Beauty Futures 2025

Over the next few years, the beauty industry will undergo transformation as brands respond to a backdrop of global uncertainty, consumers embrace new mindsets and disruptors push the needle of the sector forward.

Within the beauty industry, myriad social, economic and cultural factors are combining to cause tensions but also to present opportunities for innovation. ‘At present, we have a convergence of hyper-savvy, hyper- knowledgeable consumers, confident about beauty purchases but also wary of economic pressures,’ says Marcia Kilgore, founder of DTC beauty buyers club Beauty Pie. ‘It’s a perfect storm, creating challenges that future-facing brands must strive to meet.’

These converging shifts are leading to the rise of the ‘Question Everything’ economy, as beauty brands are freshly tasked with catering to highly informed consumer expectations across every tenet of product and engagement offerings.

‘Promisingly, the beauty industry is usually buoyant
during an economic crisis, while at present the
industry is a real cauldron of tradition mixed with
future thinking, creating exciting, transformative
conditions for the years ahead.’ 

Millie Kendall,
founder and first CEO of the British Beauty Council.

To understand how the beauty industry will transform over the next few years, we must first explore the influential social, cultural and economic shifts happening today that are shaping the lives of beauty consumers.

How will brands find the right balance of logic and magic?

: Doubling Down On Quality In A Time Of Inflation - A growing group are doubling down on high-quality beauty and its relative affordability to provide respite at a time of crisis. 

: Discernment Mindsets - Trust fatigue and increased access to information have heightened consumer savviness and discernment, transforming expectations around beauty brands, product efficacy, sustainability claims and approaches to luxury.

: Community Culture - The pandemic and influencer saturation have accelerated the growth of community-led beauty, as consumers seek authenticity and emotional engagement with brands

Discover our Accredited Beauty macrotrend – a look at how as consumers seek proof points on product quality, efficacy and sustainability, scientific evidence will drive the healthification of the beauty industry.

DISCOVER OUR ACCREDITED BEAUTY 

‘Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, geopolitical unrest and an unrelenting climate crisis, the needs of beauty consumers are in flux’

‘Greater customer education around pricing and mark- ups can help break the strong assumption that price is cumulatively linked to quality. This shift would have a significant impact on notions of luxury, and brands savvy to it can prove positively disruptive.’