The post Beautiful at 90 appeared first on Natural Beauty Yearbook.

Last month I joined the special 90th birthday celebrations for Weleda’s pioneering Skin Food product.

Made from a 100% natural blend of plant extracts in a thick, rich base, this whole body moisturizer has been nourishing the nation’s skin since 1926 when it was first formulated
by the brand’s visionary founder Rudolf Steiner.

There can’t be many beauty products out there – a cult, award-winning product at that – that reach the ripe old age of 90 without a single whiff of reformulation. Not even a discreet like-for-like swap of plant extracts flying under the radar! And the same goes for its iconic ‘little green tube’ packaging too. How many 90-year-olds do you know that still look and perform the same as they did on the day they were born?

It’s been quite a year for nonagenarians. Skin Food is in good company, sharing its milestone birthday with Queen Elizabeth II, the adored Sir David Attenborough, legendary crooner Tony Bennett, and of course, the one and only Winnie the Pooh. And in all fairness, they too look pretty darn good for their age. The year 1926 was clearly a good vintage.

The ‘Roaring Twenties’ itself was certainly a defining era for cosmetics. This was the time when Cupid’s bow lips, kohl-rimmed eyes and bright red blush became en vogue. A post-war reaction resulted in the creation of an international beauty culture, and society became increasingly focused on novelty and change. Lipstick came into its own thanks to the invention of the metal lipstick container, and even the first ‘natural’ lip gloss was produced, which used bromo acid to create a red effect as it reacted with the wearer’s skin (apparently still in use today!). Powder blushes became more popular, and crude concoctions of homemade mascara were devised out of petroleum jelly mixed with coal dust.

Suffice to say that times have changed, for the cosmetics industry at least. Fast forward to 2016, and this July we find ourselves in the thick of Independent Retailer Month – a celebration designed to highlight “the important role smaller, local, independent retailers play in the communities they serve, the local economy they contribute to, and in the retail sector as a whole”.
15 July also happens to be the closing date for entries for the 2016 Natural Beauty Retail Awards, designed to recognize and celebrate the importance of a great retail experience at the same time as increasing the awareness of organic and natural beauty.

But let me wrap up by returning to Weleda’s the story of Skin Food. The story of this classic – but actually rather humble – product is an enduring one. The fact that it has held its own among the glitz and glamour of the flapper girls, and flourished for so many decades since – selling more than one million units in over 50 countries in 2015 alone – astounds me. But more importantly, I think, there is a lesson here to be learnt by us all. It’s not he who shouts loudest, or she who dares, who always wins. Sometimes it’s just that the simple things in life turn out to be the best.

Julia Zaltzman is a freelance journalist and editor of Natural Beauty News.

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The post Summer loving appeared first on Natural Beauty Yearbook.

Summer solstice (solstice derived from the Latin word sol, meaning ‘sun’) happens around 21 June, and is the longest day of the year. It’s also the only day of the year when all locations inside the Arctic Circle experience a continuous period of daylight for 24 hours, and many argue that it marks the official start of summer. People around the world celebrate the day with feasts, picnics, dance and music. We also have the earliest sunrise of the year in June, and the latest sunset.

The Queen’s official birthday celebrations (because one 90th birthday party simple isn’t enough!) takes place in June, as does Father’s Day, Royal Ascot and Wimbledon. But the most exciting aspect of all during this fertile month is the fact that it’s the ideal harvesting time for mallow.

Marvellous mallow
I love mallow, in particular marshmallow, and not just because the name has me picturing rows and rows of sweet, fluffy pink and white confectionery dangling from long-stemmed plants in a large, organic field (although wouldn’t that be brilliant? A Willy Wonka dream come true!). But I love its abundance of beautifying properties.

Of course, we all know that summer and herbs go hand in hand. Now that the warmer weather is here, we can add a fistful of basil here and a blanket of chopped mint there when preparing delicious lighter meals. But why not make the association with our summer beauty regime too? A pinch of turmeric here, a snip of rosemary there, a drop of chamomile everywhere …
An aromatic herb that usually grows up to a height of three feet when mature, mallow blossoms between May and August and has purple-pink coloured flowers and soft, long-stemmed heart-shaped leaves. While the common mallow has effectual soothing properties and is generally used to relieve irritated or inflamed skin, the marshmallow has more medicinal values. And both the leaves as well as the flowers of mallow have a softening effect on the skin, particularly on susceptible areas.

The main ingredient
It comes as little surprise then that in the bountiful world of organic beauty products mallow features fairly predominantly. Take, for example, Lulu & Boo Organic’s Melissa & Mallow Foot Balm, or Neal’s Yard Remedies’ Rose & Mallow Moisturizer. It is also present in all three of Weleda’s White Mallow Baby Cream, White Mallow Body Lotion, and even its Wild Rose Smoothing Masque, despite it not being featured in the name.

And last month came the long anticipated unveiling of the rebranded Herbfarmacy range. Celebrating all that is British, this modern range of organic skincare puts its homegrown Herefordshire marshmallow at the heart of its beautifully redesigned brand, with its two hero products being Mallow Beauty Balm and Rose & Mallow Facial Oil.

“I love the marshmallow which flourishes in our soil with its pretty lilac flowers,” says Paul Richards, founder of Herbfarmacy. “If you split the roots you can get the silky feel of the delicate mucilages it contains; so delicate that herbalists use the root to soothe troubled digestive systems – perfect then for soothing delicate skin on the face and anywhere where there is sensitivity. In addition, the mucilages attract water to give softening moisturization. For me, it’s the ultimate herb for the skin.”

I’m throwing it out there that June should become the official month of marshmallow. Be it face creams, root tea (accompanied by the sugar-glazed sweet, of course) or a healing poultice, let mallow be the symbol that summer is finally here!

Julia Zaltzman is a freelance journalist and editor of Natural Beauty News.

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Life in the 21st century is just one long, ever-decreasing circle of commonality. In the same way that the older you get, the social game of six degrees of separation actually begins to ring true, it seems to me that no matter what genre you look at, it’s intrinsically linked with all others.

Take fitness, for example. What is the first thing that springs to mind when you read that word? Is it exercise, or getting fit? Fitness trackers, maybe, and the new wave of smart technology? Food, perhaps, and eating healthily? Or maybe just health in itself? All of these are plausible, to me. But high-end catwalk fashion? Hmm, that one’s a little more tenuous, right? Wrong!

The latest discovery to be touted is that fitness trends are influencing high-end fashion. Activewear brand Sundried claims that the ‘superior materials’ its collection is made from, not to mention its ‘ergonomic features’ actively empower men and women to get fit.

And, careful not to appeal to too-small a market, the brand has even reached out to the environmentally-minded consumer and offers transparency through uniquely coding each item so that its journey from sourcing of materials to final product can be traced.

Now this is merely the marketing hype of a single brand, you may argue. But, apparently not. In February The Guardian ran a story on Canadian company lululemon, which is “known for selling £138 leggings” and has successfully tapped into the goldmine clothing industry for the yoga and pilates market. This success story alone (it expects sales of up to $695 million in the fourth quarter of the year) is, says columnist Nadia Khomami, “indicative of a wider trend – sometimes labelled ‘athleisure’ – in which expensive workout clothing has become a wardrobe staple”.

Trends are powerful things. They’re much like self-fulfilling prophecies. If you tell a consumer something for long enough, they start to believe it, live it, expect it.

Back in 2013, the Spafinder Wellness 264 Trends Forecast report singled out ‘mindfulness’ as the uber trend to watch for in the spa and salon industry. Fast forward to 2016, and the term is now referenced in everyday life. Mindfulness is even recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to prevent depression.

Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, is quoted on the NHS website as saying that “an important part of mindfulness is reconnecting with our bodies and the sensations they experience. This means waking up to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the present moment”.

Spas traditionally embrace and encourage the value of inner health leading to that outer glow, and it’s clear to see why mindfulness resonates with them in particular. It’s also interesting to observe the parallels with the natural beauty industry, especially when you take into account that the non-surgical cosmetics procedures market has grown by almost 500% over the last 20 years. While spas have traditionally been at the forefront of the clean beauty movement, they are also the integral lynch pin between the organic industry and other core markets, such as health and leisure.

When it comes to trend-spotting, the March issue of Natural Beauty News offered its fair share of insightful 2016 nuggets, including that of using food-grade ingredients in beauty products. Nowhere has this trend been more beautifully exemplified than on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, when Gwyneth Paltrow recently demonstrated that her new organic beauty range Goop is good enough to eat, by dipping a McDonald’s chip into a pot of cream. Now that’s what I call putting your mouth where your money is!

Julia Zaltzman is a freelance journalist and editor of Natural Beauty News.

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It’s official, the ideal age for a person, according to the people of Britain, is 36. New research brought to us by a recent YouGov survey shows that the majority of the 1,700 people who took part in the poll view middle age as having the highest prestige, status and everything else deemed to be good and worthy.

I’m a little unsure, however, as to what this new-found information means for me, personally. Either it’s fantastic news due to the fact I am sprinting towards my now enlightened 36th birthday faster than I can shout “wrinkle at six o’clock!”, or it’s all downhill from here …

The survey goes on to reveal that 29 is the average ideal age for physical health (I’m definitely doomed there), and for wisdom, it is 51 (I’m working on it).

Yearless beauty
Now that I know I am soon to be experiencing the best year of my life, I feel inclined to make the most of it. Or best of all, I should pay no attention to it whatsoever. According to Fiona Klonarides, founder of The Beauty Shortlist, 2016 is in fact the age of ‘yearless beauty’ where age is irrelevant.

This alternative take on the zeitgeist is a reflection of the ever-expanding range of products and brands that have been entered into the 2016 Beauty Shortlist Awards that focus on nurturing skin health, embracing natural beauty ingredients and not pigeon-holing consumers into buying from limited categories. At the time this column was going to print, Klonarides was in the thick of the judging period, and stated that: “This year there are more products that got ranked ten by the judges than in the past five years; the standard has shot up and it’s a year of game-changers.”

Shifting categories
And Klonarides isn’t alone in her age-resistant stance. Newly emerging make-up brand Wild About Beauty, co-founded by make-up artist Kim Jacob and TV personality Louise Redknapp, has the mantras ‘wearable, affordable beauty’ and ‘ageless radiant skin’ at the forefront of its branding.

Even the larger players are changing the way consumers shop for their products, and ultimately view their brands. The Organic Pharmacy, for example, allows its online customers to choose whether they wish to shop by category or by concern, and breaks it down even further so they can shop by what’s new, types of treatments, the changing seasons and promotional campaigns.

The vast majority of shoppers will still want to stick with what they know, and search for the likes of anti-ageing skincare or sun protection, and we are a long way off retailers and brands alike doing away with this type of categorization. But recognizing the shifting sands of consumer shopping habits and adapting with them is the smart (and some may say only) way of moving forward and ultimately growing as a retailer.

If you fall short of the dream age of 36, fear not, however. Apparently, people aged between 18 and 24 said the ideal age was 27. It was 34 for the 25-49 bracket, 40 for those aged between 50 and 64, and 42 for the over 65s.

So what the survey really tells us is there is no dream age, just an ever-changing perception of utopia …

Julia Zaltzman is a freelance journalist and editor of Natural Beauty News.

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The post Fairtrade for all appeared first on Natural Beauty Yearbook.

Research has demonstrated that green tea is packed with beauty benefits that consumers can attain by drinking it as well as by applying it directly onto their our skin, which is great news for all you natural beauty retailers looking for a nifty way to tap in to next month’s Fairtrade Fortnight.

Running from 29 February to 13 March, the annual fortnight organized by the Fairtrade Foundation aims to raise awareness about fair prices, good working conditions, agricultural education and sustainability for farmers and workers in the developing world. And this year its theme is ‘Sit down for breakfast, stand up for farmers!’

The foundation is calling on a bevy of organizers and retailers to host breakfast mornings and afternoon tea parties across the two hectic weeks to get the message out loud and clear to consumers. And who doesn’t love being handed a freshly brewed cuppa when out on their travels? But to pack a real antioxidant punch with your shoppers, why not highlight all the organic beauty products sat patiently on your shelves, Fairtrade and otherwise, that contain breakfast ingredients?

Point of difference
Tapping into the theme will keep you on point, but flipping it on its beauty head will give you an added point of difference too.

Of course there is a growing range of natural beauty brands that do a sterling job of incorporating Fairtrade ingredients in their ingenious product ranges, such as Lush’s Fairly Traded Honey Shampoo, Boots Extracts’ Cocoa Butter Sugar Scrub, Neal’s Yard Remedies’ Jasmine & Ylang Ylang Body Oil, Honeystreet Handmade’s Rose Garden Bath Oil, not to mention Odylique’s Organic Eye Liner in Black.

Raw ingredients
From sesame oil from Nicaragua, Brazil nuts from Peru, cane sugar from Paraguay, Brazilian soya oil, Ethiopian honey, to Kenyan tea tree oil, Moroccan argan, beeswax from Cameroon, cocoa and shea from Ghana and Namibian marula oil, there seems very little in the way of Fairtrade ingredients that haven’t been worked into the natural beauty mix.

But it can be hard to consistently raise awareness in-store of all the different independent elements trying to grab a slice of the campaign action. Fairtrade Fortnight and Organic Beauty Week are the front-runners with their established calendar dates, but let’s not forget vegan, veggie and PETA, as well as all the other health and nutrition weeks that many of your shoppers are doubtless alerted to.

Even Halal cosmetics were cited in The Times last month as the latest trend coinciding with Ramadan, with natural beauty brands such as Amara Cosmetics and Inika having certified Halal products on retailers’ shelves.

So the best way to handle this bevy of activity is to combine and conquer! Get your kettles on the boil, stock up on an army of cups and saucers, and treat your customers to some homemade (or locally made!) cake, finished up with a splash of Fairtrade hand cream for good measure. We’re all singing from the same song sheet after all!

Julia Zaltzman is a freelance journalist and editor of Natural Beauty News.

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The post Retail revolution appeared first on Natural Beauty Yearbook.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, even the January sales have started appearing before we’ve sung the New Year in. Loud price slashing has always been most retailers’ preferred way of engaging with consumers, and once our interest is piqued we’re further enticed with BOGOFs, three-for-two deals and any other money-saving offer that can be dreamed up. It’s a war zone where a war of attrition is being played out to the bitter end.

But just wait a minute. Let’s sit down, pour ourselves a herbal infusion and think this through properly. There’s only so far that we (retailers and shoppers alike) can go with eye-wateringly low prices before quality becomes compromised, questions get asked, both integrity and trust is lost, and we’re surrounded by irreparable collateral damage.

There has to be another way. And the empty shop floors during this year’s infamous Black Friday suggest weary shoppers are thinking along the same lines.

Last month The Independent published its ’10 best online beauty retailers’. It’s a giddy list of fashionable e-tailers purveying the best that beauty has to offer, and I was delighted to see that at number three and number eight respectively were our very own natural beauty trailblazers Being Content and LoveLula.

Rubbing shoulders with the likes of SpaceNK Apothecary, Look Fantastic and The Independent’s number one pick Get The Gloss, which was launched a year ago by two former beauty editors – Vogue’s Susannah Taylor and The Times’ Sarah Vine – it is yet again clear to me that organic beauty is very much at the top of its game, and shouldn’t be treated as a niche sub-category.

SpaceNK itself offers up no less than 144 beauty products when you search the term ‘organic’ on its website (I know because I counted them), and yet it is not considered a speciality store. More accurately it is a stylish emporium stocking what are deemed to be the world’s best beauty brands, whether they are organic or not.

And then it dawned on me. When sold online, natural beauty doesn’t have to compete with the minimalist designs of stores such as SpaceNK. The products speak for themselves, and the ratings naturally follow.

Out on the High Street, however, little independents are most definitely battling with the sleek Apple-like appeal that nowadays we shoppers readily associate with premium outlets stocking premium products. And it’s when we’re feeling frumpy in our plain old bricks and mortar and crowded out by the big boys that the knee-jerk price-slashing reaction tends to creep in. But stop. Don’t do it!

Independent natural beauty retailers, you may be small, but you are mighty. Our stake in the beauty retail sector is considerable enough to have all the large multiples wanting a piece of the organic action. The age-old mantra of quality over quantity has never rung more true. Organic beauty is no longer the future, it’s the here and now, and you independents are in effect the godfathers of that gold mine.

So this January stand tall and stand proud. Don’t slash your prices to compete with the national chains left floundering after Christmas. Instead cease-fire, hold the line, and stand by the brands and products on your shelves. There’s no need to compromise when what you’re offering is the nothing but the best.

Julia Zaltzman is a freelance writer and editor of Natural Beauty News.

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The post Pop up and listen appeared first on Natural Beauty Yearbook.

In my July Beauty Buzz column Organic beauty retailing – the future is multi-channel I wrote about how high street fashion retailer H&M had become the latest store to relaunch its beauty collection, which included a subsidiary-conscious range of Ecocert-approved sustainable products. In celebration of this range, the forward-thinking retailer went one step further and threw open the doors of a pop-up beauty emporium in the heart of East London, which ran for the month
of October.

Now the first thought that struck me when I initially read about this initiative (apart from ‘I must rush down there and check it out for myself’ and the obvious ‘I hope the queues aren’t massive’) was ‘why does it feel the need to do that?’. As a multiple retailer of gargantuan proportions (it boasts 3,700 stores spread across 60
markets worldwide) it’s not going to be about exposure, nor does it have to make itself more accessible to the consumer.

The beauty treasure trove, based in the Old Truman Brewery on Dray Walk, stocks the brand’s full range of make-up, hair and beauty products. On top of that it has littered the pop-up with a host of friendly experts who are on hand to offer customers top tips, tricks of the trade and treatments.

The long game

And then it struck me. It can only be about one thing; H&M is investing in its long game. It wants to be taken seriously as a dedicated beauty destination, but taken seriously by one type of consumer in particular: the youth. A sort of Space NK meets Willy Wonka for the younger generation. A debutante’s first encounter with lipsticks and blushers, toners and masks, in a safe haven where the ‘coming of age’ can dive in head-first and explore. It achieved that within the world of fashion eons ago, so why not beauty? And why not organic beauty?

And this is where the natural beauty industry needs to jump on H&M’s bandwagon for once and maximize on the exposure. If H&M’s Ecocert range is going to be a consumer’s first foray into organic beauty (and let’s face it, for most tweens it will be), then it’s the responsibility of natural beauty retailers and brands to bridge that gap, and fast.

Take the lead

Don’t wait for curious youngsters to wander aimlessly into your store or naively stumble upon your products and decide to spend their well-earned cash on brands they’ve never heard of boasting logos that mean nothing to them. It’s time to pop-up and listen to what needs to be done. Leverage the power and spend of the multiples, and, for once, follow in their footsteps. Take your store and products to the shoppers.

Be it a stall at a festival or an in-store concession, pop-ups are a sure-fire way of reaching an altogether new type of consumer. We all know this already, but it’s the dormant consumer that matters. It’s the children of today who will be the shoppers of tomorrow. So introduce yourself early, host pop-ups in places where you’d be least expected, partner with each other to strengthen your message, and be sure to make a great impression.

Julia Zaltzman is a freelance writer and editor of The Natural Beauty Yearbook

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As this latest installment of my Beauty Buzz column goes to press, we are putting away the chairs  and closing the door on yet another hugely successful Round Table discussion hosted by the Natural Beauty Yearbook and Natural Products News magazine.

Held once again on the first day of Organic Beauty Week, a select group of retailers, distributors, PRs, brands and industry experts gathered under one roof to share views and opinions on the future of natural beauty.

When the clock struck 12 the room was abuzz with animated voices and excited chatter as new and familiar faces greeted and jointly Tweeted for the Soil Association’s Thunderclap midday announcement. In a bid to get the organic message out to as many consumers as possible, the charity stored up hundreds of Tweets citing this year’s theme, Campaign for Clarity, and released them in one job lot.

Jumping on the pumpkin wagon of this Cinderellaesque announcement was successful organic beauty blogger Ailish Lucas from The Glow Getter, who recorded an instant ‘periscope’ interview with her fellow Round Table panelist Emma Reinhold, trade relations manager at the Soil Association before sending it off into the ether to be viewed by her thousands of followers.

To say the event was a lesson in the art of social media is an understatement. More importantly, it illustrated the international reach that organic beauty could potentially leverage. It is no coincidence that ‘going global’ was the first debate topic of the day, which proved to be one that came full circle, concluding the morning’s discussions as well.

“Unfortunately I don’t think there is a global understanding at all, and I think there probably won’t ever be a correct or in-depth understanding – nobody is ever going to agree,” said Sonia White, owner of Amarya and LoveLula.com. “However, it would be great, and hence why we launched the Real Beauty Manifesto just so that we can at least get the basics right. Defining the term ‘natural’ would be a great first step.”

Global confusion

Helen Lewis, brand manager at Neal’s Yard, agreed that there remains a confusion among consumers on a global scale regarding the varying different terminologies: “We find that consumers understand the term ‘natural’ more than they do ‘organic’, and tend to trust the term ‘natural’ more as well.

“From an international perspective we are seeing the level of organic understanding growing, but there are differences. For instance, in Japan consumers are very hot on what is good for your skin, on healthy eating, and they’re leading the way in Asia; whereas in Korea, where we’ve just opened up, it’s all about cosmetic surgery. In order to get that organic message across you have to make sure that your products are effective. We have to show that organic isn’t just a fluffy word – it actually does something beneficial for your skin.”

Once again it all comes back to efficacy and brand transparency. It was agreed that getting the retail message right is also vitally important, particularly in light of the rise in online sales. But if ever there was a succinct way of reaching an international audience with one clear message then the Internet is just that.

The untapped potential for natural beauty is overwhelmingly large. Forming key partnerships, agreeing on a clear message, producing efficacious products and reaching a wider audience is the way forward. The ingredients are elementary, the question is, how long until we get there?

A full write up of the Round Table discussion will be available to read in the 2016 Natural Beauty Yearbook, published in November this year.

Julia Zaltzman is a freelance writer and editor of The Natural Beauty Yearbook

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The post Repetition is key appeared first on Natural Beauty Yearbook.

Keep it clear. Keep it transparent. And no, I’m not just referring to your well-cared-for complexion! That’s the mantra this September when the Soil Association embarks on yet another emboldened Organic Beauty Week, focused this year on the theme, Campaign for Clarity.

Running from 14-21 September the aim, as always, is to “raise awareness of the importance of certification in a very unregulated market,” says Emma Reinhold, trade relations manager at the Soil Association, “and why consumers should look for a certification symbol to ensure they are buying truly organic beauty products”.

Every year retailers, brands and campaigners alike join together to celebrate and promote the world of organic beauty. And this is achieved in a variety of ways, from pop-up shops to consumer-friendly discounts, from promotions to competitions and events. This year over 60 brands, from large stalwarts like Neal’s Yard to fledgling start-ups, and over 20 retailers, including independents, multiples and online stores will be singing the praises of all things organically beautiful, and engaging with shoppers in a variety of ways.

Getting the message across

And that’s the hard part. Engaging with consumers who have heard it all before, but haven’t necessarily bought into the idea yet. For those of us who have been not only talking about it but living it for years, it can on occasion feel as though we’re repeating ourselves over and over again. But it is only with continued repetition that the message will eventually sink in and become the norm and greenwashing will finally be something that no longer washes with the general public. Until that realization occurs, certified organic is a mark for consumers to trust, and it’s this trust that gives momentum to things such as the Campaign for Clarity.

“We believe that organic is the future, and this year we’re going to campaign for brands to be better and for consumers to understand more,” says Reinhold. “It’s time to reclaim organic and stand up for the consumers who deserve to know what they’re buying.”

Seizing the power of social media, a number of hashtags have been set up to “educate and motivate” consumers over the week, such as #OrganicBeauty, #OrganicSeptember and of course #Campaign4Clarity. And in its bid for consumer creativity, the Soil Association hasn’t been afraid to diversify. The Hemsley sisters are introduced this year as the first ambassadors for Organic Beauty Week. Food lovers with a passion for wellness and delicious, nutrient-dense cooking, they are the perfect example of how buying into the organic beauty psyche is far bigger than using a certain type of moisturizer or lipstick.

For campaigns and movements such as Organic Beauty Week to work, it needs to be deemed as a conscious lifestyle change, not just a temporary novelty for one week every year. And independent retailers are the best vehicle for endorsing this. So while you’re encouraging your customers to spur on their as-yet-unconverted friends and family to approach their buying decisions differently this year, make sure you are the best ambassador for both your store and organic beauty as you can possibly be this September.

For more info on Organic Beauty Week, visit https://bit.ly/1MaZXeC.

Julia Zaltzman is a freelance writer and editor of The Natural Beauty Yearbook

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The post Organic beauty retailing – the future is multi-channel appeared first on Natural Beauty Yearbook.

The Soil Association’s Organic Market Report 2015, published in March, revealed that online shopping at independent retailers boosted the organic health and beauty sector by 20% in the last year, making it one of the strongest channels for growth. A fantastic statistic for the natural beauty industry to be able to quote, but it’s not just independents that are investing in ‘going organic’.

M&S beauty buyer Louisa Maaldrink stated in her keynote seminar at Natural & Organic Products Europe back in April that over the past 18 months the retailer has actively expanded its natural beauty range, and has subsequently built a reputation amongst its buyers for offering effective, authentic, trusted brands, containing innovative ingredients that aren’t tested on animals.

And in May, H&M became the latest high street fashion retailer to announce the relaunch of its beauty offering this autumn. Available in over 900 stores worldwide and online, its new 700-product strong range of make-up, haircare, bodycare and beauty styling essentials will also include a subsidiary-conscious range of Ecocert-approved sustainable products.

Promising future

Looking to the likes of New Look Pure Beauty, Next Make Me Beautiful and Primark PS Love Beauty, it’s clear that multiple fashion retailers are investing heavily in the beauty sector, but the fact that H&M – a store with a core demo aged between 18-30 – has seen enough potential in the organic beauty sector to launch its own certified organic range is genuinely promising.

Emma Reinhold, trade relations manager at Soil Association Certification, commented: “It has been another fantastic year for the organic health and beauty market. Organic beauty now appeals to a much wider group of consumers, supported by initiatives like the Soil Association’s Organic Beauty Week, which are helping to move organic beauty into the mainstream and enable more consumers to discover the benefits of these products.”

Appealing to lighter green consumers as much as stalwart organic consumers is certainly the way forward, but whereas in the past independent health stores were stocking brands that were trying to compete with mainstream beauty products, it now looks as though the independents are themselves competing with mainstream multiples for a fair slice of the organic beauty cake. What was once a niche for the specialist few is fast becoming the bread and butter of the many.

This won’t be welcome news to some, although the renewed growth of the organic market (expected to break the £2 billion barrier in 2016), will be. But whether you support keeping organic beauty within independent grass roots stores, or welcome its emergence on multiple retailers’ soil, the recent launch of the Natural Beauty Retail Awards is a great way of having your say on the increasingly multi-channel natural and organic beauty scene.

Designed to recognize and celebrate the importance of a great retail experience at the same time as increasing the awareness of organic and natural beauty, the Natural Beauty Retail Awards invite retailers to nominate themselves in the following categories: Best Department Store; Best Retail Chain; Best Supermarket; Best Branded Store; Best Online Retailer; and Best Independent Store.

All entries will be judged by a panel of industry experts, and the closing date for entries is 31 July 2015. To have your say, visit the website and vote at www.naturalbeautyyearbook.co.uk.

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