Celebrity beauty fatigue? Not so fast. A new report from NIQ points out that 43 celebrity beauty brands achieved $1.1 billion in sales in the 52 weeks ending November 4, 2023, a new high water mark for the category. While the number of celebrity launches has declined recently, NIQ argues there are good reasons to get into the celebrity beauty business.
The firm points out that celebrity beauty grew 57.8% between 2022 and 2023, compared to the general market growth of 11.1%.
Celebrity brands have made the biggest impact in the color cosmetics and fragrance categories, NIQ notes, representing 2.9% of all dollar sales in both categories.
While celebrity brands are also entering facial skin care, body care, sunscreen and deodorant, they comprise less than 1% of sales in all of those categories.
(NIQ's report acknowledges that authenticity is often critical to success of any launch, as seen with a number of high-profile fizzles in the sector.)
The key to celebrity beauty brand success is their appeal to beauty enthusiasts, who spend $1,003.64 on beauty and personal care every year, "which is 1.25 times more than the average buyer," NIQ notes.
Beauty enthusiasts tend to be from high-income, diverse households, comprising 20.7 million U.S. households.
Between 2022 and 2023, their spending on celebrity brands jumped 21.9%.
While launches have recently fallen compared the 18 and 19 launches seen in 2021 and 2022, respectively, there remains a strong appetite for launches.
NIQ highlights Lionel Messi's fragrance launch, as well as Beyonce’s forthcoming hair care launch.
