Fresh perspectives

GEORGIA SEAGO

2018 Trends

FAST LIVING

Market analyst Mintel reported a 1% rise in value of the spa, salon and in-store treatments sector in 2017, to £7.57 billion. It predicts this is largely down to advances in express, technology-based treatments, with clients realising they don’t need to put aside an hour and a half to get results from a facial.

US salon concept Skin Laundry, for example, went nationwide last year after launching into the UK on a small scale in 2016, with clients queuing up for a 15-minute laser and light session that promises to deep clean and rejuvenate skin.

“Nowadays, I think it’s almost more offensive to waste someone’s time than their money,” says Christina Russillo, global president of Skin Laundry. “Not many people have time for a 90-minute facial or days of recovery from an invasive peel. We wanted to create something that could fit into everyone’s lifestyle and be effective and affordable with no downtime.”

Along with facial treatments, nail services usage also saw a “significant rise” from 2015 to 2017, according to Mintel, while separate data from analyst The NPD Group shows a 23.6% decline in sales of nail polish in the prestige category from November 2016 to October 2017.

“We’ve seen a real decline in sales of premium nail polish; people would rather go and get a file and paint for £15,” says Helen Duxbury, senior account manager for beauty at NPD. To keep this momentum going into 2018, salons could set aside appointments every day for walk-ins to appeal to clients looking for convenience.

Laws of attraction

With the influx of mobile treatment apps threatening the traditional salon model, and consumer demand for convenience showing no sign of dying down in 2018, beauty businesses may need to think of other ways to keep clients coming back. “In the retail sector, a lot of shops are moving to industrial parks or places with more or free parking to make it easier for consumers to shop,” says Duxbury.

Mintel predicts that beacon technology will gain traction with salons this year. It works by sending a text message or alert to people within a certain radius of a business, letting them know about special offers or timely appointment slots.

But convenience isn’t the only thing clients will be seeking in 2018, and salons’ best chance of keeping a loyal clientele will likely lie in their ability to provide great value. “I think we could see a decline in spending on spa and salon visits because the economy is still uncertain due to Brexit,” explains June Jensen, director of UK beauty at The NPD Group.

28% of people in the UK received a professional beauty treatment in the first half of 2017 (Kantar Worldpanel)

“This year, if consumers are able to afford to have a treatment, they’ll be looking for the best value they can find.” Roshida Khanom, associate director of beauty and personal care at Mintel, agrees: “Value remains a barrier, with high agreement that treatments are only worth it if they are on discount, suggesting that spas and salons can do more to promote the benefits of being in a spa or salon environment.”

This means going back to what salons and spas do best and finding new ways to give clients the stellar service and personal touch that create an experience around their treatment.

Lisa Barden, vice chair of the UK Spa Association, says we’ll soon start feeling the detrimental effects of lives dominated by technology and turning to beauty and spa for that all-important intimacy. “We’ve become so accustomed to not having conversations and being engaged with somebody on a personal level. That won’t continue; we’re human beings and we all need to touch. Spas and salons need to offer high tech but also high touch.”

FEELGOOD FACTOR

When it comes to spa treatments, the industry has seen a major shift in thinking in recent years, with more consumers considering things like massage as an important part of physical and mental wellbeing.

In its Spa, Salon and In-Store Treatments report for 2017, Mintel found that a high proportion of beauty treatment clients agreed that they can improve mental wellbeing and are an important part of health routines.

This concept is one that Barden sees stepping up this year. “We all need to be far more socially responsible. The more the NHS refuses to recognise the peripheral health hazards we experience, the more we’re going to see spa become a wellcentric place,” she says. She believes spas must offer vitamin infusions, DNA skincare profiling and cryotherapy to futureproof their business into 2018 and beyond.

“The NHS dominated areas like physiotherapy and mental health and now they’re pulling back,” says Barden. She predicts millennials will lead the way because they may have to find alternative institutions to help manage their health and wellbeing if cutbacks continue. “Millennials will see spa visits as an investment. They’ll think of it as being socially responsible for their health because they won’t be able to lean on the NHS as people have done in the past.”

21% of treatments in the year to March 2017 were hair removal, making it the most popular sector (Kantar Worldpanel)

Home comforts

Millennials have also been the driving force behind the promotion of home spa as self-care, creating rituals with beauty products that encourage people to set aside time to dedicate to themselves and shut off from the world.

2017 saw the trend take off in a big way, with Instagram users posting images of themselves in face masks or of their favourite spa night products. “The spa-at-home trend will continue to grow, as will the face mask category,” predicts Duxbury. “It’s all over social media and a really fun area beauty consumers can be a part of cheaply.”

Masks in the prestige segment experienced the biggest growth of all skincare categories in 2017, increasing in sales by 43.5% between November 2016 and October 2017, while eye treatments went up by 10.5% and body moisturisers grew by 15.3%.

An increase in consumer spend on products like these that are less of a necessity and more an indulgence indicate that beauty users are happy to cash in on the spa-at-home movement to make themselves feel good. Jensen sees the trend reaching new heights in 2018: “I definitely think there’s a gap in the market for more innovation in the spa-at-home trend. There’s an opportunity for brands to create whole spa packages for at-home use and make it interactive,” she says.

Salons and spas could get ahead of the curve and boost retail by putting together gift sets for clients to treat themselves at home. Spa boxes could contain a mask, eye treatment, body scrub and oil, for example, along with relaxation tips or self-massage instructions.

At first glance, it may seem as though the home-spa trend could negatively impact in-salon services, but Barden thinks otherwise: “It’s not a threat in the least. All publicity is good publicity and the industry will constantly be one step ahead of social media and what the home spa can ever offer,” she says. Far from trying to discourage clients from treating themselves at home with a face mask or foot massage, beauty businesses should see clients’ interest in their own wellbeing as a positive thing. “It’s really just living well within the confines that you’re able to. We should be very encouraged that people want to home spa, but it’s the responsibility of spas and salons to stay ahead of the curve and be looking at what innovations in ingredients and product developments are out there,” says Barden.

55% of professional skincare sales came from salons in 2017. With spas accounting for 17%, medical care providers 15%, and retail channels 13% (Kline)

BREAKING BARRIERS

The beauty landscape in 2018 is more of a reflection of society at large than ever before. Cultural movements are shaping perspectives of beauty into a celebration of individualism. Consumers are less willing to align themselves with set marketing demographics based on age, gender, skin, hair or body type.

The industry is moving towards the removal of simplistic labels so brands and beauty businesses alike will need to redefine how they segment consumers in order to keep their appeal. Rather than marketing products or services towards a specific “type” of person, Andrew McDougall, global beauty analyst at Mintel, predicts: “Beauty brands will just provide the product and the consumer decides how to use it – there is no beauty ideal for a certain demographic.”

How this translates for salons, spas and clinics is slightly more complicated. While treatment menus need to be easily digestible, beauty businesses could consider streamlining what’s on offer or changing descriptions to be less specific and potentially broaden treatments’ appeal.

For example, rather than offering an anti-ageing facial or a men’s massage, any client could book either a facial or massage then have the treatment tailored to their needs. The focus for the year ahead will be behaviour and the way people live their lives rather than the categories they fall into.

This is where gender-neutrality comes in. The cultural movement supported by many major brands, as well as high-profile transgender figures, will affect consumer behaviour in 2018, especially in the beauty arena, as a channel of self-expression.

“Gender-neutrality is in the media and it’s being talked about. It’s coming into beauty and we may well see beauty go the same way as the fragrance sector, where many “female” and “male” fragrances have merged into unisex because fragrance is for everybody,” says Duxbury.

Mintel found that 62% of Canadian consumers aged 18-34 agree that it’s OK for people to experiment with gender, and brands will need to have the ethics behind them that align with these types of consumer beliefs. “I think we will see gender-neutral offerings and they will become more commonplace,” says McDougall. “It’s more about lifestyle than gender.”

£8.19 BILLION is the predicted value of the UK spa, salon and in-store treatments market by 2022 – an 8.1% growth (Mintel)