September 14, 2007
Pressure Builds to Look Good
A new study by The Nielsen Company shows that a large majority of Americans believe there is more pressure than ever to look good.
According to the research, two out of every three Americans believe the pressure is greater than ever before to look good. The need to look good applies to both sexes with increased understanding and approval of so-called “metrosexual” males, as well.
While the pressure to look good has apparently intensified, consumers have not demonstrated a corresponding increase in the purchase of beauty products. In fact, only 23 percent said they are spending more now on beauty products and treatments than they used to.
The products that consumers are spending their beauty dollars on include hair care (81 percent), skincare (61 percent) and facial treatments (47 percent). U.S. consumers spend much less on eyebrow/eyelash tinting and shaping (29 percent), tanning (23 percent) and hair removal (21 percent).
There is also a generational aspect to this story, as well. Shuchi Sethi, vice president, consumer products, Nielsen Customized Research, said in a press release, “It seems the older you get, the less you spend, as teens and consumers in their 20s spend more in this category.”
Discussion Questions: Do you agree that there is more pressure to look good than ever before? What do you see as the apparent disconnect between consumers’ strong desire to look better and actual purchases of products that might improve their appearance? Where do you see opportunities at retail?
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I think the question is misstated. Certainly, media pressure to look better has increased, but while the pressure is there, is the consumer desire to look better really there? Saying that you feel pressured to look better doesn’t necessarily equate to wanting to look better. Outside New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas, I think people are fairly happy with their appearances. The true disconnect, in my opinion, is between the media and the consumer. Nearly everyone I know is paying less and less attention to magazines, television and films and I think the main reason why is because media no longer reflect our lives. The media’a perception of beauty has passed the point of looking cartoonish (think Posh Spice) and most consumers–I believe–have already realized this.
Many of the Nielsen respondents felt that mass market HBA brands were just as good as upmarket brands. Retailers with strong private label programs can cater more to those folks. It wasn’t surprising that younger people spend more on HBA. The survey omitted the most interesting question: what different folks mean by “looking good.” Tattoos and piercing?
I agree with Ann above. If there was pressure to look good then why is there such an obesity problem? Will we turn into a nation of good looking fat people? Most products designed to make people look better are more hype than reality. Most consumers know this. Often, the more people try to look better the worse they look, i.e hair pieces, makeup, body piercings, etc.
The survey confirms my findings (and predictions) from 8 years ago, when I researched and wrote “The New Guy Next Door” for Combe (makers of Just For Men). So yes, more people are concerned about their looks, are doing something about it, and more people are finding this behavior acceptable.
How to capture this growing market raises a whole set of separate questions. Should retailers focus on the mass market or niche markets? Should they carry just the big sellers or go for “the long tail”? The answers, as always: It depends on your trading area, consumer base, growth targets, and all the usual variables.
What does “looking good” mean? While more people want to “look good” the Nielsen research does not appear to define that concept for consumers. So, “looking good” could mean getting piercings, getting tattoos, hairstyle, use of cosmetics, cosmetic surgery, or choosing “attractive” clothes. “Looking good” doesn’t have to mean cosmetics, so finding that those who want to look good are not spending more on cosmetics is not necessarily surprising.
The idea of working at looking good, especially as you age, is slowly breaking the gender barrier. Given online anonymity and the availability of skin and hair care via Internet stores, men who have the notion to pay more attention to their looks can now do so without feeling like the whole world has to know they are buying fancy face cream.
In general, younger generations were raised in a more gender neutral world, where masculine and feminine roles were not-so absolute–so it may well be that men will have more comfort buying such products even offline as the years go by.
Otherwise, as the comments so far explore, the conflict of obesity vs. this latest research is certainly fascinating, and yes–that discrepancy may temper any extreme growth in the “looking good” industry, even given that more men may be buying the products.
OK, just for chuckles–whats “looking good”? Through who’s eyes was the respondent seeing when he answered this question? We all want to look good. When did anyone not want to look good? Is this another one of those discussions where we talk for hours about something that is obvious? For gosh sakes the “products” industry in the USA has been around for years and will continue to grow as someone finds a new way to make a claim that has been in existence ever since Pharaoh’s daughter first applied eye liner.
You mean nobody thought it was more important to look bad?
I think these trends could also be seen in the context of men feeling, or at least wanting to feel, more vital and energetic later in life as well. They want to look like they feel. That may be why hair, face, weight loss, weight lifting, etc. are popular, and less so “eyebrow tinting.”
While America is famous for wanting to solve every problem by “taking a pill,” I think we should at least challenge whether or not there is a direct correlation between “wanting to look good” and “buying personal products.” Is it at least possible that Americans are starting to equate “looking good” with “looking healthy”? Am I the only one whose wife drags (oops, INSPIRES!) him to go to the gym five days a week? Are all those other people crowding the cardio machines and taking the yoga classes necessarily heavying up on their purchases of Maybelline and Just For Men as well? I don’t think so….
I find the disconnect to be very similar to the obesity situation. About twice as many consumers “say” they think and believe in a more healthy lifestyle and way of eating as actually buy against the way they think. We still have rising obesity rates and we also have more consumers saying they want to be healthier….
What gets in the way is the reality of every day life and the daily decisions we all make about time and money.
That said, there is a much faster satisfaction rate in looking good today via new products and services while working on looking good via overall better health. The problem in shopping for new HBC products is over saturation. There are literally hundreds of new products with new formulas, new benefits, etc., etc., etc. How can the average shopper POSSIBLY begin to choose without a serious investment of time and money?
When we have choice fatigue, money and time stress, many of us just default to a decision to “skip it altogether” and just be who we are, fat and wrinkles and all!
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I think the question is misstated. Certainly, media pressure to look better has increased, but while the pressure is there, is the consumer desire to look better really there? Saying that you feel pressured to look better doesn’t necessarily equate to wanting to look better. Outside New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas, I think people are fairly happy with their appearances. The true disconnect, in my opinion, is between the media and the consumer. Nearly everyone I know is paying less and less attention to magazines, television and films and I think the main reason why is because media no longer reflect our lives. The media’a perception of beauty has passed the point of looking cartoonish (think Posh Spice) and most consumers–I believe–have already realized this.
Many of the Nielsen respondents felt that mass market HBA brands were just as good as upmarket brands. Retailers with strong private label programs can cater more to those folks. It wasn’t surprising that younger people spend more on HBA. The survey omitted the most interesting question: what different folks mean by “looking good.” Tattoos and piercing?
I agree with Ann above. If there was pressure to look good then why is there such an obesity problem? Will we turn into a nation of good looking fat people? Most products designed to make people look better are more hype than reality. Most consumers know this. Often, the more people try to look better the worse they look, i.e hair pieces, makeup, body piercings, etc.
The survey confirms my findings (and predictions) from 8 years ago, when I researched and wrote “The New Guy Next Door” for Combe (makers of Just For Men). So yes, more people are concerned about their looks, are doing something about it, and more people are finding this behavior acceptable.
How to capture this growing market raises a whole set of separate questions. Should retailers focus on the mass market or niche markets? Should they carry just the big sellers or go for “the long tail”? The answers, as always: It depends on your trading area, consumer base, growth targets, and all the usual variables.
What does “looking good” mean? While more people want to “look good” the Nielsen research does not appear to define that concept for consumers. So, “looking good” could mean getting piercings, getting tattoos, hairstyle, use of cosmetics, cosmetic surgery, or choosing “attractive” clothes. “Looking good” doesn’t have to mean cosmetics, so finding that those who want to look good are not spending more on cosmetics is not necessarily surprising.
The idea of working at looking good, especially as you age, is slowly breaking the gender barrier. Given online anonymity and the availability of skin and hair care via Internet stores, men who have the notion to pay more attention to their looks can now do so without feeling like the whole world has to know they are buying fancy face cream.
In general, younger generations were raised in a more gender neutral world, where masculine and feminine roles were not-so absolute–so it may well be that men will have more comfort buying such products even offline as the years go by.
Otherwise, as the comments so far explore, the conflict of obesity vs. this latest research is certainly fascinating, and yes–that discrepancy may temper any extreme growth in the “looking good” industry, even given that more men may be buying the products.
OK, just for chuckles–whats “looking good”? Through who’s eyes was the respondent seeing when he answered this question? We all want to look good. When did anyone not want to look good? Is this another one of those discussions where we talk for hours about something that is obvious? For gosh sakes the “products” industry in the USA has been around for years and will continue to grow as someone finds a new way to make a claim that has been in existence ever since Pharaoh’s daughter first applied eye liner.
You mean nobody thought it was more important to look bad?
I think these trends could also be seen in the context of men feeling, or at least wanting to feel, more vital and energetic later in life as well. They want to look like they feel. That may be why hair, face, weight loss, weight lifting, etc. are popular, and less so “eyebrow tinting.”
While America is famous for wanting to solve every problem by “taking a pill,” I think we should at least challenge whether or not there is a direct correlation between “wanting to look good” and “buying personal products.” Is it at least possible that Americans are starting to equate “looking good” with “looking healthy”? Am I the only one whose wife drags (oops, INSPIRES!) him to go to the gym five days a week? Are all those other people crowding the cardio machines and taking the yoga classes necessarily heavying up on their purchases of Maybelline and Just For Men as well? I don’t think so….
I find the disconnect to be very similar to the obesity situation. About twice as many consumers “say” they think and believe in a more healthy lifestyle and way of eating as actually buy against the way they think. We still have rising obesity rates and we also have more consumers saying they want to be healthier….
What gets in the way is the reality of every day life and the daily decisions we all make about time and money.
That said, there is a much faster satisfaction rate in looking good today via new products and services while working on looking good via overall better health. The problem in shopping for new HBC products is over saturation. There are literally hundreds of new products with new formulas, new benefits, etc., etc., etc. How can the average shopper POSSIBLY begin to choose without a serious investment of time and money?
When we have choice fatigue, money and time stress, many of us just default to a decision to “skip it altogether” and just be who we are, fat and wrinkles and all!