Outlook for hand, body and footcare
    • Opportunities
    • Act now: balance efficacy with a pleasurable user experience to encourage frequency and trade-up
    • Act now: tap into social trends to drive relevance, engagement and spend
    • In the next 12-18 months: align with evolving lifestyles to unlock new usage occasions and high-value users
  2. THE MARKET

    • Snapshot – market size and forecast
    • Market factors
    • Value-driven consumers have a mixed impact on the category
    • Pivot to alternative ingredients to protect margins as climate change leads to ingredient volatility
    • Build multi-step routines that tackle body blemishes
    • Weather changes support routine extensions
    • Brands can turn packaging pressures into competitive edge
    • Market size
    • Use innovation to accelerate value growth, while warding off competition from other categories
    • Market size and forecast for hand, body and footcare
    • Graph 1: market value forecast for hand, body and footcare, 2021-31
    • Handcare sees weak performance despite investment in prestige handcare
    • Amazon and TikTok Shop help online only-retailers outperform
    • Top performing brands align with category trends
  3. THE CONSUMER

    • Expand hand, body and footcare’s role in routines to recruit new users and protect spending
    • Present clear use cases to convert male non-users into dedicated footcare users and drive volume growth
    • Graph 2: usage of hand, body and footcare formats in the last 12 months, by gender, 2026
    • Multipurpose products will align with men’s existing usage behaviours
    • Use body oils to build compelling prestige narratives and win market share
    • Answer demands for additional product features to appeal to Gen Z and Younger Millennials
    • Meaningfully integrate applicators into bodycare to encourage routine adherence and drive repeat purchase
    • Boost relevance by aligning with lifestyles, social media and beauty trends
    • Handcare is the next avenue for the preventative ageing trend
    • Graph 3: agreement that “I pay more attention to the signs of ageing on my hands than on the rest of my body”, by gender and age, 2026
    • Relaunch with a glow as a low-cost way to align with social media trends
    • Engage with exercise as sports participation rates bounce back
    • Focus on the performance and muscle recovery benefits of skincare to trigger an additional usage occasion
    • Seamlessly fit into routines that include professional treatments and devices to attract high-spending consumers
    • Be a first mover in the emerging GLP-1 bodycare space
    • Fit into the routines of skincare device users to reach a super-engaged cohort
    • Use ingredient and delivery-system led innovation to drive product trial
    • Combine familiar and unfamiliar ingredients to address pain points
    • Build anti-pollution narratives with already popular ingredients to drive consistent usage
    • Encourage benefit trade-ups with masstige anti-ageing handcare
    • Graph 4: consumers who would be encouraged by anti-ageing claims to choose one handcare product over another, by age and gender, 2026
    • Probiotics are an emerging ingredient with good momentum, act now to own the space
    • Encourage trade-ups by using delivery systems to offer intense hydration without stickiness
    • Achieve wide appeal with Korean bodycare that has an enjoyable skin feel
    • Respond to consumer needs and offer instant effects to expand routines
  4. PRODUCT, INNOVATION AND MARKETING

    • Use scientific validation to build trust and premium positioning in wellness-led HBF
    • Retailers can respond to consumer demand and support growth with premium private label launches
    • Leverage brand reputation and bring hero products to bodycare
    • Sensorial-forward innovation can encourage trading up
    • Unlock growth by bringing facial skincare-grade efficacy to bodycare
    • AI can make development quicker and more accurate
    • Prepare for K-Beauty brands to bring competitiveness to the UK HBF category
  5. APPENDIX

    • Market definition
    • The market
    • Forecast methodology
    • Forecast methodology – fan chart
    • Market size and forecast of hand, body and footcare
    • Market forecast and prediction intervals
    • Market size for mass-market bodycare, by brand
    • Market size for mass-market footcare, by brand
    • Market size for mass-market handcare, by brand
    • Market size for hand, body and footcare products, by retail channel
    • Market size for hand, body and footcare products, by price positioning
    • Market size for hand, body and footcare products, by segment
    • The consumer
    • Consumer research questions
    • Consumer research methodology
    • UK generation groups
    • Other data source methodologies
    • Consumer interest in magnesium
    • Graph 5: Google search interest in magnesium over time, 2021-26
    • Infegy Starscape coverage
    • Mintel Spark
    • Abbreviations
Download Report Summary

"Hand, body and footcare users expect instant results and sophisticated formulas. Brands that deliver immediate benefits with sensorial appeal will succeed."

Georgia Stafford, Beauty & Personal Care Analyst

Georgia Stafford, Beauty & Personal Care Analyst

UK Bodycare Industry – Trends and Insights

  • The success of the hand, body and footcare category is dependent on fast-acting formulas. With 72% of users saying an immediate benefit would encourage them to add an extra product to their routines, demand is centred on fast, visible results which can drive engagement and routine expansion. This is raising the bar for efficacy and pushing brands towards targeted, performance-led solutions.
  • As HBF products offer more beauty benefits, there is greater potential for value growth. Advanced ingredients, delivery systems and claims comparable to facial skincare paired with sensorial appeal will be best placed to increase frequency of use and justify trade-ups.
  • A key opportunity lies in aligning HBF with evolving lifestyles, from sports and muscle recovery to emerging needs linked to GLP-1 usage. Positioning products as lifestyle essentials can unlock new usage occasions and recruit new users to support both volume and value growth. Early movers can define these spaces and build lasting relevance.
  • However, the category is threatened by new entrants to the category, namely Korean bodycare brands, creating competition for brand share. To defend spend, non-Korean brands must keep up with consumer expectations for sophisticated formulas that make instant improvements to skin.

This Report Looks at the Following Areas:

  • How brands can use new formats, applicators and delivery systems to overcome barriers and boost engagement
  • The need to balance premium-feeling products with value to remain desirable and accessible in a cost-conscious category
  • Opportunities to expand usage occasions and routines to drive usage frequency and volume growth
  • Facial skincare-grade claims and ingredients that can meet rising expectations in bodycare
  • How brands can align products with evolving lifestyles, including performance/recovery and GLP-1 related needs

Market Definitions

For the purposes of this Report, Mintel’s definition of body, hand, and footcare includes, as follows:

  • Handcare
  • Footcare, including medicated footcare
  • Bodycare, including: body lotions/creams (including those that match or are line extensions to men’s or women’s fragrances), body moisturisers in formats other than lotion/cream (including sprays), body butters, emollients (such as E45 cream), general-purpose products, exfoliant products for body use (such as polishing grains/scrubs), anti-cellulite products, bust-firming gels/creams/lotions, fragrance treatment sprays and men’s bodycare products.

Excluded:

  • Therapeutic creams for skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema
  • Hardware products such as loofahs and massagers
  • Salon treatments which are applied by beauty therapists
  • Aromatherapy oils – Although body lotions/creams formulated with essential oils are included
  • Depilatories or other hair removal products.
  • Tanning moisturisers (ie skincare with added tanning agent to build a gradual tan with frequent use)

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