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Prestige beauty is on track to continue to outperform mass beauty through 2024, based on new data and a separate analysis from Circana, though both sectors are expected to do well in the coming year.
According to the firm, total prestige beauty dollar sales for the holiday shopping period between October 1, 2023 and December 23, 2023 were up in the low double digits year-over-year.
And total prestige beauty dollar results in the final week leading up to Christmas, December 17-23, 2023, were positive.
To compare, total U.S. beauty retail dollar sales (mass + prestige) were reportedly negative in the mid-single digits for the October 1-December 23, 2023 period.
In that timespan, mass skin care jumped 10% year-over-year, makeup rose 5% and hair care increased 4% year-over-year. However, mass fragrance, which relies heavily on Q4 sales for yearly totals, declined 1% in the same period. That can be attributed to shoppers opting instead in prestige fragrance offerings.
Prestige beauty in the October 1-December 23, 2023 period increased 12% in dollar sales and units, per Circana.
Prestige skin care, led by face serums, hand soap and body sprays, jumped 15%, while hair, led by hybrid and styling products, was up 13%. Notably, skin care was a top consumer "want" among Gen Alpha consumers.
Prestige fragrance rose 12%, led by juices, gift sets and body sprays, while makeup increased 11%, driven by blush and lip oils.
Circana's Larissa Jensen offers a few reasons for the robustness of prestige beauty.
While both mass and prestige beauty drove double-digit dollar growth throughout 2023, prestige has been the clear winner on units sold.
A desire for personal indulgence, as well as prestige beauty's strong consumer base of high-income owners, has kept results strong in the prestige space, Jensen notes.
In addition, fundamentals such as a high replenishment rate have kept the sector strong, as has experiential brick-and-mortar.
In fact, Jensen says, "we anticipate the brick-and-mortar channel to outperform e-commerce in 2024."
Given all this, despite its strong growth in 2023, prestige beauty is expected to continue its upward trajectory and outperform mass beauty in 2024.
