Pandemic fears, a soaring unemployment rate, stock market gyrations … the stress in consumers’ lives continues to pile up and, frankly, there’s no end in sight. The U.S. economy, and probably the global economy, too, entered a recession in the second quarter of 2020, about the same time that the stock market began to crater. Add to that, a U.S. unemployment rate that’s hovering around 11%, after hitting a 60-year low at the start of 2020. That all contributed to a record 9.5% plunge in U.S. gross domestic production in the second quarter—the worst contraction on record. 

With these kinds of statistics, it’s no surprise that anxiety and physical ailments are on the rise. Stress even makes skin problems worse; for example, it can aggravate psoriasis, rosacea and eczema. It can also cause hives and other types of skin rashes and trigger fever blisters. Moreover, people who are stressed may skip their daily skin care regime, beauty industry experts noted.

“Our research shows that over 45% of U.S. consumers are extremely concerned about COVID-19. This level of concern is much higher than for any other global issue; for example, in comparison just 33% are extremely concerned about climate change and 23% are extremely worried about plastic waste,” said Carol Fitzgerald, founder and CEO of Buzzback, a New York City-based innovation and research agency. “Feelings of restriction, isolation and anxiety are widespread, with 15% of consumers admitting to these emotions. Anxiety is particularly high when it comes to money and employment, with 60% concerned about the financial implications of the pandemic on their family, three in 10 are worried about keeping their job, and more than 10% are looking to apply for government assistance.”

In interviews conducted prior to the U.S. lockdown, 65% of U.S. consumers said they were looking for stress relief remedies, with pain, anxiety and depression management being some of the main concerns.

“This is not surprising, especially in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Consumers are even more stressed, and from the new research that we have, as many as 80% say they will seek mental health therapy as a result of COVID-19,” explained Fitzgerald.

How are consumers handling it? Fitzgerald noted that stress impacts their physical feelings, as well as sleep, and consumers address this in a variety of ways, including:

• Consumption of OTC and Rx medication depending on level of intensity and doctor recommendations;
• Physical exercise—many have adapted new “healthy” lifestyles via outdoor walking, as well as other fitness routines via purchase of online fitness equipment and use of fitness/health apps; and
• Eating better and more healthily for some, with others saying they are snacking and drinking alcoholic beverages at higher rates because of COVID-19.

What They’re Eating

The pandemic forced Americans to shelter-in-place in many parts of the U.S.; as a result, over half of consumers are cooking and baking more often and that’s having an impact on their attitudes about food, according to a study by Provoke Insights, a New York City-based market research company. Provoke interviewed 600 U.S. consumers between the ages of 21 and 65 in June. Some of Provoke’s findings included: 76% of people are trying to eat healthier; and 55% of people have a more structured meal routine.

In all supermarket categories, the amount of products purchased has increased including fresh produce, meat and salty snacks. Provoke executives expect growth in fresh produce purchases will remain high even after the pandemic. Ninety-three percent of respondents said their increased frequency of fresh produce purchases will continue post-pandemic.

“COVID-19 has caused people to re-evaluate how they treat their bodies. People want to be healthier and, as a result, are eating more fruits and vegetables,” noted Carly Fink, founder and CEO, Provoke Insights. “While health is essential during these times, stress gets to consumers. Ideally, people want to be better with eating, but that is not always possible. Snacking, which undermines these health efforts, becomes an outlet for coping with stress.”

There’s no doubt about it, consumers have been on an emotional rollercoaster for the past six months—no wonder why their guts are hurting and, by extension, that’s having an impact on skin health. Where the two meet is called the gut-skin axis.

Gut-Skin Connection

According to Carla Oates, founder of The Beauty Chef, what’s going on in the gut is often realized on the skin. That’s because the gut is where 70% of the immune system is located, where nutrients are produced, hormones metabolized and pathogens neutralized. And what happens in the gut doesn’t stay in the gut. Oates points to research that has shown people with acne and rosacea are 10 times more likely to have gut issues and 34% of people with irritable bowel syndrome have skin care issues. The link between external and internal health has never been clearer, which may help explain why more people are taking steps to improve what they put in their bodies as coronavirus continues to upend lives in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

The latest from The Beauty Chef is Glow Inner Beauty Essential Supercharged Formulas. Available at www.thebeautychef.com, this daily beauty powder for radiant skin and gut health now comes with a “supercharged” formula, according to the company. The formula includes vitamin C to help boost collagen production and zinc to support healthy hair and nails, plus 17 whole foods, pro-vitamin A and vitamin B. In fact, it now contains 50% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of zinc, 81% RDI of vitamin C and 16.7% RDI of pro-vitamin A. The berry-flavored blend retails for $65 and is said to promote luminous skin from the inside out.

The gluten-free formula does not contain animal-derived ingredients. The Beauty Chef noted the Flora Culture process has been refined to create a more potent fermentation process which yields more lactic acid bacteria.

According to IRI Worldwide, sales of vitamins jumped nearly 12% to more than $8.4 billion for the 52 weeks ended Jul. 12, 2020 (see Figure 1).


Figure 1. Supplement Sales (for the 52 weeks ended July 12, 2020 in drug, mass market, military and select club and dollar retailers)


Taking a closer look at beauty-specific data, Kline estimated that sales of collagen, hair, skin and nail support supplements will increase 11.2% to $210 million this year. Leading brands include Nature’s Bounty, Olly, New Vitality, Nature Made and Vitafusion. According to Laura Mahecha, industry manager, healthcare, Kline, Millennials are driving demand for “beauty-from-within” supplements.

“Today’s beauty and wellness supplement brands are tapping into the emerging Millennial consumer group. The attitude of Millennials toward beauty has become more holistic,” said Mahecha. “They are opting for beauty-from-within supplements rather than focusing solely on products that improve outer appearance, to ensure they have healthy hair, skin, and nails. Moreover, the innovative flavors and dosage forms offered by several brands, such as Hairburst and SugarBearHair, have moved beauty supplements from being a commodity to a lifestyle product.”

The Hairburst range includes Hair Vitamins, Chewable Hair Vitamins, Unicorn Vegan Hair Vitamins, New Mum’s Hair Vitamins, Women’s 35+ Hair Vitamins and Men’s Hair Vitamins. All are designed for consumers with fine or thin dry hair that breaks easily and falls out easily.

SugarBearHair markets hair vitamins and total body care vitamins. The vegetarian hair care formulas include vitamins A, C, D, E, B6 and B12, folic acid, biotin, pantothenic acid, iodine, zinc, choline and inositol. The women’s multivitamin contains omega-3s, vitamins B12, C, D2 and E, folate and 16 micronutrients.

Most recently, the company added SugarBearSleep, which contains a proprietary blend of melatonin, vitamin B6, magnesium, L-theanine, valerian root, 5-HTP, passion flower and lemon balm leaf.

Other companies are betting on ingestible beauty products to boost their immunity to an economic downturn. In June, Grove Collaborative acquired Sundaily, a maker of ingestible skin care products. Over the past three years, Grove Collaborative has launched its own brands of home and personal care products, including lines of tree-free paper, laundry care and vitamins. This latest expansion into ingestible skin care, with the acquisition of a brand known for evidence-based product innovation and better-for-you ingredients, signals Grove Collaborative’s continued focus on and expansion of its wellness portfolio, the firm said.

“As Grove continues to build out its portfolio of owned brands, we’re continuing to take a buy-and-build approach. Where there are brands in categories that are already doing well with the Grove customer base with products that meet our standards, like in period care with Sustain, a brand we acquired in August of 2019, Grove is pursuing M&A opportunities on an ongoing basis,” explained Stuart Landesberg, co-founder and CEO of Grove Collaborative. “With Sundaily, which is an excellent product—gummy format skin care vitamins—an acquisition just made a lot of sense. Grove has been in the vitamin category for a few years now, with our owned brand Honu, and the opportunity to expand our vitamin offering fit well with our continued strategy to partner with our customers to build healthy habits throughout all aspects of their routine.”

The Sundaily lineup includes two formulas. The Base Layer is a daily skin care supplement gummy for skin protection. It contains Polypodium leucotomos extract and vitamin D3 and is said to prevent free radical damage, smooth skin texture, and reduce redness and irritation with 4-6 weeks of consistent use. The Back Up Daily skin care supplement for signs of aging contains astaxanthin. It is said to minimize lines and wrinkles, plump and hydrate skin, and reduce the appearance of age and sun spots with 4-6 weeks of consistent use. The formulas are also available in a set.

According to Landesberg, ingestibles go beyond the skin’s layers to nourish and repair skin from the inside out.

“Overall, they tend to yield better results in terms of skin health and skin appearance, and work at a deeper level than traditional topical products,” he insisted. “Unfortunately, most existing skin care products stay right where you put them, which is on the skin’s surface. Free radical damage takes its toll on our skin health and appearance at a deeper level and often times where typical products can’t reach. The Sundaily gummies are unique in that they actually fight back against skin stress from the inside out, while protecting and repairing the skin.”

Landesberg said every ingredient in a Sundaily gummy is there for a reason. The formulas include novel and effective botanical extracts like Polypodium leucotomos extract and natural Astareal astaxanthin that provide “incredible skin anti-aging benefits.” Sundaily is also committed to total label transparency, and, whenever possible, ingredients are organic, vegan, and non-GMO. He added that the pandemic has created an increase in demand.

“Over the past 4-5 months, we have seen that, even in the face of COVID-19, customers are more willing than ever to try natural products in new categories, including ingestible beauty,” he explained. “Additionally, Grove has seen an almost 100% increase in its vitamin, mineral and supplement category from May 2019 to May 2020.”

Mahecha added that while COVID-19 has not really had much of an impact on beauty supplements, it is driving demand sky-high for immune-boosting supplements. Specifically, elderberry, Echinacea, turmeric, ashwagandha, vitamins C, B12 and D, zinc and magnesium supplements are up considerably due to the virus, according to Kline data, which was recently published in Kline’s “Nutritional Supplements: U.S. Market Analysis and Opportunities.”

In a survey of U.S. and U.K. consumers, 60% told Buzzback they were interested in using products that contain pre- and probiotics. Specifically, consumers were most interested in purchasing probiotics as capsules/tablets (71%). Furthermore, 21% said they would be most interested in trying probiotics as gummies and 8% as a powder. Similar figures were seen for prebiotics. Consumers were also most interested in trying prebiotics as capsules/tablets (67%); and 26% said they would be interested in purchasing prebiotics as gummies (7% as powder).

Fitzgerald explained that consumers are more aware of the bridge between internal, mental and skin health—mostly created via recommendations/advice from their healthcare practitioners, but then further reinforced by brands (both well-known brands and emerging ones).

“Consumers told us that they were looking to pre- and probiotics predominantly for their digestive health—69% prebiotics, 76% probiotics,” she said.

Other notable benefits consumers were looking for from these ingredients were immune support (48% prebiotics, 44% probiotics) and weight management (29% prebiotics, 27% probiotics).

“A quarter of consumers we spoke to were looking to these ingredients for their skin care,” added Fitzgerald.

Nicole Fall, founder of Asian Consumer Intelligence, will lead a discussion on probiotic skin care at this year’s In-Cosmetics Asia exhibition scheduled for Nov. 3-5 in Bangkok, Thailand. Speaking about the rising popularity of the probiotics trend, she explained that probiotic skin care, while still relatively niche as a category, first emerged to greater attention among Asia’s savvier consumers around two years ago.

“Overall, its mainly indie or specialist brands that play in this space with a combination of local as well as imported brands aiming to educate consumers on the benefits of cultivating a healthier skin microbiome,” said Fall. “Since the target consumer for probiotic topicals tends to be more informed on skin care anyway, brands are able to play in the sweet spot of offering natural ingredients with a science-based brand proposition.”

According to Fall, generally speaking, consumers fall into two key groups: those seeking solutions for skin issues such as redness, itchiness, psoriasis, eczema and acne and those with general skin sensitivities; or consumers seeking naturally-positioned brands with halo ingredients that foster the connection between inner and outer beauty.

“Now that the general term ‘natural skin care’ is yesterday’s news, consumers are looking more closely within the natural platform to find more emergent niches that serve to address their specific skin needs,” she said. “This is either addressing concerns focused on their environment such as pollution or blue screens, or identifying actives that provide skin with enhanced protection. Consequently, probiotic skin care falls under this defensive as well as strengthening consumer need-state.”

And with the way the world is turning these days, everyone has a lot of needs.