Barclays Bank has unveiled its new Barclays Consumer Spend report. The data shows health and beauty has been the highest-performing category in an otherwise challenging retail sector since August 2023. The report also reveals a growing demand for buying beauty, skincare and fragrances on social media.

• In August, consumer spending on health and beauty was up 7.3% year-on-year – the highest level since January 2023 (10.2%), compared to retail as a whole, up 0.1%, and non-essential spending, which was up 0.7% overall.
• One in four (23%) shoppers say they have been cutting back on clothing and accessories purchases, which is supported by Barclays transaction data showing clothing was down -1.7% last month.
• Research data shows that nearly half (46%) of consumers say they consider health and beauty purchases as “essential” – a category which typically includes priority purchases such as groceries and childcare.
• The most resilient products over the past three years – i.e. 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%).

Demand for dupes - nearly a third (32%) of consumers say that due to the rising cost of living, they are buying dupes; in line with data from February 2023 (34%).

• Fragrances are the most sought-after health and beauty dupes (28%).
• Make-up and beauty products are also popular (24% and 21%).
• 18% of consumers say they prefer to spend money on the original product rather than a dupe.

Tik-Tok effect - 22% of consumers say they discover new beauty trends via social media.

• Since January, the number of consumers watching de-influencing videos to find out what products are not worth buying has climbed by nearly 50% (from 11% to 17%).
• The number of shoppers buying fragrances on social media has grown from 12% to 17% – the largest increase of any health and beauty product.
• There is also a growing demand for beauty and skincare products (24% to 27%), hair care (14% to 16%), and health, fitness and wellness (14% to 16%).

Bricks and mortar retailers - in-store spending remains a vital part of the shopping experience.

• 56% of shoppers say they prefer to buy health and beauty products that they’ve never used before in-store.
• Consumers are, however, more comfortable making repeat purchases online (24%) than they are first-time purchases (18%).