Over the past 12 months, the beauty industry has been witness to hundreds of new product launches, with several key trends having emerged from 2011. Here at bd, not only do we watch the beauty industry closely to identify certain areas of growth, but we have the added advantage of being able to see exactly which products, features and launches beauty media are clicking on. Here’s a localised snapshot of what industry influencers and consumers are asking for.
Product categories
This year saw a surge in a couple of areas on the site. Our brand database expanded to include more home and lifestyle products – specifically candles. Palm Beach Collection, CIRCA and Glasshouse Fragrances came on board to join the likes of , and , among others.
Another area that saw plenty of growth is that of feminine hygiene and care, with the addition of LELO to the site, and the launch of Pure Romance into the Aussie market. We have a wrap-up of those brands and products What's up "down there".
Nail lacquers were another focus area, stealing the limelight from lipstick to be crowned the new recession-proof cosmetic. The nail industry experienced a great deal of growth this year, taking up a lot of floor space at this year’s Spa and Beauty Expo and prompting several new trends. Everyone was talking , while the crackle nail polish fad was kicked off by OPI. As unveiled patterned nail foils, and took the gel craze one step further by incorporating snakeskin into a nail treatment.
Just when you thought every celebrity worth their weight in tabloid fodder had a fragrance to their name, 2011 saw plenty more hit the shelves. Dita Von Teese launches signature scent, , , Heidi Klum, Kate Moss, , and even Keith Urban to launch scent unveiled new scents over the past year. The smelly celeb juggernaut doesn’t appear to be easing off anytime soon, with Madonna to launch first scent and Nicole Richie signs fragrance deal launching fragrances in the coming months. Fictional characters will be sharing in the celeb-scent succuss soon, with a James Bond fragrance already on its way.
Sector growth
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a beauty editor who’ll disagree with us when we say one of the biggest buzzwords for 2011 was anti-ageing. Not only was it high-ranking in our search terms, but beauty giants , Age Defying with DNA Advantage™ Cream Makeup, Elucent and were among the brands to launch new anti-ageing products during the year. The growth of this sector can, in part, be attributed to the baby boomer generation which represents about 28.6% of the country’s population*. Furthermore, some analysts believe this group of shoppers is the wealthiest in the history of consumer society.
Despite all this change and development, some things never change. The make-up and skincare categories were still the most popular on the site, with the hair, fragrance and men’s sections rounding out the top five. The Cosmetic and Toiletry Retailing in Australia Industry Report supports these results, claiming colour cosmetics and skincare products are two of the fastest-growing categories, while fragrance sales are being boosted by celebrity culture and promotion. The report also acknowledges the flood of new products in the men’s sector to cater for an increasingly image-conscious male population.
Most-clicked articles
2011 saw the online community of bloggers become quite a prolific member base for the site. This is reflected in 2011’s most popular feature, a guide for beauty bloggers on Guide for beauty bloggers: How to work with PRs, which covered topics such as event etiquette, embargoes and requesting product samples. Another story which garnered interest by bloggers and beauty brands was, Professional blogging: Is there such a thing?. This looked at the difference between hobbyists and tips for brands on working with professional bloggers.
Realising that not all brand names roll off the tongue, it appeared every member clicked onHow to avoid the #1 beauty industry mistake, a comprehensive guide on how to say more than 60 tricky beauty brand names. Not surprisingly, a big number of our beauty PR members clicked on Beauty editors reveal: what makes a great launch”, while Zoë Foster, a look behind the books: Part I was popular across the board.
beautydirectory’s digital features also proved successful this year, as more and more brands and journalists look to establish themselves online. Resident digital strategist Patty Keegan wrote about the Patty Keegan: Google and Facebook - upping the ante in the social wars, which received a lot of attention from the industry members. Another popular article was Keegan’s advice on how brands should deal with How to deal with negative comments in social media.
News stories
From celebrity fragrances to company mergers, there was plenty of news across the beauty industry in 2011. Our most popular news story of the year was our announcement of winners for the 2011 beautydirectory Star Awards winners announcement, which took place in November. The inaugral Australian beauty bloggers unite generated a lot of interest when we reported on it in June. Solidifying bloggers’ growing presence in the industry, the event is set to return in 2012.
Social events
The beauty event that generated the most buzz was NIVEA’s 2011 city retreat and 100th anniversary party. The Burberry Beauty launch in April also received plenty of attention, as did Goddess Day, which took place at the home of True Solutions owner Mandy Gray in October.
Looking back, 2011 was a big year for beauty, with everything pointing to further growth and exciting developments to happen in the industry over the coming year. And bd will be right there with you to watch it all unfold.
* According to the Cosmetic and Toiletry Retailing in Australia Industry Report 2011