General Manager North America for Yves Rocher Natalia Del Moral Fleury said the study, derived from region Google trends for key search terms and their own sales information, affirms that gifting is an important route of cosmetic consumption and informs what consumers are actively interest in.
“It’s been a difficult two years and we’ve seen through the numbers how that’s changed how we consume beauty products,” Del Moral Fleury said. “We haven’t celebrated Christmas, or all of the holidays, in the right way in previous years. I’m thinking people are really going to want to take care of themselves and their families over this holiday period, so I’m expecting lots of gifting.”
There has also been a decrease in interest for color cosmetics gifts, but Del Moral Fleury said she suspects that’s a side effect of the pandemic.Perfumes and face creams were the most searched for beauty gift and were the top gift in 22 states. Eye shadows and nail polishes were also common, with only one state looking for lipstick gifts the most.
She said she suspected these trends were driven by fall and winter skin concerns and the fact that, while consumers may be attending holiday events this year, masks are still a part of day-to-day life.
According to an Accenture study on consumer behavior over the holiday shopping season, 44% of consumers are planning on attending festive events and 59% plan to go see friends or family.
Consumers also appear to have interest in sets, like perfume sets. For cosmetics brands, Del Moral Fleury said these gifting sets can be an untapped market, as people gift cosmetics all year round, not just during the winter holidays.
Yves Rocher itself does many giftable sets, and, along with some other companies, has developed Christmas-specific sets like advent calendars. As an important avenue for cosmetic consumption, Del Moral Fleury said it’s important for companies to identify their gifting strengths and capitalize on those products.
“Gifting in cosmetics is a really strong opportunity, and I don’t think a lot of brands full benefit from that strategy,” she said. “It’s good to remember that cosmetics are, in terms of gifting, very important to people, so to have the right product portfolio and assortment for this period of the year is very important.”
Possibly due to coverage around supply chain issues, she also said Yves Rocher has seen consumers start buying gift items earlier than usual to ensure they have what they want for the holiday. She also expects sales through Black Friday to be high.
