beauty industry essay pdf

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

On Being and Becoming Beautiful: The Social Construction of Feminine Beauty

Related Papers

Compos Mentis: Undergraduate Journal of Cognition and Neuroethics (ISSN: 2330-0264)

In discussions of "beauty" as an aesthetic and evaluative term assessing and describing people's looks, very often people use the term as if there is a shared objective standard of beauty. This mistaken conception of beauty as objective can be understood in three layers: firstly, the term "beauty" is used as if it means that a certain set of objective standards has been met; secondly, it is presupposed that these standards have existed throughout human history and will continue to exist as such even despite what appear to be significant changes to these standards; thirdly, it is often presupposed that we are all equally capable of achieving these standards and that we should all aim to meet these standards. However, this conception of beauty as objective is mistaken. I seek to make clear that: the aesthetics of people's looks is very often shaped by racism, patriarchy, heteronormativity and other systematic oppressions in our society. The term "beauty" is much more of an oppressive tool than an innocent realist appraisal or aesthetic judgment.

Holman Andrei

We present a synthesis of the contemporary approaches on the topic of corporal beauty, by dividing them into eight major research lines, each illustrated by a set of most representative theories and results: evolutionary, sociocultural and body image approaches, researches on the cross-cultural standards of beauty, on its factors, effects, personal benefits and media representations

Angie Mohamed

It's easy for us to name beautiful people in our life. But what makes them beautiful? Why does society agree that one look is 'more beautiful' than another? How does social media affect this idea? Our aim was to understand beauty standards in four contextes: historical and racial context, social media in today's world, the patriarchy's effect on the image of beauty, and emphasized eurocentric standards. Our research questions are: 1. To what extent the body positivity movement on social media has a positive effect on adolescent girls? 2. How internalized eurocentric beauty standards are in adolescent girls? 3. To what extent does the male gaze influence the behavior of adolescent girls? Data was collected from our original survey exploring the implications of beauty standards on females and individuals who identify as non-binary between the ages of 14-22. Using a two-way ANOVA statistical significance was found between ethnicity and the modes of communication of ...

Public Relations FISAT

This article tries to explain the emerging beauty consciousness of the present world. The commercial world is really influencing the teenaged groups in terms

Springer eBooks

Claudia Liebelt

Beauty and the Norm contains chapters based on empirical research across a wide range of geographical locations and cultural contexts, as well as shorter conversations between scholars that also include more personal reflections. It represents a first attempt to expose the generative operations of human standardization and normative looks in everyday life to more systematic analysis. In doing so, the volume brings together hitherto rather separate debates in critical beauty studies, cultural anthropology, sociology, the history of science and disability studies on the gendered, classed and racialized body, normative regimes of representation and the global beauty economy. In this introductory chapter, we provide a framework that ties the various contributions together, beginning with a brief history of the notion of the norm and of the closely related debates on standardization and normalization, followed by a discussion of the global economy of gendered and racialized bodies.

Brandon Giella

People often say, "Do not judge," but this inhibits society rather than progresses it. Judgment develops in people a sense of taste, without which society will not last. (This paper was submitted for an essay contest.)

David Frederick , Megan Carpenter

Why Beauty Matters -A Critical Review

Tamunobelema William

One thing Scruton got very correct is his title, “Why Beauty Matters”. Beauty is value perceived and value is the meaning derived. When one fails to find meaning in a way of life, art, music, poetry, process and so on, there is no beauty and that leads to a repulsion also known as ugliness. Scruton’s work was unable to pin his case on why beauty mattered because, he approached a subjective theme with an objective theoretical framework as well as not clearly defining any of his terms. Beauty, taste, and art are subjective terms and will continue to be respective to the beholder.

RELATED PAPERS

João Paulo Ovidio

AGRI-SOSIOEKONOMI

Selvie Tumbelaka

Gianlorenzo Franceschina

Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine

Anoma Chandrasekara

Cuadernos de Rusística Española

Roman Voitekhovich

Shalom Sabar

Revista Investigación Agraria.

Liliana Vega Jara

Synthetic Communications

Vipan kumar

The Journal of Immunology

Ioanna Maroulakou

DANNY FAUSTINO MEZA MARTINEZ

Pawel Kowal

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

Viswanathan Elumalai

Engenharia no Século XXI – Volume 11

Danilo Brito

Plant, Soil and Environment

Grażyna Szymańska

Philip Monk

In XII Congresso Nazionale IGIIC. Lo Stato dell'Arte, atti del convegno, Milano, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera,23-24 ottobre 2014

Isabella Marelli

Revista Mexicana de Sociología

SANDRA PATRICIA MARTINEZ BASALLO , Deidi Yolima Maca Urbano

Manajemen dan Pariwisata

L'Expansion Management Review

Isabelle ROBERT

Global Ecology and Biogeography

Rampal Etienne

Dr. Abhijit Datta Banik

Conference paper

Aleksandra Pudliszak

Wireless Personal Communications

Shubhashish Goswami

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

How COVID-19 is changing the world of beauty

The global beauty industry (comprising skin care, color cosmetics, hair care, fragrances, and personal care) has been shocked by the COVID-19 crisis. First-quarter sales have been weak, and there have been widespread store closures.

The industry has responded positively to the crisis, with brands switching their manufacturing to produce hand sanitizers and cleaning agents and offering free beauty services for frontline response workers. At the same time, the industry’s leaders have a responsibility to do their best to ensure that their companies survive. The global beauty industry generates $500 billion in sales a year and accounts for millions of jobs, directly and indirectly. Lives come first, but livelihoods also matter .

This article examines the likely effects of COVID-19 on the beauty industry over the next three to six months. Then it explores how the crisis could fundamentally change the industry in the long term—and how retailers, strategic players, and investors can adapt. In many cases, it draws from the results of a McKinsey Global Consumer Sentiment Survey  that took place in early April.

The short-term outlook for the beauty industry

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but there is little debate when it comes to the long-term attractiveness of the global beauty industry. Not only has it grown steadily, it has created generations of loyal consumers. During the 2008 financial crisis, spending in the industry only fell slightly and fully bounced back by 2010 (Exhibit 1).

Even though the economic magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic on brands and retailers will be far greater than any recession, there are signs that the beauty industry may once again prove relatively resilient. In China, the industry’s February sales fell up to 80 percent compared with 2019. In March, the year-on-year decline was 20 percent—a rapid rebound under the circumstances. In a variety of markets, consumers report they intend to spend less on beauty products in the near term (largely driven by declines in spending on color cosmetics) but more than they will in other discretionary categories, such as footwear and clothing (Exhibit 2). Noting the uptick in lipstick sales seen during the 2001 recession, Leonard Lauder of the cosmetics company coined the term “lipstick index” to describe this phenomenon. The principle is that people see lipstick as an affordable luxury, and sales therefore tend to stay strong, even in times of duress.

McKinsey has explored nine scenarios for the economy over the next few years , based on epidemiological trends and the effectiveness of economic-policy decisions. Based on the scenarios most expected by global executives  and current trends, we estimate global beauty-industry revenues could fall 20 to 30 percent in 2020. In the United States, if there is a COVID-19 recurrence later in the year, the decline could be as much as 35 percent (Exhibit 3).

We looked at the beauty industry’s recovery against each scenario, considering two key factors: where and how beauty products are being sold and what is being purchased.

Where and how beauty products are being sold

In most major beauty-industry markets, in-store shopping accounted for up to 85 percent of beauty-product purchases prior to the COVID-19 crisis, with some variation by subcategory. Even online-savvy American millennials and Gen Zers (those born between 1980 and 1996) made close to 60 percent of their purchases in stores (Exhibit 4). With the closure of premium beauty-product outlets because of COVID-19, approximately 30 percent of the beauty-industry market was shut down. Some of these stores will never open again, and new openings will likely be delayed for at least a year.

Here are several ways beauty-product sales are changing:

• Increased online sales are not offsetting the decline in in-store sales. Some beauty-product brands and retailers with inventory and shipment operations ready to scale up are reporting e-commerce sales twice as high as their pre-COVID-19 levels. Overall, we think 20 to 30 percent growth will be more typical. Sephora’s US online sales are reportedly up 30 percent versus 2019, 1 Priya Rao, “How Sephora is incubating the ‘next guard’ online,” Glossy, April 14, 2020, glossy.co. as were Amazon’s beauty-product sales for the four-week period ending April 11. In China, McKinsey research has seen online revenues for beauty-industry players rise 20 to 30 percent during the outbreak. These figures are in line with what beauty-product consumers are reporting in McKinsey COVID-19 Consumer Pulse Surveys .
• Beauty-product sales at essential retailers are down. While brick-and-mortar drugstores and mass-market and grocery stores remain open, their customer traffic and revenues have plummeted. The Boots UK drugstore chain reported its overall sales fell by two-thirds between March 25 and April 3, 2020, with beauty-product revenues contributing to the decline. Surveyed UK consumers say they expect to spend around 50 percent less on beauty products than usual in the next two weeks.
• China shows the return to in-store shopping could be slow and differentiated. Despite store reopenings in China starting the week of March 13 and reports of “revenge spending,” sales have not fully bounced back. As of mid-April, 90 percent of drugstores, supermarkets, beauty-product specialty retailers, and department stores in China had reopened. However, depending on the sector and type of store, traffic remains down 9 to 43 percent compared with pre-COVID-19 levels. Mall-based stores have proven slower to recover. Even after reopening, around 60 percent of large malls in China report a 30 to 70 percent decrease in sales, year on year, in the first quarter of 2020.
• Retailers and brands are turning to promotions to bring in consumers and clear inventory. In an uncharacteristic move, several prestige brands are offering discounts online of up to 40 percent, competing with specialty beauty-product and department stores to capture promotion-oriented consumers. Promotions also help move unsold seasonal inventory. As beauty-product brick-and-mortar stores reopen, we expect to see more promotions aimed at reclaiming customer foot traffic.

Which beauty products are being purchased

Given the realities of working from home, physical distancing, and mask wearing, it has become much less important to wear makeup and fragrance.

For prestige brands, we see 55 and 75 percent declines in cosmetic and fragrance purchasing, respectively, versus a year ago. When consumers do return to work, many will continue to wear masks, further slowing makeup’s recovery. One possible exception is above-the-mask treatments. In China, Alibaba reported eye-cosmetic sales increased 150 percent, month over month, during the week of February 18, 2020. 2 Christine Chou, “Huda Beauty catches the eyes of Chines consumers,” Alizila, March 30, 2020, alizila.com.

By contrast, skin-care, hair-care, and bath-and-body products appear to be benefiting from self-care and pampering trends. NPD, which tracks consumer spending and point-of-sale data, recorded that sales of luxury hand soap in France were up 800 percent the week of March 16, 2020, as the country went into lockdown. 3 “Confinement: Mauvaise passe pour les produits de beauté haut de gamme ... à deux exceptions près [in French],” Fashion Network, April 10, 2020, fr.fashionetwork.com. Zalando, Europe’s largest fashion and lifestyle e-commerce marketplace, reported a boom in pampering and self-care beauty categories, including candles, aromatherapy, and detox products; sales of skin-, nail-, and hair-care products were up 300 percent, year on year. 4 “What Zalando customers are buying as they’re asked to stay home,” Zalando, April 16, 2020, corporate.zalando.com. That is consistent with results from Amazon, for which most makeup sales in the United States are showing slight declines, compared with the same month in 2019, while sales for nail-care products (218 percent), hair coloring (172 percent), and bath-and-body products (65 percent) are way up (Exhibit 5).

Another notable trend is the rise of do-it-yourself (DIY) beauty care. Many beauty salons have closed, and even in places where they have not, consumers are forgoing services because of concerns about close physical contact. In addition, many consumers will likely face economic difficulties after the COVID-19 crisis, given the loss of jobs and savings. In McKinsey’s survey of UK consumers , 66 percent believe their finances will be affected for at least two months because of COVID-19, and 36 percent say they are cutting back on spending.

As a result, DIY hair coloring, nail care, and care in other beauty categories are finding new customers. In the United States, Nielsen reported rises in the sales of hair dye and hair clippers by 23 and 166 percent, respectively, in the first week of April 2020 versus a year ago. 5 Alicia Wallace, “Walmart CEO says we’re in the ‘hair color’ phase of panic buying,” CNN Business, April 11, 2020, cnn.com. Sales of Madison Reed at-home hair-coloring kits rose tenfold from mid-March to mid-April. 6 Megan Cerullo, “Sales of hair-dye kits jump as stuck-at-home workers cut off from salons,” CBS News, March 27, 2020, cbsnews.com. In the United Kingdom, online sales of prestige-brand nail polish have seen double-digit growth every week since lockdown began in March. This surge in DIY nail care has some speculating that the current crisis’s lipstick effect has an added dimension—the “nail-polish effect.” 7 Sandra Halliday, “Nail care is the UK’s ‘lipstick effect’ in Covid-19 crisis, French brands benefit,” Fashion Network, April 8, 2020, us.fashionnetwork.com.

The long-term impact of COVID-19 on the beauty industry

Some changes resulting from the COVID-19 crisis are likely to be permanent. Here are three areas in which the pandemic could alter the beauty industry in fundamental ways:

• Digital continues to rise. Pre-COVID-19 trends will likely accelerate, with direct-to-consumer e-commerce, such as brands’ websites, shoppable social-media platforms, and marketplaces becoming more important. Across the globe, consumers indicate they are likely to increase their online engagement and spending. Beauty-industry players will need to prioritize digital channels to capture and convert the attention of existing and new customers. On the operations side, the use of artificial intelligence for testing, discovery, and customization will need to accelerate as concerns about safety and hygiene fundamentally disrupt product testing and in-person consultations.
• The pace of innovation accelerates. As the COVID-19 crisis has shown, the world can change quickly, bringing substantial shifts in demand. Sometimes, supply cannot catch up. Even before the pandemic, brands were under pressure to overhaul their product-innovation pipelines, inspired by the ability of digital-native direct-to-consumer brands to go from concept to cupboard in less than a month. Now, the need for speed is even greater. To achieve it, there may be a greater role for contract manufacturers, both to diversify (and thus reduce production risks) and to serve as thought partners in product innovation. There is also potential for closer collaboration—among brands and retailers, in particular—through data sharing and inventory pooling.
• M&A rises as multiples fall. With the COVID-19 crisis causing significant damage to the balance sheets of brands, retailers, and suppliers, many companies will need to find new sources of capital. At the same time, given the hits to revenues and the global economy, multiples could fall from precrisis levels, when some brands were trading for more than eight times revenue or 10 to 15 times earnings.

While the beauty industry may be in a relatively stronger position than other consumer categories, 2020 will be one of the worst years it has ever endured. We believe, however, that the industry will remain attractive in the long run. The COVID-19 crisis is likely to accelerate trends that were already shaping the market, such as the rise of the global middle class and the use of e-commerce, rather than mark entirely new ground. Consumers across the globe are showing by their actions that they still find comfort in the simple pleasures of a “self-care Sunday” or a swipe of lipstick before a Zoom meeting.

Even before the pandemic, the definition of “beauty” was becoming more global, expansive, and intertwined with individuals’ sense of well-being. The COVID-19 crisis is not likely to change these trends—and in that, there is reason for hope.

Emily Gerstell and Emma Spagnuolo are associate partners in McKinsey’s New Jersey office, Sophie Marchessou is a partner in the Paris office, and Jennifer Schmidt is a senior partner in the Minneapolis office.

The authors wish to thank Sara Hudson, Aimee Kim, Dale Kim, Sajal Kohli, Jessica Moulton, Kelsey Robinson, Tom Skiles, Kristi Weaver, and Daniel Zipser for their contributions to this article.

Explore a career with us

Related articles.

How China’s consumer companies managed through the COVID-19 crisis: A virtual roundtable

Survey: Asian consumer sentiment during the COVID-19 crisis

Global surveys of consumer sentiment during the coronavirus crisis

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Beauty

Beauty Essay Topics

Esthetician job description, descriptive sunrise scenery, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences

+ experts online

Nuvella Skin Serum: a Comprehensive Review

Perceptions of beauty: a personal journey, discussion on beauty as the promise of happiness, the views on beauty in modern society, let us write you an essay from scratch.

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Cosmetic Surgery

Unhealthy habits of the beauty industry, beauty product manufacturers & eco-friendly cosmetics, the "religion of beauty" in the 21st century, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

Expert-written essays crafted with your exact needs in mind

How Beauty Pageants Can Cause Health Difficulties

My view on the beauty of the seashore, what is beauty: inner and physical, beauty is a blessing to women, secrets the beauty industry does not want you to know, conventional notions of beauty in social media, 6 beauty tips to get a fresh skin, wearing makeup: liberating or oppressive, the views on appearance and ideality in different cultures, how millennials impact the way spa’s and the skin care industry are doing business, collateral beauty in the poems of surrey and shakespeare, the issue of standard of beauty in uglies by scott westerfield, beauty pageant: a progression or regression for women empowerment, viramontes’ "miss clairol": cultural perspectives and standards of beauty, how the advertisement of the perfume flowerbomb by viktor & rolf has impacted the beauty standards in the society, 5 easy diy nail art designs, colonial beauty in sidney’s "astrophil and stella" and shakespeare’s sonnets, dai sijie’s creation of beauty, benefits for a child to participate in beauty pageants, american versus chinese concepts of beauty, relevant topics.

• Reconstruction
• Future Plan
• Professionalism

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free