Spending on health and beauty products is booming despite cost-of-living pressures as UK consumers increasingly consider make-up and perfume to be as essential as groceries, figures suggest. While rising living costs have seen consumers cutting back and retail sales as a whole up 0.1% year-on-year in August, spending on health and beauty was up 7.
3% – significantly higher than non-essential spending overall, which was up 0.7%, according to Barclays. A quarter of shoppers (23%) say they have been cutting back on buying clothing and accessories, with Barclays transaction data showing clothing was down 1.
7% last month. The most resilient products over the past three years – those where consumers say they have either increased or not changed their spending – are pharmaceuticals (68%), hair care (66%), body care (62%) and fragrances (54%). Those aged 18 to 27 have increased their spending on health and beauty by 17.
5% over the past 12 months – more than double the rate of growth for those aged 44 to 59 at 6.5%, and triple the rate of 60 to 78-year-olds (4.7%).
Fragrances are the most sought-after health and beauty dupe, with 28% of those who buy cheaper copies admitting to spending on imitation scents. Since January alone, the number of consumers watching “de-influencing” videos to find out which products are not worth buying has climbed from 11% to 17%. Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, said: “Despite rising living costs and subdued growth across the rest o.