This report is part of our Beauty Insights series, which explores prominent or emerging themes and trends in the global beauty market. In this report, we assess what US beauty brands and retailers are offering this holiday season to grab consumers’ attention. Introduction: The US Holiday Shopping Season Is Expected to Be Strong The holiday shopping season has always been important for US retailers to boost their revenues. It contributes nearly 20% of a typical US retailer’s sales for the year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). In the 2019 holiday shopping season, US consumers are planning to spend an average of $1,048, 4.0% more than they planned to spend last year, according to the NRF’s annual holiday spending survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The survey found that more consumers would like to receive beauty products as gifts this season than last year. Personal care and beauty products saw a significant two-percentage-point increase in popularity across all adults, and almost 30% of survey respondents aged 18–34 said that they would like to receive gifts in this category in the 2019 holiday shopping season. Prosper’s survey found that 25% of shoppers plan to buy personal care or beauty items this holiday season, which is the same figure as last year. Beauty Offerings and Collaborations for This Holiday Season The 2019 holiday season has only 26 shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, making it the shortest season since 2013. To make the most out of this limited period, beauty brands and retailers started launching holiday offerings in late October and early November, and have released innovative holiday-themed products to boost sales.

Beauty Retailers Launch Advent Calendars To Attract Shoppers

Beauty advent calendars are not a new phenomenon, having been launched by retailers every December for more than five years. However, they have evolved significantly in that time, becoming more elaborate and sophisticated and increasingly containing higher-value items. More retailers are capitalizing on growing consumer interest in advent calendars and using these products as a platform to promote their existing and new beauty offerings. Beauty advent calendars contain a curated collection of smaller-sized products within fun and seasonal packaging, to be opened every day in the lead-up to Christmas as with traditional chocolate advent calendars. These enable shoppers to discover and sample items such as skincare products, bath bombs, nail polishes and more, without having to commit to the cost of full-size products. For retailers, beauty advent calendars are an effective way of introducing customers to a large range of beauty products at once. The small quantities also mean that items need to be replenished sooner than standard products, so the advent calendars encourage repeat purchases by consumers who like the products. Below, we detail the advent calendars being offered by leading beauty brands this holiday season. Macy’s 25 Days of Beauty Advent Calendar contains 25 products and is priced at $129 (with Macy’s valuing the contents at $300). It includes a combination of full- and travel-sized beauty products, such as Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye, Lancôme Cils Booster Mascara Primer, Prada La Femme L’Eau and Prada L’Homme L’Eau and Shiseido Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate. [caption id="attachment_100979" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Macy’s 25 Days of Beauty Advent Calendar
Source: Macy’s[/caption]   Sephora’s Frosted Party Advent Calendar has 19 beauty surprises from the brand’s skincare, makeup, body and accessory collections, 11 of which are limited-edition products. The calendar is priced at $22.50 (with Sephora valuing the contents at $71). [caption id="attachment_100992" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Sephora Collection Frosted Party Advent Calendar
Source: Sephora[/caption]   Ulta Beauty introduced a budget-friendly advent calendar this holiday season—Ulta’s 12 Days of Beauty—which features limited-edition products and is priced at $20 (with Ulta valuing the contents at $65). [caption id="attachment_100981" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Ulta’s 12 Days of Beauty advent calendar
Source: Ulta Beauty[/caption]  

Bath & Body Works Releases 40 Brand-New Fragrances for the Holiday Season

In early November, Bath & Body Works, owned by L Brands, released its new holiday line-up, which features over 300 products, from body washes and shower gels to fragrances. The most exciting part of this holiday collection is the launch of 40 brand-new fragrances. Festive-themed standouts include Spiced Gingerbread Swirl, which contains orange zest, fresh nutmeg, roasted tonka beans and spiced brown sugar; In the Stars, which contains sandalwood musk, sugared tangelo, starflower, white agarwood and radiant amber; and Hot Cocoa & Cream, which features a blend nutmeg and sandalwood essential oils. The new Bath & Body Works holiday collection also features body care favorites in 11 different scents, including coconut, vanilla, peppermint and gingerbread. There are also familiar festive creams, lotions, scrubs and shower gels with a promotion that encourages customers buy three products to receive another three for free. There are 75 familiar holiday scents that have returned to the Bath & Body Works portfolio, including Winter Candy Apple, Twisted Peppermint and Vanilla Bean Noel. Included in this year's Christmas collection are candles, room sprays and fragrance plugs. [caption id="attachment_100982" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Bath & Body Works has launched its Christmas 2019 collection.
Source: Bath & Body Works[/caption]  

Celebrity-Owned Beauty Offerings To Turn Heads This Holiday Season

In November, Kylie Cosmetics, a brand founded and owned by Kylie Jenner, launched its “Complete Holiday Collection Bundle” for $320 exclusively on Kyliecosmetics.com. Just before the launch of the collection on November 18, Jenner agreed to sell a majority stake in the brand to beauty conglomerate Coty for $600 million. The coveted Kylie Cosmetics holiday bundle comprises some new products as well as re-imagined products. It includes an eyeshadow palette, illuminating face primer, shimmering eye glaze, lip gloss trios, a matte lip kit, a four-piece blush set and a highlighter-blush duo. Furthermore, Kylie Cosmetics started offering substantial discounts across its product assortment from Thanksgiving Day, including 40% discounts on all lip products and 30% discounts on eye and face products. [caption id="attachment_100983" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Kylie Cosmetics’ “Complete Holiday Collection Bundle”
Source: Kylie Cosmetics[/caption]   Kim Kardashian’s KKW Beauty 2019 holiday collection launched exclusively in Ulta Beauty stores in October 2019. The Holiday 2019 Lipstick & Gloss Trio is priced at $39 and includes a cream lip color, a lip liner and a compact shimmery gold highlight. [caption id="attachment_100984" align="aligncenter" width="550"] KKW Beauty’s Holiday 2019 Lipstick & Gloss Trio exclusively at Ulta Beauty
Source: Ulta Beauty[/caption]  

Beauty Brands and Retailers Are Collaborating ahead of the 2019 Holiday Season

Beauty subscription service Birchbox expanded its brick-and-mortar partnership with Walgreens for the holiday season. Under the new agreement, Birchbox pop-ups were installed in 500 Walgreens stores in 44 US states from November 8, up from the existing 11 permanent locations inside Walgreens. The new holiday fixtures also offer in-store pickup for online orders. The holiday Birchbox pop-ups are positioned at the front of Walgreens stores and sell items such as limited-edition travel-themed Birchbox Beauty and Birchbox Grooming boxes, Birchbox subscription gift cards, travel-size beauty essentials (displayed in “under $10” and “under $20” sections) and an advent-calendar collaboration between Birchbox and Walgreens. [caption id="attachment_100986" align="aligncenter" width="700"] A Birchbox shop-in-shop at a Walgreens store
Source: Walgreens[/caption]   On November 29, Thrive Causemetics, a direct-to-consumer beauty brand, partnered with Ulta Beauty for the 2019 holiday season. Under the alliance, a limited capsule collection of Thrive Causemetics products has been made available inside select Ulta stores from December 1 through the holiday season.

Eyeshadow Palettes Are Trending This Holiday Season

Eyeshadow palettes are currently highly coveted makeup products. We round up the most-talked-about, trending eyeshadow palettes for the 2019 holiday shopping season. Charlotte Tilbury’s “The Starry Eyes to Hypnotise” eyeshadow palette was launched as a part of the company’s Christmas collection in October 2019. Priced at £60, it features four eye glow looks and 12 shades with diamond powder. [caption id="attachment_100988" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Charlotte Tilbury’s “The Starry Eyes to Hypnotise” eyeshadow palette
Source: Charlotte Tilbury[/caption]   In October 2019, Kylie Cosmetics launched an Ulta-exclusive Kylie Holiday Eyeshadow Palette, which features 14 shades in shimmery and satin finishes. [caption id="attachment_100989" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Kylie Holiday Eyeshadow Palette
Source: Ulta Beauty[/caption]   In October 2019, ColourPop launched three eyeshadow palettes for the holiday season, priced at $8.40 each. Love Bird features pinks and mauve colors; Night Owl features bronzes and warm-toned neutrals; and Bird of Paradise features corals and warm peach colors. [caption id="attachment_100990" align="aligncenter" width="700"] ColourPop Night Owl Eyeshadow Palette
Source: ColourPop[/caption]   Key Insights The holiday season provides a critical opportunity for beauty retailers to engage with customers, but they must maintain a robust beauty merchandise assortment into the final shopping days of Christmas week in order to maximise sales. Holiday promotional campaigns from beauty retailers generally center around discounts, gifts and samples, as well as the promotion of exclusive and limited-edition products, such as makeup sets and kits. We believe value will be a key driver this holiday shopping season.