As an international beauty and wellness consultancy, we work with clients from different regions of the world to develop and build their brands. If you are looking for support with developing a brand, with rebranding or with market expansion, Get in Touch today, to discuss how we can support you.
If you are exploring the UK marketplace for the first time, you may think it is competitive and difficult to enter. Competitive, yes it is. Difficult to enter? Yes, you need a clear strategy and plan to navigate the marketplace. The UK beauty marketplace is made up of online and bricks and mortar speciality health and beauty retailers, pharmacies, department stores, supermarkets, and value retailers. UK consumers spend on average £487 per head on health and beauty product in 2022 (Global Data), over the next five-years they will be investing even more leading to an additional £73 per head. This makes this one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK. 9 out of 10 health and beauty shoppers still purchase products in store, but the spend is shifting online with online sales said to reach £3.1 billion by 2022.
Over the past few years, there has been some significant changes in the retail sector. Covid-19 brough a bumpy ride to our high streets and 2021 was an extremely challenging time for retailers in the UK with store closures an acceleration of what was happening in the marketplace pre Covid (PWC) with regards to large, cumbersome department stores, heritage brands with a declining customer base and high rates and rents. More than 17 000 chain store outlets closed in 2021, whilst this sounds phenomenal bear in mind that this figure includes fashion retailers, restaurants, bars, and gyms as well as banks and hairdressers – essentially service-related industries. Shopping centers which in the past drew in heavy footfall, have now fallen to being the worst performing in the past two years. Retailers that we are all familiar with – from Debenhams to the Arcadia Group disappeared from the landscape. 38.5% of UK retail sales still took place online in March 2021, whilst a decline of 63% a year earlier, this is still 9.2 percentage points ahead of the 29.3% recorded in 2019.
The New Customer Mindset for 2022
Retailers have increased their online offering significantly since the pandemic, and this looks set to continue, with several of them having introduced new categories such as wellness. ASOS have partnered with brands including Lush, Marks & Spencer have invested in bringing on board more established beauty brands like Clinique and Benefit, and we have also seen retailers investing in training their staff about health and wellness like Holland & Barrett. There is a heightened interest in supporting black-owned beauty brands. Sustainability is a focal point with many questioning the sustainable credentials of a brand. Retailers like Sainsbury’s have introduced online marketplaces, like Debenhams to support the growth of indie beauty brands.
If are interested in exploring whether the UK should form part of your retail strategy, GET IN TOUCH.
We have worked with start-ups, to retailers and luxury brands based internationally, here’s a taster of some of our work. READ MORE IN OUR CASE STUDIES
We are delighted to be working with the Department of Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ) to provide their trade ministers, and beauty and wellness brands with in-depth market related knowledge of the beauty and wellness industry in the UK.
Creating a market-entry strategy for an award-winning Australian sun care brand for the UK, Middle East and travel retail.
We are delighted to be supporting Enterprise Ireland and Irish Beauty Brands with their UK market-entry strategy.
Bespoke is a brand management expert with deep industry knowledge, extensive experience and a comprehensive understanding of the beauty and personal industry in the UK and Europe, complemented by an extensive network of contacts in the relevant market segments. Bespoke’s expertise, experience and contacts significantly contributed the success of the UK/Europe project with the companies that Bespoke assisted successfully entering or well on track to enter the UK and European markets. The Bespoke team was very professional, responsive and obliging and always delivered within timeframes. It was a pleasure to work with them.
Working with Janet over the past year has been a real pleasure, she has fantastic industry experience and knowledge of the UK beauty market. She has delivered a number of webinars for my clients looking at how to enter the UK market, providing an overview of the market and how to build a strategy. She took the briefs we provided and added real value to them, included key insights and information that my clients have found incredibly useful. Feedback on these sessions has been very positive. Janet is a clear communicator and has always delivered as agreed and on time. We are continuing to work together on other projects and I very much value the conversations we share.
‘Janet has a wealth of experience across retail, buying and marketing. She conducted a full strategic review of our cross functional business and the travel retail market to develop a comprehensive buying and quality control strategy that was signed off at board level. I highly recommend her as an asset to any business.’
‘As a Queensland-based company, we were determined to tap into the European market and establish a strong presence. From the very beginning, Bespoke Advantage demonstrated a deep understanding of our export goals and objectives. Their comprehensive knowledge of the European market, coupled with their extensive network of contacts, enabled them to connect us with key decision-makers and influential stakeholders in our target countries. Their strategic guidance and insights were invaluable in shaping our export strategy and positioning us for long-term success.’
‘Through Janet’s management skills, expertise and proven track record on the job she successfully managed the purchasing of our retail operations and ensured the integrity of our brands in-stores. Her enthusiasm and total dedication, delivered results in any project she was involved in.’
‘Janet has excellent beauty market knowledge. Level headed with clear vision, direction and the ability to drive business forward, Janet led the teams through a complete product design change advising on what the key marketing messages should be, incorporating her technical knowledge and beauty expertise.’
‘Absolutely fantastic course. Condensed learning from Janet, an expert in developing beauty brands. Also, valuable introductions to expert professionals, in the Masterclass sessions. In 12 weeks, you will learn from Janet, what would take years to learn by yourself. A very worthwhile investment’