Time-poor, cash-rich millennials make more beauty purchases online than any other generation. How can brands make the most of the opportunity?
Gen Z may be the first truly digitally native generation, but when it comes to purchasing beauty online, millennials significantly top the bill as the industry’s power shoppers.
A survey conducted by Statistica in Q2 2023, found that millennials are significantly more likely to purchase beauty products online than other generations, and Kantar’s UK data concurs: 56% of their beauty spend is online, the biggest over-index of any demographic (52 w/e 31 March 2024).
In the US in 2023, nearly half of millennials planned to increase their online spending on health and beauty products compared to Gen Z, according to another survey by ESW.
And nearly 70% spend more on full price health and beauty products online compared to Gen Z.
There is an obvious explanation: the millennial generation is time-poor and cash-rich.
Research from online beauty retailer LookFantastic shows that 81% of millennial beauty consumers are in full time work, compared with 28% of Gen X and 65% of those aged 55+, and their spending power has grown to $2.5 trillion, says ESW.
