Indeed, beauty brands have been doing the same thing. Jane Henderson, who is global president of beauty and personal care at Mintel International, says there has been an unprecedented demand for market intelligence in the past few months, as businesses race to find out exactly what consumers are looking for in a post-COVID-19 world.
In this interview Henderson explains what beauty and personal care companies are looking for, how the market has shifted in the past 18 months and the various strategies Mintel is employing to supporting its rapidly expanding client base.
CosmeticsDesign-USA: What are the main reasons why demand for market intelligence is spiking right now?
JH: The consumer mood shifted, as did the market reach for brands. Brands can now access a far larger audience via direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels. However, as we slowly progress towards a post-pandemic world, these audiences are visualizing things in a different way. This makes it far more complex for a brand. And that is where the Mintel team can step in to help!
What sort of market intelligence are beauty and personal care companies looking for right now?
Brands and suppliers are looking to bring relevance to their day-to-day work. These brands want to reach and understand a larger consumer base that is spread across many more countries, as well as rationalizing their NPD pipelines to meet the new needs of the consumer. There are many personas to consider and each of these personas experience new value sets. This makes the art of customer acquisition and life-time value far more complex, particularly in the context of an ever-changing landscape, and that is why our team can help decipher all of this to forge a more coherent and targeted strategy.
How are personas playing into brand development/strategy and how can Mintel help guide brands in this area?
Personas help brands map out their consumer and fine tune the language and messaging that resonates with them. Geographies add an additional layer of complexity. We have mapped this all out for our clients using a global perspective to help brand teams and their suppliers to forge more informed strategies. Each persona has a unique set of values, demonstrating details like how different consumers spend or how they react to promotions, to mention just a few.
DTC is now playing a huge role in how brands sell to consumers, what should businesses do to stay one step ahead in this area?
Whether the brand is using an agency or in house team, the key factor is to remain true to your consumers, which could include several personas. Remaining true to your consumers provides an opportunity to educate and engage your following, and successful brands are far more adept at understanding their personas and segment the groups accordingly. Winning brands plan out their campaigns well in advance but remain open to "opportunities that arise” and ensure that the content they produce brings their consumers closer to the brand. Hiring and retaining a chief marketing officer that is good at both new business and repeat purchase is challenging, but data helps map out the journey a brand needs to take. This is why our consultancy is overwhelmed with requests to rationalize and create simple effective strategies for large teams to adhere to.
What is Mintel doing to meet the increased demand for market intelligence? Is it expanding its own resources and services?
We are expanding our consulting offering on DTC strategies- we have launched our personas for our client’s global audience, while the analysts are focusing on providing enhanced support for relevant NPD launches. We are also launching a new advisory service, which will be formally announced soon.
