SELFIE CULTURE drives increase in cosmetics sales

By Helena Biggs | 25 April 2017 | Celebrity, News

Kim Kardashian Selfie

The so-called ‘selfie generation’ is helping to increase the sales of cosmetics according to IRI, a leading data provider for retailers and suppliers.

Driven by the desire to share images on social media, the trend for face sculpting, contouring and bold brows has led to a boost in the market – work close to £1bn to UK retailers.

Figures reveal a surge in contouring products where both value and volume sales increased dramatically, thanks to the popularity of selfies from social media stars like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner and the increase in YouTube tutorials. Value sales of bronzers rose to £43m, up from £23m the previous year. Concealers also saw a boost, with sales of £52m, up from £42m.

“Consumers are heavily influenced by social media and by their peers, and this has led them to be more experimental in their choices and prepared to try new things with cosmetics,” comments Chloe Humphreys-Page, retail insight director at IRI. “The result is that there is a lot more new product development among brands in this space, for both female and increasingly male cosmetics, leading to a wider and often more interesting choice of items within stores and online.”

“The impact of the so-called ‘selfie generation’ – where people are spending disproportionately long periods of time studying their faces and making sure they are camera-ready – is not just driving sales for certain cosmetics, but also boosting demand for ancillary products, like eyebrow kits, sponges, pencils and brushes.”

IRI is predicting the fuller and thicker eyebrow trend will continue into 2017, but believes we may start to see more bleached brows and the use of glitter and other techniques to enhance the brow area.

For more details, visit www.iriworldwide.com