The Gen Z consumer is a serious goal for beauty brands, as their spending power is important and exponentially growing. In line with a Bloomberg report in 2021, Gen Z commands $360 billion in disposable income. McKinsey published its “The Beauty Market in 2023: A Special State of Fashion” report in May, which found the wonder industry generated roughly $430 billion in revenue last yr.  

Furthermore, the consulting firm said the industry has been making “a solid recovery because the height of the COVID-19 pandemic” and projects growth by 6 percent a yr, to succeed in $580 billion by 2027. The report authors project that premium beauty tiers will grow at an annual rate of 8 percent from 2022 to 2027, as in comparison with 5 percent in mass beauty.  

Moreover, a recent report by Placer.ai found that Ulta Beauty was leading the pack within the discretionary spending categories. During July, in-person visits to the wonder retailer were up greater than 15 percent year-over-year. The report’s authors attribute Ulta Beauty’s retail resilience to its broad appeal. The sweetness retailer has a combination of luxury and value-priced merchandise to draw each affluent and fewer well-off consumers, of all ages.  

“Gen Z spends more cash on skincare and makeup products,” Sidi Drissi, global president of Buxom and BareMinerals. “Gen Z is often highly educated on all of the skincare and makeup products they’re buying including the particular ingredients, textures and techniques of methods to apply each product.” 

Drissi elaborated that the consumers’ digital age upbringing allowed them access to social media tutorials on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Armed with the knowledge of products and ingredients, “Gen Z consumers interact with brands on a peer-to-peer level.” 

Brinn Garner, chief revenue officer at Orveon, said that what sets the Gen Z demographic other than the others is “placing high importance on ethics, sustainability and eco-friendly corporate responsibility. Gen Z can be more more likely to shop via social platforms and based on influence than other generations.” 

To capture the usually limited attention and loyalty of a Gen Z consumer, Garner said meeting consumers where they’re and the way they like to buy is essential. Brands’ agility and flexibility in innovation is a serious make or break point. Orveon’s brands Bare Minerals, Buxom and Laura Mercier have successfully sold products inside integrated e-commerce social media platforms equivalent to TikTok Shop and Instagram Shopping.  

McKinsey reported that beauty e-commerce nearly quadrupled from 2015 to 2022, with its market share greater than 20 percent. Moreover, the report found that 60 percent of Gen Z consumers are willing to maintain buying from their favorite brands. Drissi said these findings should not surprising since switching brands impacts the patron product experience and costs them precious time, research and money. 

“Currently considered one of the important thing strategies that brands are developing is using their keepsake and iconic products to recreate a narrative toward younger consumers,” Drissi said. “This permits the brand to persuade Gen Z consumers to rediscover the brand and the brand portfolio. This strategy is named some extent of market entry strategy, which recruits latest and young consumers and keeps them into the brand during their lifetime.” 

Drissi shared that every one Orveon brands have been improving their content and presence on TikTok. Easily digestible video content including GIFs, memes, short video reels and infographics are on the rise, as informational and entertaining to their consumers.  

“Today, there may be a number of pressure on social media around perfect skin attributable to ‘smooth’ and ‘flawless skin’ filters on social media,” Drissi said. “For lots of our Gen Z consumers, that is removed from their reality. Brands that show transparency on social media, for instance, with unretouched pictures, will capture consumer attention and maintain their loyalty.” 

With the rise of social media propelling beauty to be considered one of the most important spending categories of Gen Z, Orveon’s chief digital officer Salima Popatia said Buxom has reshaped and adapted its strategies. Major marketing pushes for the brand include prioritizing TikTok and Instagram, equivalent to for his or her recent Plumpshot campaign, leaning into relevant cultural moments for Gen Z and representing beauty in all forms through inclusive content. 

“Based on this early success, Buxom has broadened our social media marketing strategy and leverages user-generated content and creator content wherever possible,” Popatia explained. “We’ve also leaned into beauty trends on the platform through spate, briefing our influencer partners and celebrity makeup artist, Ash K. Holm to create on-trend content for looks and makeup tutorials.” 

In line with McKinsey, the upcoming years throughout the space are set to be “a dynamic time, full of opportunities and latest challenges.” Garner and Drissi agree; they each have taken notice of the key shift occurring throughout the beauty space which could be attributed to Gen Z consumer behavior insights searching for more eco-consciousness, “edu-tainment” and vocal advocacy from the brands they loyally shop from.  

“Consumers need to be an even bigger a part of the narrative, going beyond just sharing feedback and by participating at every level of the worth chain,” Drissi said. “Moving forward, Gen Z will probably be essentially the most informed in the wonder industry. If knowledge is power, not all information is nice to take, and we’d like to separate what’s false from facts. This is strictly where brands can win by being truthful about their success but in addition on their mistakes.”