The Best of BoF 2023: Beauty’s Year of Change

2023 marked a year of change for the beauty industry – and for The Business of Beauty.

Our goal was to bring the same rigour and analysis that The Business of Fashion is known for to the global beauty and wellness industries. We now deliver two must-read weekly beauty newsletters; published a special edition of BoF’s “State of Fashion” report with McKinsey & Company and deep-dive case studies on E.l.f. Cosmetics and hero products; and debuted the invitation-only The Business of Beauty Global Forum to bring our online community to life and connect with leaders over three days in Napa Valley, California.

The timing could not have been better. This was the year that Gen-Z’s impact came into greater focus, with that generation’s individualistic attitudes and signature bright yellow colour infiltrating beauty brands’ products, social media campaigns and experiential activations. Young shoppers’ relentless search for dupes, inexpensive alternatives to premium products typically found on TikTok, also became impossible to ignore. And coming up behind them is Generation Alpha, increasingly important customers for brands like Drunk Elephant and Sol de Janeiro.

Brands raced to reach customers with personalised products and messaging. Direct-to-consumer lines embraced retail partnerships, reorienting from chasing growth to prioritising profits. Inflation drove home the importance of catering to shoppers looking for good value, not just good marketing. Fragrances remained a bright spot, with companies like Richemont doubling down on the category. But other once-hot sectors, like clean beauty, struggled to find its footing as shoppers became increasingly sceptical about such claims.

We covered all of these changes and much more this year. Stay tuned for even more from The Business of Beauty in 2024.

Top Stories

Why Gen-Z Yellow Will Never Be Millennial Pink: Gen-Z’s bright aesthetic may be rising in popularity, but the generation’s individualistic nature may keep it from becoming a full-blown phenomenon.

How Beauty Brands Are Preparing for 2023: As companies plan for another turbulent year, they are emphasising value, taking bigger retail bets and remaining optimistic.

The Companies Behind Fashion’s Biggest Fragrances: Despite fast growth for independent fragrance brands, designer scents still make up most sales, and a few companies are the engines behind them. BoF unpacks the key players.

Richemont Creates New Beauty Division, Doubles Down on High-End Fragrance: The luxury group is looking to boost its in-house expertise — a move that could spell trouble for the likes of Coty and Interparfumes, which currently manufactures many of Richemont’s brand fragrances.

The Battle for India’s $16 Billion Beauty Market Intensifies: Digital-native brands with a razor-sharp focus on the latest trends jostle for position in a market set for rapid growth as big beauty conglomerates try to tighten their grip on power.

Isamaya Ffrench’s New Take on ‘Sex Sells’: Overtly sexual marketing has long been a selling point in beauty, but the makeup artist pushes boundaries further with a new collection of lip colours in anatomically correct tubes.

The BoF Podcast | Five Themes Shaping the Global Beauty Industry: BoF’s Imran Amed sits down with Priya Rao, executive editor of The Business of Beauty, to go inside the findings of our new report ‘The State of Fashion: Beauty.’