Sales of face masks up 48% in the UK

Looking at data for the 52 weeks to 12 August 2018, this growth is being driven by new shoppers entering the market – an additional 1.1m people bought face masks in the last year, taking the overall buyer base to 6.1m.

As well as attracting new shoppers, the format is also managing to encourage shoppers to part with more of their cash with average spend on face masks up 94p, taking annual spend to £5.14.

Who is purchasing them? Well, 53.4% of spend comes from those aged under 44, with 9.1% coming from the 19-24-year-old cohort. Interestingly, spend coming from men has doubled in the last year – 43% more men are buying them, making the male face mask market worth £5.7m.

Avid social media users will be familiar with #MaskMonday and the fantastic selfies that can result from the use of sheet masks, a new style of face mask that originated in Korea. Indeed, while new product development can sometimes distract from existing product ranges, face masks are a huge success story.

New product development in personal care generated an impressive £350m of revenuefor the industry over the past year – representing 4.2% of sales over that time. One of the biggest areas of innovation and launches was in face masks, with 51% of growth coming from NPD releases.

This is a great example of NPD helping to grow brands and sustain category value. Despite an overall trend towards personal care regime simplification, face masks have found a way to add additional products into our bathroom cabinets. It’s important that any new launch generates incremental revenue for both the brand and category, rather than simply cannibalising existing ranges.