Time- and money-strapped consumers are changing the spa industry. The recent recession in Europe created a surge in new spa product launches for home use that offer consumers a way to incorporate high quality, premium, yet more affordable beauty treatments and solutions into their daily routine without having to invest in costly professional salon or spa treatments.

By contrast, very few European women pay regular visits to spas and beauty salons. Just one in ten European women regularly visited a beauty salon during the first quarter 2014, according to research from Kantar Worldpanel. Visits to beauty spas are even more rare as just 4% of European women say they regularly visit a beauty spa. However, those who do go the salon/spa route prefer to have facials, manicures and pedicures. Fifteen percent of French women go to their beauty salon for a facial compared to a European average of 10%. Italian women are more likely to pay for a professional manicure or pedicure (16% and 17%). Overall, these low figures suggest that most women prefer to use beauty products themselves.

Factors other than the recession are driving sales of spa products in Europe. In addition to saving money, at-home salon quality products are especially appealing to women who do not have the time to visit a spa or beauty salon on a regular basis.

According to industry analysts at Datamonitor, European consumers increasingly perceive themselves to be time-poor with 35% of Europeans agreeing that they heavily rely on time-saving goods and services. In particular, this is creating demand for beauty gadgets, such as electrical cleansing brushes, which reportedly work as effectively as professional spa treatments.

“Consumers are perceiving at-home treatments and products to be as effective as those offered in salons, evident in that an average of 33% of European consumers believe salon quality skin treatments, manicure/pedicures, hair styles/treatments and makeup to be mostly or completely achievable using store-bought products,” explained Jamie Mills, associate analyst, Datamonitor.

Elemis, a leading spa skin care and body care brand, is an example of a brand that has been growing the retail sales side of its business. Noella Gabriel, director of product and treatment development at Elemis, maintains this is part of the fast-growing concept of wellness and lifestyle and taking responsibility for one’s own well-being.

“I would say that there is a trend for people taking ‘spa’ home with them and we have seen a real increase in at-home spa treatments over the past few years,” explained Gabriel. “A customer demands a results-driven product that can be easily used at home.”

According to Gabriel, the two most popular types of body products for home use are anti-aging products and slimming/cellulite products.

“These are still the only two trends that a client will buy into,” she maintained. The majority of Elemis products used in treatments are also sold at retail, such as Frangipani Monoi Body Oil and Japanese Camellia Oil for massage treatments.

What’s New in Spa Products
Brands that specialize in producing beauty products for use in salon treatments are increasingly exploiting the potential of selling to consumers for home use. In doing so, they are reaching out to those who would not consider or cannot afford professional treatments.

Twenty five years after the launch of Shampure, Aveda has extended its well-known shampoo fragrance into body care with the launch of Shampure Hand and Body Wash and Body Lotion, which contain the brand’s signature scent. The body lotion is accompanied with instructions for an at-home wellness massage ritual based on Ayurveda and is meant to help nourish the skin and promote fluidity between overworked joints.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of its Frangipani Monoi body range, Elemis has added an indulgent body cream, containing ethically sourced frangipani petals infused with Tahitian monoi oil and macadamia oil. In facial care, Elemis has launched Hydra-Nourish Day Cream and Night Cream featuring short chain hyaluronic acid that is immediately absorbed into the skin. The night cream is infused with a soothing floral aroma of ylang-ylang and geranium to balance and calm the senses for rested, renewed and nourished skin.

La Biosthetique Paris has launched Dermosthetique Hydro-Actif, a cell-active hydration therapy based on the latest dermatological research and geared toward the needs of intensively dehydrated skin. Based on a formula containing malic acid, apple pectin and pyrus malus fruit extract from green algae and white lupin, the cleansing mousse, moisturizing tonic and intensive concentrate are said to stimulate the skin’s own moisture-binding capability, stimulate the synthesis of hyaluronic acid and provide a repair effect at the cellular level.

French brand Darphin has added a Replumping Energic Cream to its Vitalskin range, which is derived from up to 85% natural ingredients. The formulation includes two powerful botanical extracts that serve as energy activators. Sapindus mukorossi is the fruit of an Asian tree used in oriental medicine to correct skin conditions and laminaria digitata is a brown seaweed used in thalassotherapy for body wraps.

Darphin is exploiting the trend for multi-action products with its new CC Cream, described as a new generation skin perfector targeting five specific actions: to help illuminate, visibly correct imperfections, hydrate, smooth and protect. The formulation was based on Darphin’s 50 years of institute experience with beauty therapists who know what their clients expect from their beauty treatments.

Sothys Paris, which is found exclusively in beauty salons and spas, has relaunched its hero product, Desquacrem, a deep cleanser enriched with gypsophilia extract known for its natural cleansing ability and lipoaminoacids for a deeper cleansing action.

Champneys, a leading British spa chain, recently launched its Energising Lime body products range containing ingredients to revitalize and invigorate, such as peppermint oil, wild mint leaf oil, orange fruit extract and lime oil. The newest addition to the range is a bath and shower oil that turns from an oil to a cream foam and body polisher. It is a blend of uplifting citrus extracts and luxurious oils of sweet almond, grapeseed and monoi de Tahiti oil.

With so many options available to them, it’s no wonder why Europeans are foregoing hours at the spa in favor of minutes at the checkout line. 

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Imogen Matthews
Headington, Oxford UK
Tel: +44 1865 764918

Imogen Matthews is a respected consultant, journalist and researcher focusing on trends in the beauty industry. She regularly contributes to many of the world’s foremost beauty trade titles. Every year in April, she publishes The Premium Market Report, focusing on trends in the UK premium beauty markets. www.thepremiummarketreport.com