We know there is an age divide when it comes to health and beauty spending, but our new research – This is Us: Generations 2025 – exposes just how large this gap is.
One of the many topics we explored was predicted spending patterns. Unsurprisingly, spending will be reined in.
But digging into the data reveals some stark generational differences. In health and beauty, for instance, anticipated spending is significantly more likely to increase for younger than for older generations. Approximately 20% of Gen Z and millennials in the UK say they will increase their spending, falling to 5% of Gen X and only 1% of baby boomers.
Digging even deeper, there is a fascinating story around gender. Our findings show Gen Z men are just as likely as Gen Z women to anticipate spending more. Yet the audience most likely to increase their spending is not Gen Z but millennial men.
Health & beauty engagement
These patterns around spending reflect engagement with the health and beauty category more broadly. Interest in a wide range of beauty treatments, from fillers to teeth whitening, is significantly higher among younger generations. As for weight loss injections, a third of Gen Z and millennials express interest, compared with just one in five of Gen X and only one in 10 baby boomers.
When we delve into some intersectional differences, we see that in the UK, college-educated higher earners express most interest in all types of treatments. We also see that interest in health and beauty is greater among ethnic minority audiences than among white audiences in the UK. This highlights an opportunity for more premium and more inclusive brands
We also ask our different generations a broader contextual question that helps frame these findings: how do you feel when you see yourself in a mirror?
And who do we find has the most body positivity? It’s millennial men again, with 79% of them in the UK feeling positive about their looks.
With greater interest in cosmetic treatments, we see Gen Z and millennials like how they look now and want to maintain this as they get older. We predict they will approach ageing very differently from the generations preceding them, and it is brands that can connect the most strongly with millennial men who are likely to see the biggest benefit.
Pauline McGowan, head of strategy, The Nursery Research & Planning
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