In March 2020, Poshly launched a special study to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the beauty community, including candid perspectives from both beauty consumers and professionals. The below report is the second part of a series, and shows that there is increased concern from the beauty community regarding the COVID-19 crisis, as well as a reduction in product usage across key cosmetics product categories.
“With beauty retailers closing their brick and mortar locations and an estimated one million cosmetics services sector workers being impacted by salon and spa closures, there is tremendous concern about the immediate and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the beauty industry,” says Doreen Bloch, Executive Director of the Makeup Museum. “The new data shows continued declines in usage for key cosmetics products as well as a significant shift to at-home DIY beauty solutions replacing mainstream beauty services.”
Key findings from the report conducted with 1000 US-based beauty consumers and professionals:
- 65% of beauty professionals have lost their jobs or know someone who has lost a job, compared to 45% of beauty consumers.
- There is a significant disparity in the beauty community with regard to access to health coverage; while 67% of corporate beauty professionals have paid sick leave benefits, 78% of beauty practitioners (stylists, makeup artists, estheticians, etc.) do not.
- Hair cuts/color, nail, and hair removal appointments are most likely to be canceled and rescheduled. So far only 22% of beauty practitioners have done web-based service consultations, less than 25% have benefitted from online product purchases, advance bookings or gift cards, and less than 10% have received charitable donations.
- 23% of beauty consumers say they have done DIY beauty projects in the last few weeks because of the crisis, especially for nails, hair, face and body.
- 67% believe the outlook for investment in beauty brands over the next 12 months is weak, 53% believe the outlook for acquisitions is strong (due to smaller brands having less leverage and more cash constraints), 73% have had/have heard of colleagues having budgets frozen, and 53% say their companies have or are likely to extend payment terms or defer rent/overhead payments because of the crisis.
Thank you for this report, CEW! Originally published on April 6.
