How brands can resonate with the conscious beauty consumer
The report, titled Green Cosmetics: Eco-Friendly Products and Key Ingredients and highlighted in an article published in Cosmetics Design last week, details how continued growth in this category should put the global market for natural cosmetics at a value of $54.5 billion by 2027.
We caught up with Dr. Daniel Morales, Technical Director of PreScouter's Consumer Packaged Goods Practice at PreScouter to find out more about what the research unearthed about the conscious consumer and the seven terms that the team has identified to help navigate this area.
By tracking a total of 14 products from 14 different companies the team identified the seven eco-friendly categories as: naturally sources, organic, vegan, cruelty-free, biobased, biodegradable and fair trade ingredients.
The fuss over vegan and cruelty-free
We kicked off the questioning by asking Dr. Morales about why vegan and cruelty-free claims are having such a big impact on the beauty space and the implications to brand owners.
“The impact is being driven by consumer demand due to the ease of understanding such terminology and increased transparency of where the ingredients of various CPG products are originating,” he said.
“In parallel, we are witnessing the increased demand for plant-based foods. From the brand's point of view, there are clearer pathways for confirming that products are truly vegan/cruelty-free, such as official certifications, signage and product labelling compared to making claims such as biodegradability, which can vary depending on the nature of the external environment and the byproducts that remain after degradation.”
Tapping into labeling and certification
According to Dr. Morales, for brands this means that brands can leverage these terms by using a combination of clear labelling and the right certification to get ahead.
“Brands can seek out the appropriate credentialing bodies, such as TUV Austria for eco-friendly certifications or USDA BioPreferred for biobased products,” he said.
“Clear and certified product labels can alleviate the burden of consumer education from the brand, enabling consumers to learn about the eco-terms directly from the credentialing bodies themselves. The opposite effect is achieved when jargon-based unsubstantiated marketing claims are utilized, resulting in confusion and the possibility of mistrust. “
According to Dr. Morales, examples of brands that have been able to carry all of this are Drunk Elephant, Unicorn Skin Cosmetic, and Axiology because of their clear and direct marketing as well their comprehensive FAQ webpages.
The Cosmetics Design 2020 Summit
Tying in with the theme of ethical beauty, next year Cosmetics Design will be holding its second annual Summit, which is titled the Clean & Ethical Beauty CosmeticsDesign Summit 2020, and will be held in Amsterdam on June 3–4,
The 2020 Summit will bring you exclusive insight on horizon opportunities and challenges facing our industry on getting Clean & Ethical Beauty right. We’ll hear from industry thought-leaders, consumer experts, innovative brands and big retail about what it takes to succeed and dig into the science that could shape the future.
To keep in the loop on all news relating to our upcoming Clean & Ethical Beauty CosmeticsDesign Summit 2020, you can fill out our 'Register Your Interest' form on our CosmeticsDesign Summit 2020 page. Registration is also already open for early-bird discounts, running until January 31.
