British Health and Beauty Brand Footprint
Brand Footprint ranking of the most chosen health and beauty brands.
Brand Footprint
The British ranking of the most chosen
health and beauty brands
Health and Beauty
Setting the scene and introducing
the top 20 brands of 2019.
Health and beauty products often command a high level of consumer engagement, but can be a relatively discretionary purchase. With Brexit never far from the headlines, 2019 was a year where people felt less than confident in the economy and their personal finances. Discount retailers, be they supermarkets, on the high street, or in retail parks continued to grow, putting price pressure on brands or even offering own label alternatives. While grocery as a whole increased in value by 3% during the year, categories in the health and beauty sector faced comparatively slow growth with toiletries up 0.4% and healthcare up 2%.
This Brand Footprint report is being published at a time of huge behavioural and economic change due to COVID-19. At the time of writing this situation is ongoing and the long-term outlook is unclear.
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British Top 20 Health and Beauty Brands
Another factor hitting the sector is the long-term trend of people simplifying their daily routines, for example there are now 1 billion fewer cosmetics occasions compared with five years ago. The importance of the environment and the implications of packaging and ingredients are an ongoing concern for many consumers. However, as a recent Kantar study revealed, 93% of health and beauty consumers believe that it is the responsibility of the manufacturers to find more sustainable solutions.
These challenging factors make it even more critical that brands understand and tap into what is important to the consumer to make the most of every opportunity available so that they are more likely to be chosen.
Disrupting times
Personal care routines and where shoppers go for those needs are in a considerable state of flux.
While at present, everything is interrupted and the world feels upside down due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the health and beauty sector has been disrupted on several fronts for some time.
One of the types of disruption is where people buy their products. There has been a significant expansion of the bargain channel: since 2015 the market share has grown to 13.7%, an increase of £457 million. Last year several mainstream brands increased their presence in this way. This included L’Oreal Paris in position 11 which started to sell Wrinkle Expert in the bargain stores and Lidl. Bargain stores account for 56% spending on Galpharm which is in position 17. The brand is growing penetration very strongly, finding 10% more shoppers over the year.
Online also continues to grow with pure players such as Look Fantastic and Asos increasing their share of the market. Garnier in position 8 expanded their online presence by listing in the pure players last year. The brand also successfully recruited new buyers with the launch of Garnier Ultimate Blends Hair Food which is 98% natural and they also launched Garnier Organic. As well as established brands going online, the opposite is true with online-first brands moving into stores and enhancing their physical presence, the most famous of which is Harry’s.
Another very substantial disruption to the sector is the way in which people’s needs are changing. Routine simplification continues, as does the trend for longer hair and growing beards. Haircare as a category is in usage decline as long hair tends to be washed less often. The femcare category has declined 2% in the last year as hormone-based contraception means that some women don’t take a menstrual break at all.
Even the oral care category is affected as people drop mouthwash from their routine to simplify it.
The brands that break through these sorts of challenges are the ones that react to the motivations behind the change. Listerine in position 18 launched Go Tabs last year, innovating with a completely new format of mouthwash which can be consumed on the go, thus fitting into people’s increasingly busy lives. Nightly Reset was another key innovation for the brand which has continued to perform well.
Hear more about the fundamental shift in personal care habits from our consumer expert Maya Zawislak.
Natural vs science
An inherent tension: the market is becoming polarised between the high technology efficacy and products offering simpler more natural benefits
With the continued popularity of Love Island and the artificial beauty of celebrities like the Kardashians, it’s perhaps no surprise that beauty treatments are in growth. In the last year this market increased by 8% to be worth £2.2 billion. It is by no means only attracting women either: 16% of men went to a salon in the last year. This growth though isn’t just about having a more polished appearance, a lot of the attraction is about the experiential element of going into a salon, which is a huge trend across all parts of life including eating out and entertainment.
It might seem that a highly maintained appearance and the perfect look is a big driver for the sector but this, like many beauty tricks, is just a surface impression. In reality, the group of people pursuing this ideal is actually very small: only 9% of women claim that their looks are important to them and actively dislike the natural look – just 2.3 million in Great Britain. This small group is highly visible and voluble through social media where share of voice is greater than numbers would suggest.
There is a real division between science and natural when it comes to health and beauty. On one hand there is a rise in popularity of “science” brands to almost 14 million weekly occasions with a focus on ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, retinol and collagen. On the other, natural continues to be a very significant trend: in skincare, 24% of all skincare is now natural, and this is growing.
There are many examples of brands creating natural options to reflect this trend. Alberto Balsam in position 20 launched a naturals range this year, distributed exclusively in Asda. Playing into the CBD trend, Aussie launched their Calm the Frizz range using hemp. Simple in position 13 built on their successful launch of biodegradable wipes in 2018 and the product provided a boost to their overall wipes performance.
Oral care brands, including number one brand Colgate (see brand focus) and Sensodyne in position 22, have both focused on the science to build their brands and appeal to consumers' needs. Sensodyne has successfully grown value ahead of the category this year due to an increased price point; Daily Care Gentle Whitening and Sensodyne Pronamel Multi-Action are both worth over £4 million in sales and are the fastest growing ranges. Sensodyne Sensitivity + Gum was a new launch this year which gained a penetration of more than 2%.
Brand focus: Colgate
The number one in the UK Brand Footprint health and beauty sector for the last four years, Colgate had a strong year with a growth in CRPs of 2% driven by increases in frequency.
Colgate’s success is an example of the pull between naturals and science. In 2019 they recognised changing tastes and the drive for sustainability with their launch of a bamboo toothbrush and a vegan toothpaste called Smile for Good. Smile for Good is available in a recyclable tube, a first for the industry as toothpaste packaging is not usually recyclable. The brand addressed the wider personal care trend for ‘natural’ through the Natural Extracts range, with charcoal, seaweed salt and ultimate fresh lemon variants, and the natural paste portfolio was responsible for £2.8m of Colgate’s growth this year. In terms of science, it’s the efficacy across its products which continue to keep Colgate at the top of the ranking. Sub range re-launches led to 7% growth of Colgate Total, while premium whitening products such as Colgate Max White Expert Complete Toothpaste grew by 10%. Development of both natural and more premium products added value to the brand by attracting a new target: the more affluent shopper.
Celebrating difference
Consumers are not all the same, something recognised and even promoted by an increasing number of brands.
In a world that seems to finally be changing its attitude towards women and the perception of what beauty is, brands and the advertising they use are being held more accountable than ever before. With a strong focus on mental health and self-esteem, there is a big push for brands to show how perfectly imperfect we all are and engage everyone.
Dove, the third most chosen brand in this sector, has long had an association with the promotion of a more realistic view of beauty with their award-winning Campaign for Real Beauty. Last year saw the launch of their Pro Age skincare range aimed at the over-65 market. The brand’s 3% increase in CRPs was in part also due to the Dove Men+Care range which performed well in deodorants and skin cleansing as well as the new Visible Glow self-tan product launch. Nivea in position 2 also recognised the need for skincare for the older market with the debut of their Q10 60+ product, an extension to the Q10 range launched the year before.
Pantene launched the premium Hair Biology range last year with a strong celebrity-led PR campaign behind it. The new range included a product targeted at grey hair which was a first for a mainstream brand. They also launched Pantene Gold, an intensive moisturising range aimed at ethnic hair. Elvive, just outside the top 20, increased CRPs by 6% in this year’s ranking and launched a purple shampoo to target people with grey hair. Tapping into more moments, the brand also developed Elvive Rapid Revivers, a range of “power conditioners” aimed at the time poor consumer.
With changes in perception of beauty, and a widening acceptance of what is normal, hair removal has become an option rather than a requirement. We see almost a million fewer weekly shaving occasions compared to 10 years ago and of those, only one quarter of women shaving claim to be doing so because society says they should.
Direct to consumer brand Billie broke the mould in hair removal by being the first to show women shaving actual body hair. In a market that is declining in engagement, they’ve managed to secure $25m from Goldman Sachs – showing how financially important the trend of embracing diversity will become. It also re-emphasises the need for brands to create a transparency and intimacy with their consumers to succeed.
This approach was also echoed by the Venus #MySkinMyWay campaign created to challenge beauty stereotypes. It was built around the fact that 63% of women said that they would feel more comfortable if they saw more women “like them” represented in adverts and focuses on stories of real women.
Standing for something
Being a brand with genuine purpose is still an important way to forge a connection.
Supporting the celebration of differences, many health and beauty brands also go a stage further and make a point in their marketing campaigns of standing up for particular issues or under-represented sections of society. The sector these days is arguably more about reality and celebration of differences than it has ever been.
Bodyform in position 25, although operating in a challenging category due to changing needs, continued their commitment to challenge the period taboo with their blood normal campaign. The brand also expanded the range this year with the launch of their Pure Sensitive wipes and washes, offering a product benefit not commonly seen in this category.
The #Weeneedtotalk campaign was launched by Always, the seventh most chosen brand, in July 2019 to encourage a more open discussion about urinary incontinence featuring everyday stories from ordinary women. Always Discreet, which is created specifically for this need is driving growth for the brand and it is also available in the premium Always Discreet Boutique variant.
The fifth most chosen brand in this year’s health and beauty sector ranking is Lynx which has been a supporter of Pride for a number of years with its Lynx Unity body spray created for men or women. The brand launched a 250ml version of its products last year which performed well and they are also a popular choice to buy as a gift.
Gillette’s campaign The Best a Man Can Be launched in January 2019 and addressed the negative behaviour among some men. It divided opinion, but was a strong move for the brand in position 16. Showing it was about more than just advertising, the campaign is backed by a three-year commitment to make donations to organisations that help men achieve their personal best.
Operating in a challenging market due to regime change and the popularity of beards, Gillette successfully launched Skinguard last year. Designed to help men who suffer skin sensitivity the product achieved sales of over £10m in the first year and attracted 825,000 new shoppers. Skinguard was the third most successful launch of 2019 and ranked third in Kantar’s FMCG Innovation ranking.
Levers for Growth
in action
The 2020 Brand Footprint ranking has found many brands responding to trends and using all of the levers for growth to find new ways to grow. Here are a few of the notable examples.
Radox - introduced aromatherapy range to promote better sleep
Listerine Go! - introduced mouthwash on the go
Olay - targeted younger shoppers with #OlayChallenge and Love Island tie-in
Dove Pro Age skincare - targeted older shoppers
Sanex - increased presence in Home Bargains, Aldi and Lidl
Head & Shoulders - created a big TV campaign building on sports events
Gillette - launched heated razors
Oral B - focused on gum health with Gumline Purify Deep Clean toothpaste
Herbal Essences - launched into hair masks
Imperial Leather - launched Foamburst Ultimate Moisture for the pamper moment
Disruptors to
look out for
Challenges and opportunities coming into view.
No-water beauty products
The eco-conscious solution migrating from South Korea
Proactive wellness
Functional ingredients that are usually consumed start to be used as personal care products
Gender neutral
Inclusive products that work for everyone
Further Reading
Kantar’s study of 65,000 people across 24 countries about the use of plastic by FMCG companies.
Kantar’s study of 65,000 people across 24 countries about the use of plastic by FMCG companies.
