After two years of explosive growth, the momentum of beauty instruments shows no signs of weakening in 2022. As we all know, this category is difficult to achieve growth due to low replenishment rates, but as we enter the new year, beauty instruments show the potential to accelerate growth.
Market research firm NPD Group ranked home appliances as a major market bright spot in 2020, and according to a consumer survey conducted by Mintel in April 2021, 29% of consumers over the age of 18 were interested in buying a skincare meter and 12% were interested in hair tools. Beauty device brands have also been targeted for investment and acquisitions: Droplette, a skincare brand launched in 2020, raised $15 million in financing in December 2021.
Droplette
Oliver Garfield, CEO of luxury beauty retailer Cos Bar, believes that beauty devices will be developed on a larger scale and better in 2022, and consumers are increasingly looking for home devices as a complement to beauty salons, saying: "The surprising stickiness of home beauty devices since the outbreak confirms that this trend is not going away. ”
In addition to convenience factors, Tera Peterson, co-founder and chief creative officer of beauty instrument brand NuFace, believes that the demand for efficacy is also an important driver of this trend.
"What we're seeing now is that skincare products alone can no longer satisfy consumers. If you go to a hospital or a beauty salon, they're using more than just products that are used on the surface of the skin," she says, "and we're finding that this need for technology has entered the home product space." Consumers are now accustomed to using NuFace and make it an essential part of their skincare routine. ”
It's also essential for brands looking to expand further, proving the utility of these devices and communicating them to consumers, Ilya Seglin, general manager of investment banking at consultancy Threadstone Advisors, said: "Innovation is important because consumers need to see the real power to justify the high price of this product. Otherwise, since both may or may not work, instead of spending $200 on a beauty device, it's better to spend $50 to try a typical skincare product. ”
NuFace
In addition to price, consumer education is also a major obstacle to the growth of beauty instruments. "When we sell these instruments, the key point that determines our success is whether we have the ability to tell consumers what it does, which is a different form of communication," Garfield says. For this type of product, it is always necessary to return to consumer education and explain why it is worth it. ”
At the same time, beauty instrument brands are also increasing sales by increasing the repurchase rate, and for NuFace, the strategy of increasing high replenishment rate products has paid off. Earlier this year, the brand expanded into a new skincare business, with the patented IonPlex as the core to maximize the effects of the microcurrent of beauty instruments, and according to the forecast at the time, the brand's retail sales by 2021 will reach $150 million, of which more than 20% of sales will come from the skincare business.
NuFace skincare products
The versatility of microcurrents brings NuFace a more flexible business model. "Usually, a beauty device company will develop a product, and after a consumer buys a beauty device, they will not buy the product from the company unless the beauty device is broken. And we have devices with different frequencies that can achieve different effects. Our consumers are constantly buying, but they are buying different products, and after we joined the skincare category, sales have been further improved. ”
Consumers are also more likely than ever to be drawn to personalized device features. "We noticed that a new trend from Asia is beginning to enter the United States, the concept of being able to personalize the function of a beauty instrument according to one's own skin. We educate our customers that once they have this device, they can use it in hundreds of ways. Peterson said.
Ziip Beauty
This phenomenon doesn't seem to happen to a particular brand, and consumers are looking at the concept of customization rather than a certain brand, ziip Beauty is an example of this beauty device brand, which has developed an app to provide consumers with a personal beauty solution, "as long as the beauty device has an application that allows for personalization, it seems to resonate with consumers and really help sales." Garfield added. WWD
Written by James Manso
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