Sales of prestige beauty products in the United Kingdom grew by 5% in 2012 compared to 2011, but make-up sales grew more than twice as fast at 11%, reveals The NPD Group in a recent report.
“One of the reasons for the growth of make up could be because it is the more affordable category within overall prestige beauty. The average sales price (year-to-date in December 2012) of a product in the fragrance category is £31.79 and in skincare it’s £27.23. Make-up comes in at considerably less - £21.00,” analyses the market research firm, thus referring to the well-know “lipstick index”, which in this precise case should rather be named “nail polish index”.
Indeed, NPD Group research shows that all main Make up segments experienced a surge in value sales for the year ending December 2012, with eye brow make up topping the list at +41% year-on-year, followed by make-up sets (+21% year-on-year), nail make up (+15% year-on-year), foundation (+14% year-on-year), blush (+12% year-on-year), mascara (+10% year-on-year) and powder and lip make up both at +9% year-on-year.
Make up accounted for 18% of all prestige beauty sales made ahead of Christmas 2012 which is 2% more than the previous year. December posted even better results for the make up category with value sales growth of +13% year-on-year. Make up sets were the most popular segment accounting for 21% in value sales, more than double the average share for the full year.
