K-Beauty Brand Knours Hits Refresh To Hone Its Focus On The Hot Hormonal Skincare Category
Beauty Independent | 2 April 2021
Knours’ blog and social media will serve as education hubs for the brand. Every month on the blog it will address an umbrella topic in-depth that will speak to a particular demographic of women or girls to engage them with information about what’s happening internally and the ramifications for their skin. Kim says, “We want to facilitate conversations about each of those journeys that women have during specific cycles in their lives.” A main goal of the rebrand is to enable further retail expansion. Prior to the refresh, Kim says the brand received feedback from retailers that its product offerings should better reflect its story and target consumers. With the rebrand complete, Knours will make a major retail push over the summer. Kim points to Credo, Ulta Beauty and Whole Foods as distribution targets. Expansion to Europe and Hong Kong is on the to-do list, too.
‘Edible beauty’: Hyaluronic acid foods are taking off in China
Glossy | 14 April 2021
In recent months, HA has been on rise as part of China’s edible beauty trend, at the intersection of food and beauty. A Chinese DTC food brand Wonderlab, known for its protein shakes in innovative flavors, revealed peach-flavored HA gummies in February. And Wuhan beverage brand Hankow Er Chang launched flavored HA sparkling water in mid-March. The boom of HA foods has a lot to do with a recent update in government policy, said Chen Li, associate director of Mintel Food & Drink. “In early 2021, China’s National Health Commission approved hyaluronic acid for use as an ingredient in food and drink,” she said. “Before, it was only approved in 2008 to be used in dietary supplements.” China is currently the largest HA producer in the world, according to Frost & Sullivan. The global market size of HA products was around $350 million in 2019, and it could reach $480 million in 2024, the market research firm reported. Meanwhile, China-based Essence Securities recently predicted that in the mid to long term, the market size of HA products could reach 15.4 billion yuan, or $2.4 billion.
How Target is fine-tuning its beauty strategy
Glossy | 24 March 2021
What has happened to Target’s beauty strategy in the last year? Target has been evolving and innovating within our beauty department for decades, and in the past few years, we’ve devoted even more energy into establishing Target as an authority in the beauty space. By prioritizing our guests’ shopping experience above all, we’ve made it a goal to offer a product assortment that is rooted in our guests’ shared values and diverse needs. We want to make sure that no matter what our guests are looking for — clean, sustainable, minority or BIPOC-owned brands, personalized, or direct-to-consumer beauty — Target is their one-stop shop for not only restocking their bathroom with their favorite products, but also for discovering new brands.
What Consumers Are Searching For When It Comes To Sustainable Beauty
Beauty Independent | 13 April 2021
THE TERMS “REUSABLE” AND “REFILLABLE” SEE POSITIVE GROWTH
Zimmer said that refillable hasn’t seen a spike during the pandemic in particular, but it has registered linear growth and is considered a sustained riser, “meaning that it’s a real true shift in consumer behavior that is long-lasting.” Deodorant has seen exponential growth in the refillable area, while perfume bottles and shampoo are ticking up, too, with 26% and 14% increases. Waterless products—specifically shampoo, cleansing foam, soap and hand sanitizer—have experienced strong growth over the past 12 months as well.
IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT WHAT’S IN A PRODUCT
For haircare, “sulfate-free,” “silicone-free,” “paraben-free” and “fragrance-free” are important descriptors. For skincare, “cruelty-free” and “fragrance-free” saw big growth. He pointed out that, though “organic” is still a pretty popular label, searches for it are on the decline. “Organic ingredients were actually a big trend in the U.S. back in 2018, 2017 and that explains why this is actually not growing right now,” said Zimmer. “You can also argue that there’s a certain level of consumer education. Somehow, we reach a peak here when it comes to communicating on the organic standpoint of things.”
VEGAN HAIRCARE IS ON THE RISE
“Vegan” has sparked 16.2% year-over-year growth in beauty and, when Zimmer investigated the term further, he discovered the products searched alongside it the most are shampoo, hair dye and conditioner. “It’s not always the case that the hair category would be spearheading these types of searches and so I think that’s the noticeable part,” he said. Zimmer has a few theories about the mounting interest in vegan haircare.
