By Jennifer Stansbury, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, The Benchmarking Company
Two months into a health pandemic that has impacted every economy on the planet, brands are more and more questioning what the retail environment will look like post Covid-19, and how this altered landscape will impact consumers. But even more than a change in where and how consumers will shop is a question of just how important sustainability will be to consumers in this newly defined retail environment? A record number of consumers are shopping online right now, which creates not just a record amount of packing and shipping waste, but also a chance for consumers to look carefully at the impact their shopping makes on the environment, and what that means to the future.
A Quick Snapshot of the Covid-19 Consumer
Right now, nearly all consumers (87%) live in a state with a mandated ‘shelter-in-place’ order, and 75% say they have followed these stay-at-home orders, and only made occasional trips to the grocery store for necessities and supplies. However, that doesn’t mean consumers have stopped shopping or lost interest using their favorite beauty items, or their beauty routines. On the contrary, consumers are engaging with brands in new ways. 100% of consumers say they colored their hair at home for the first time ever during Covid-19; 76% are shopping for beauty online; 60% took an online survey; 56% experimented with new skincare brands and products, and 44% with new makeup products. To help lower stress and nurture a sense of normalcy, most consumers are also trying hard to maintain their normal beauty routines: 87% say they spend the same amount or more on their normal skincare routine right now; 59% on styling their hair; and 53% on wearing makeup.
Covid-19 and Sustainability
For most consumers, sustainability has long been an important factor in the beauty and wellness brands and products they buy and use: 75% of consumers agree that pre-Covid, sustainability was somewhat to very important to them. But do they feel the same now, in the middle of this health pandemic and moving forward? Turns out, yes, and for the better. Fifty-nine percent of consumers say they are more aware of the importance of sustainability now, while only 28% say their attitudes towards sustainability have remained the same. Perhaps even more important, 98% of consumers agree that after the Covid-19 crisis is over, the importance of sustainability when considering a beauty purchase will either be even more important or have the same importance it did as before the pandemic.
The Current Challenges of Being Sustainable
Given that 65% of consumers agree they are buying more beauty products online right now than previously, it’s no surprise that disposal of all that waste is on their minds. Almost 60% of all beauty consumers are concerned with the amount of packaging they have received and disposed of as a result of more online ordering. To account for this uptick in packaging waste, consumers are stepping up to the sustainability plate. Fifty-nine percent of consumers are recycling more bags, bottles, and plastic; 55% are refilling beauty and personal care items, such as hand soap and shampoo; and 55% say they are just more aware of the plastic they are discarding. Many consumers (44%) say they are also trying to find creative ways to use old bottles, shipping materials, and the other not-so environmentally friendly trash that their Covid shopping has produced.
Her Engagement with Sustainability
Although the waste produced by getting more beauty items shipped is on her mind, since the pandemic began, it’s interesting to note that most consumers aren’t really doing much more by way of researching the sustainability of their favorite brands and products now than they were before. Since the start of Covid-19, 42% of consumers have sought out tips for how to reuse/recycle beauty and personal care product packaging; 39% have researched which beauty brands are sustainable and, the impact of plastic on the environment; and 30% have looked into practices for sustainable ingredients. However, looking to the future and post Covid-19, 67% of consumers agree that beauty products with clean ingredients will be even more important than they are now.
As consumers and indeed all of us attempt to figure out not only what our own personal lifestyle will look like after Covid-19 but also how we will approach future purchasing (will she head back to the stores or stick to her new online habit?), it’s safe to say that even in the midst of a massive health crisis, sustainability and a clean/green approach to beauty remains important to consumers. Right now, at this sensitive juncture of getting business back to ‘usual’ and defining what that ‘usual’ will actually mean, brands have a powerful opportunity to continue creating products and packaging that support sustainability regardless of distribution channels, while at the same time, encouraging consumers to continue embracing sustainability as a key driver in their purchasing habits.
ABOUT Jennifer Stansbury
Based in the Washington, DC area, Jennifer is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The Benchmarking Company, a market research firm for the beauty and personal care industries. She has worked for more than two decades as a marketing, communications and research professional, successfully implementing effective marketing strategies to grow market share for companies in many industries. Through the development and execution of laser-focused research programs, her strategic counsel helps clients uncover consumer buying behaviors, consumer wants and needs and garners product claims essential for marketing, advertising, product promotion and sell-through. Jennifer has extensive experience in creating and conducting online and in-person consumer research for the beauty industry.
Categorized in: Trends/Insights