As budget-conscious consumers seek to secure more bang for their buck, in many CPG categories, they’ll opt for a cheaper product or even a private label. But in beauty, shopping behaviors have been a bit different—and brands are taking note.
In the first half of 2024, US prestige beauty sales grew 8%, while mass sales flattened, according to Circana data. Larissa Jensen, global beauty industry advisor at Circana, told Retail Brew that premium-priced products within mass are also “growing at a much healthier rate,” while value-priced items have softened. Consumers are leaning into higher-priced items even in categories like hair care that mass has historically dominated, she said, as products with average prices of $30+ grew at three times the rate of lower-priced items.
At the same time, mass brands are making a premiumization push, with companies like L’Oréal, Unilever, and Not Your Mother’s seeing sales boosts after debuting elevated products at higher price points within skin care and hair care. Now, as consumer expectations and spending habits change and brands adjust, the gap between mass and prestige could be narrowing.
Mass reconstruction: Within hair care, a Circana consumer survey found that 42% of consumers who bought products in the prestige retail market believed that those products were more effective than those in mass, and were therefore “willing to invest,” Jensen noted.
Hair care brand Not Your Mother’s is among several brands taking note of this interest in results-oriented products, making its first foray into more premium offerings with its bond-building line last year. (Its Curl Talk shampoo retails at Ulta for $8.99 for 12 ounces, while its Tough Love Bonding Shampoo is $11.99 for 10 ounces.) The move was aimed at delivering on a “result that our consumers have come to expect from us,” establishing a bit higher price due to elevated formulas and technology used, Gavyn Melgar, VP of marketing at Not Your Mother’s, told Retail Brew.
“When you start to go into something that is a little bit more technical or a little bit more results-oriented in terms of the physical results and repair that it does to the hair, it kind of requires that,” she said. She said the response to the line, particularly its leave-in conditioner, has been positive and it has similarly priced products in its innovation pipeline for 2026 and 2027.
Nathalie Gerschtein, president of L’Oréal’s consumer products division, North America, told Retail Brew last December the company has found that “people are willing to pay a premium for something that’s better and more valorized,” and has thus been pushing its hair care brands into a more premium space with L’Oréal Paris subbrands Ever and Elvive along with a Garnier Fructis Hair Filler line. The Garnier Fructis Hair Filler Strength Repair Shampoo retails for around $8.99 for 10.1 ounces, compared to its Sleek & Shine shampoo at $3.99 for 12.5 ounces.
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L’Oréal last month said its Consumer Products division grew 9% YoY, with hair care up 14.9%, as CEO Nicolas Hieronimus noted its “strategy to democratize and premiumize mass beauty is clearly working.”
Unilever, too, has been executing a premiumization strategy within its Personal Care unit, debuting a premium serum-infused Dove Body Wash line ($9.99 for 18.5 ounces, while its Deep Moisture body wash is $6.99 for 20 ounces) and Dove Whole Body Deodorants ($11.99 compared to $6.99 for its Advanced Care deodorant of the same size) earlier this year. In its most recent earnings call, CFO Fernando Fernandez said the lines helped drive a 5.6% boost in Q2 for its personal care business.
On the call, CEO Hein Schumacher noted a strong demand in the US for masstige products, stating it’s a “very important” trend in the US market, and that the company plans to introduce premium innovations gradually.
Unilever and L’Oréal were unavailable for comment when reached by Retail Brew.
Blending in: Prestige growth is largely stemming from consumers with an annual income of $100,000, which make up about 50% of spending in the category, Jensen said. But even those shoppers have been favoring lower-priced items within the prestige retail channel, buying, say, a $15 face serum versus an $80 one, she said.
Some subcategories are even “melding together,” as products like moisturizers increasingly bear similar price tags across mass and prestige, she said. For example, La Roche Posay offers several moisturizers sold at Target for $35.99–$39.99, while Sephora offers a number of prestige moisturizers for a similar size and price point. This is leading consumers to pick retailers for convenience rather than price point, she noted.
Ultimately, as mass continues to premiumize, “clearly it’s a competitive edge to prestige,” Jensen said. “They’re making that effort to bring that experience to the mass shopper.”