How indie beauty brands are flying the naturals flag - Mintel

Indeed, the evolution of the indie beauty category has been significantly shaped by consumer interest in natural and organic formulations, giving way to brands that pledge to use the purest ingredients, as well as being both ethical and sustainable in all aspects of their business practices.

And it is because Indie brands create a more intimate and often relateable rapport with consumers that they have become the go to for individuals seeking natural and organic brands that they can really trust in.

Why indie beauty is the perfect vehicle for naturals​

CosmeticsDesign spoke to Jane Henderson, global president at Mintel Beauty, a leading market intelligence firm in the beauty and personal care arena, to get more insight into this phenomenon and find out more about why indie beauty has become the perfect vehicle for the naturals trend.

“It’s unsurprising that indie beauty brands are going down the natural route, given that 50 % of consumers in Europe demand natural products, which we can only see increasing in the future,”​ said Henderson

“Playing into the mother nature trend, which has been highlighted by Mintel as a top trend in 2018, this whole concept ​brings together harvesting locally sourced ingredients and building a new and more transparent story that culminates as a real point of difference.”​

Consumer trust is crucial​

The naturals trend has grown from a tiny niche to become a mainstay category in recent years, but because it has also evolved as a premium-priced category, winning over the consumer’s trust has been crucial to creating a successful brand.

But as Henderson points out, the trend has also evolved with multifaceted influences that have contributed to make natural cosmetics and personal care products part of the cleaner and less stressful lifestyle consumers now aspire to.

“The naturals trend was identified more than ten years ago, and has accelerated to become a real necessity for many consumers as we see the vegan trend explode and the quest for wellness across food, cosmetic and personal care choices,”​ said Henderson.

“This provides a perfect space for young creative brands to invent new, increasingly complex natural and organic formulations and formats to meet the ever-growing expectations of the consumers.”​

All about the authenticity​

Another major reason that indie beauty has come to play such an important part in the naturals space is simply because the brands have been able to create simple and authentic stories that consumers can identify with.

 “In addition, indie beauty provides an authentic story behind the concept, allowing the consumer to identify with their journey, partly because they can go one step further than larger multinational players by relating personal or more intimate details that consumers can relate to and believe,”​ said Henderson

“Most of the indie brands and related products targeting the naturals area are born from frustration caused by  a lack of real solutions, or else that products are priced above the reach of the average consumer.”​

Natural indie beauty goes prestige​

However, despite many indie natural brands targeted a more modest price point, in the future the research team at Mintel believes that the evolution of the naturals market will see higher demand for more sophisticated natural product offerings that are likely to be targeted at the higher end of the market.

“We are starting to see some indie beauty brands clearly targeting  the prestige and luxury end of the market with beautifully curated natural product lines,” ​said Henderson.

“One example of this is Tata Harper, which is going in to the market place with higher retail prices, emphasizing the quality of the product, and this is a type of brand we are likely to see more of in the future.”​