The NPD Group reports that sales of refillable prestige beauty products increased 47% from January to the end of July 2022 in the UK, highlighting the influence of the conscious consumer

Tackling beauty’s plastic problem has been at the forefront of consumers’ and businesses’ sentiments for some time now. However, despite this concern, the beauty industry still generates a reported 142bn units of packaging per year. 

Plastic-free, planet-friendly products are becoming increasingly accessible to consumers. However, the tangible impact of this shift towards a more conscious product offering has often been hard to pin down. 

Thankfully, the NPD Group has been tracking the impact of eco-friendly priorities and the results are in. In a recent release named ‘The Rise of Refillable Beauty‘, the analytics and data provider highlights that the refillable prestige beauty market was valued at £34M between January and July this year, meaning it outperformed growth in the whole of the prestige beauty sector. 

Emma Fishwick, Account Manager, NPD UK Beauty explains: ‘These latest figures demonstrate that as far as beauty consumers are concerned, buying refillable products are becoming more mainstream… What we are seeing here marks the beginning of the refillable beauty story as only a small percentage of sales weight of makeup products are currently refillable. This is similar for skincare and hair products.’ 

As expected, make-up came out on top in terms of growth in this area. In fact, sales of refills increased 364% in the period from January to the end of July 2022, compared to the same period last year. Lipsticks, bronzer and blush led the way thanks to the simplicity of their existing packaging and longevity of formulations. 

The NPD Group predicts that refillable perfume solutions are set to be the next big thing. Already, ‘sales of 45-74ml fragrance juices (in all formats including EDT, EDP, Perfume and Cologne) have experienced strong increases’, despite refillable packaging only making up 5% of fragrance sales. The group attributes this delayed adoption of refillables to brands offering larger bottles of their product instead.

New-to-market brands have stolen the limelight in this arena, with consumers reaching for refillable deodorant brands Wild and Fussy as part of their daily routines. Fiils has also captured people’s attention thanks to its hair, hands and body products, and its aesthetic aluminium bottle. 

That said, there have been huge developments made by L’Occitane, which launched refill pouches and in-store top-up stations last year. YSL Beauty is also doing its bit with rechargeable options for its Pure Shots and Or Rouge ranges.