Sophie Strobbe

About Sophie Strobbe

Posts by Sophie Strobbe:

PROFIT

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The most determinant factor of a business is profit because it’s every company’s goal. Businesses are always looking for less expensive alternatives to get as much profit as possible out of their company or their products. In 2023, revenue in the Beauty & Personal Care market amounts to $625,70 billion. Of these, the largest is personal care with a market volume of $274,20 billion in 2023. The beauty & personal care market is expected to grow annually by 3.32%. And in relation to total population figures, per person revenues of $81.42 are generated in 2023. In 2022, 22,5% of total revenue is obtained through internet sales in the beauty and personal care industry. which seems to be rising more and more.  The cosmetics industry is usually divided into five main business segments: skincare, haircare, make-up, fragrances, and toiletries. The most popular sector of the cosmetics industry are skin care products. Which you can see on the statistics below.  

Due to a high demand for cosmetics products, there is also a lot of competition. This means brands must take action to remain competitive, especially in uncertain economic times. So, in these situations’ brands should be focused on their already existing customers, clients, and partners. Brands should also remember that advertising is super important, and not to give up or reduce the advertising. Another thing to do is to be nimble and open-minded to new technologies, tools, and platforms. And something else that’s important is to gain brand loyalty by providing certainty when times are uncertain. You can do this by staying consistent and steady. Finally, is social media, this is the most active and useable way to get to costumers, because people from all over the world use social media trough more than one channel so product advertising can get to lots of people trough it. Rare Beauty, Fenty Beauty and Kylie Cosmetics are the top three cosmetics brands on social media. However, the key to success is being creative but also commercial. It doesn’t matter how artistically successful your product is, if you’re not commercial, no one will buy into it. Social media is a great way to close the gap between creativity and commerce because influencers can be creative with the products (make-up), but in the meantime they advertise the product. So, this is being commercial while being artistic. 

REFERENCES

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people

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Modeling started in the early 1800s (Anna, G. 2019) but was also a problem for society from the beginning. this is because certain beauty standards had to be met. A white skinny girl was the typical model, which led to uncertainty among people who, for example, were plus size or had a different skin color. Fortunately, the new generation, Gen Z is changing a lot about these standards. This generation are those born between 1997-2012 (Emily, S. 2019) and was also the first generation with social media and technology. They are distinguishable from previous generations because this big change provided more influence on people. Gen Z feel that companies have a certain responsibility to address environmental and social issues. So as consumers, the gen Z is more critical of how fashion and cosmetics businesses react to this ask for change or how they are trying to adapt. Brands could for example, take a stance on social issues. 31% of gen Z reports that they would switch, avoid, or boycott a certain brand that’s part of a social cause they don’t align with. they also think diversity is very important so as a brand you should make sure you make products for every body size, skin colour… also using models with different body sizes and skin colours is important. Something else a brand could do to attract gen Z is to work with nano and micro influencers. These influencers have a maximum of 100K followers, which leads to an engaged following. They influence costumers a lot because they intend to gain people’s trust and build a personal relationship with their followers. The third and last example of what a company can do to attract gen Z is to build a community around their brand. Gen Z is a lonely generation, and study shows that 82% of Gen Z want to join a community because they value the networking. Also, to share similar principles or interests. An example of a brand that responded to diversity is Fenty Beauty because they expanded the amount of different colours of their make-up products. They have make-up for every skin colour now which is a great change for more diversity. All CEOs of incoming fashion and cosmetics brands should be aware of this need for change and diversity. They should also try inventing new ideas and need insight to maximize diversity.

references

  • Anna, G. (2019) the history of modeling
  • Emily, S. (2019) Gen Z: born to be digital 
  • Imran, A., Anita, B., Marco, B., Achim, B., Saskia H., and Felix, R. (2019) the influence of woke consumers on fashion 
  • Andrew, B. (2023) marketing to gen Z: what the new cosumers want 
  • Sandy, S. (2019) how Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty delivered ‘Beauty for All’ — and a wake-up call to the industry
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PLANET

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The first pillar is about the planet. How the planet is treated today is a big problem for the environment and living conditions. Fashion and cosmetics businesses are also a big part of this problem, but they try to work on this more and more. So, we are trying to move towards a circular economy. This kind of economy aims to minimize waste and make the most of resources. It’s a departure from the traditional linear economy, which follows a “take-make-dispose” pattern. In a circular economy, products, materials, and resources are kept in use for as long as possible through strategies like recycling, reusing, and remanufacturing. they also try to work sustainably. In relation to cosmetics, this refers to the efforts and practices within the cosmetics industry to minimize its environmental and social impact while producing and selling beauty and personal care products. The key aspects of sustainability in the cosmetics industry are environmental responsibility. in doing so, they reduce environmental impact, and they use natural and organic ingredients. A second key aspect is ethical sourcing. This means they ensure fair trade practices and a biodiversity conservation. The las key aspect is social considerations. Hereby they make sure animal welfare is their main point, together with community engagement. An example of a company working on sustainability is L’Oreal. It’s one of the biggest cosmetics companies in the world, who launched a “sharing beauty with all” program to improve sustainability. Their goals are to be carbon neutral by improving energy efficiency and using 100% renewable energy by 2025. By 2030, they want all used plastics in packages to be from recycled or bio-based sources, and compared to 2016, aim to emit 50% fewer greenhouse gases per product package by then. One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that is highly relevant to cosmetics industry is SDG 12: responsible consumption and production. The impact on the cosmetics industry according to SDG 12 is first the reduction of waste, SDG 12 encourages reducing waste through eco-friendly packaging design, promoting refillable options, and minimizing over-packaging. Secondly Sustainable Ingredient Sourcing, responsible production under SDG 12 involves sourcing ingredients ethically and sustainably. Cosmetic companies can support biodiversity conservation and local communities by responsibly sourcing natural ingredients for their products. Also, Chemical Safety: SDG 12 calls for the safe management of chemicals throughout their lifecycle. And lastly consumer awareness, It encourages consumers to make informed decisions for products that adhere to ethical and sustainable principles. The cosmetics industry is aware of the problem and the change that needs to happen. But we can happily say that companies are acting, for further generations to live in a healthy environment.

REFERENCES:

  1. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2019). Circular Economy Overview.
  2. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2013). Towards the Circular Economy: Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition.
  3. European Commission. (2020). Circular Economy Action Plan.
  4. Almeida, A. F., & Matos, J. S. (2017). Sustainable Packaging in the Cosmetics Industry: The Case of L’Oréal. Journal of Cleaner Production, 149, 574-587.
  5. Ribeiro, H. M., & Coutinho, J. A. P. (2017). Cosmetics as a Feature of Modern Life. In Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (pp. 141-162). Springer.
  6. de Oliveira, J. M., & Carvalho, I. S. (2020). Sustainable Sourcing in the Cosmetics Industry: A Case Study of Natura’s Supply Chain Management. Sustainability, 12(7), 2692.
  7. Knight, A., Bailey, J., & Balcombe, J. (2006). Animal Carcinogenicity Studies: 2. Obstacles to Extrapolation of Rodent Bioassay Data to Humans. Toxicological Sciences, 94(1), 1-3.
  8. Pagnamenta, A. (2018). The Role of Social Impact in the Business Models of Certified B Corporations. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 9(1), 50-75.
  9. https://www.loreal.com/en/nordics/pages/commitments/l-oreal-for-the-future/
  10. https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/what-the-cosmetic-industry-can-teach-us-about-sustainability/454053#:~:text=Cosmetic%20brands%20prioritizing%20sustainability%20often,who%20use%20energy%2Defficient%20processes.
  11. Singh, R. K., & Dhar, U. (2020). A review on “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) of Agenda 2030 and status of their implementation in Indian states. 3(3), 171-181.
  12. Simanorwa, A., Phan, T. H. H., & Nhuyen, D. N. (2021). Sustainable Development Goals and Circular Economy Practices in the Cosmetics Industry: A Case Study of the L’Oréal Group. Sustainability, 13(5), 2894
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A favourite cosmetics brand

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My favourite cosmetics brand is babor. I especially like it for its skin care products, that’s mostly what they stand for but their expansion to cosmetic products is a big plus in my opinion. I love the packaging very much, as well as the structure of the products. I started using this brand as a little girl because my mom had it in her bathroom, so I can’t really compare it to other brands. but I loved using it so far and the products did their job so I didn’t have a reason to try something else that would be better for my skin.

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