Beauty businesses boosted high street retail in 2017

Beauty businesses outperformed other retail sectors on the high street last year, with overall expenditure at £25.1 billion in 2017.

Research by market analyst Mintel and commissioned by beauty industry organisation CEW (Cosmetic Executive Women) also found that UK consumers spent close to £7.57bn on spa, salon and in-store beauty treatments.

While high street businesses have been suffering of late, there were 50,000 locations offering beauty services at the time the research was undertaken, not including spas. This figure is broken down into: 13,107 beauty salons, 1,512 specialist nail bars/ technicians, 35,704 hair salons, 2,967 specialist barbershops and 302 specialist hair salons.

Spa, salon and in-store treatment services contributed a 30% share of the total £25.1bn spend, with the figure set to rise to £26.9bn by 2022, said CEW’s UK Beauty Industry Report.

The UK is the world’s sixthlargest beauty and personal care market with more than one million people employed, and a per capita spend on products of £155 in 2017, equating to £10.2bn – the fifth highest in the world.

CEW president Caroline Neville, MBE, commented: “Beauty appears to be more resilient than other sectors. Bricks-and-mortar retailing is still crucial to beauty and the primary medium for consumers to interact and purchase brands.”

She added: “The sector’s continual success lies in an ability to innovate, stay relevant and be exciting. This is relected in its performance in what is one of the toughest trading periods in decades for the high street.”