The clean beauty market is one of the fastest-growing segments in beauty. According to our soon-to-be-published Natural and Clean Beauty Regional Series report, the U.S. market grew almost 10% in 2022 and is expected to continue its strong trajectory in the future. However, as the market becomes more and more saturated with numerous brands to choose from, consumers shifted their attention to product efficacy. So, how are key, clean beauty players rising above this challenge to stand out from the crowd?
In the deodorants category, brands such as Native and Every Man Jack emerged and proved that clean deodorants are effective after years of negative perception. Because of this, sentiment through word-of-mouth advertising allowed the brands to capture a combined 54.4% market share in 2022.
Brands in the skin care space turned to methods such as clinical claims and product explanations on their packaging, store shelves, or website. For example, indie brand Skinfix utilized the phrase “tested & recommended by unbiased derms” on all of its products, while Ole Henriksen described its Strength Trainer Peptide Boost Moisturizer with the phrase “Reinforces the moisture barrier for plumper-looking skin.” Such claims helped these brands advance in the skin care product class by a combined 65%.
Strength Trainer Peptide Boost Moisturizer by Ole Henriksen
The top makeup competitors turned to developing products that featured multi-use functionality to regain momentum following consecutive years of waning consumer interest. These include makeup-skincare hybrid products, such as Ilia Beauty’s new C Beyond Triple Serum SPF 40, and multitasking makeup formats and multipurpose face palettes, such as Tarte’s new Amazonian Clay Fine Brow Pencil and Physicians Formula’s new All Star Face Palette. These efforts have not only enticed consumers but were also a catalyst for the product class’s 17% growth in 2022.
The clean beauty market also relied heavily on social media to maintain a connection with consumers. Brands such as Glow Recipe and Tula Skincare saw tremendous engagement and activity from product tutorial videos and consumer stories on TikTok in 2022, while Ilia Beauty, Mineral Fusion, and Beautycounter used Instagram for product and ingredient education.
The increased push toward cleaner and healthier products, coupled with consumers’ demand for newness, efficacy, and innovation, will continue to drive growth in the market. However, as competition is becoming more intense, it is important for brands to understand how to best stand out against each other. The United States volume of our Natural and Clean Beauty Regional Series report will be published soon, while the China volume is now available. Each report features a rating for brands’ true degrees of naturalness based on Kline’s proprietary rating scale, with an analysis of the market size and growth, key new launches and product trends, and retail outlet breakdowns.
