蘑菇AV

Walmart announces lengthy beauty sale as it looks to protect its advantage: The retailer is expanding its assortment and refining the in-store experience to appeal to a wider variety of shoppers.

Tariffs imperil beauty industry just as post-pandemic boom slows: Costs are expected to spike as duties hit key imports, leaving brands scrambling to maintain sales without alienating price-conscious buyers.

Beauty Ecommerce 2025 (蘑菇AV subscription required). Gen Z Technology and Media Preferences 2025 (蘑菇AV subscription required). Methodology: Cart.com collects quarterly data across beauty, apparel, and lead generation sectors. This data encompasses 35+ beauty campaigns, 110+ apparel campaigns, and 40+ lead generation campaigns across paid search, paid social, and programmatic media.

Beauty Ecommerce 2025 (蘑菇AV subscription required). Gen Z Technology and Media Preferences 2025 (蘑菇AV subscription required).

The first TV spot features people in everyday scenes, including a baseball game, beauty shop, and firefighters at work all talking about how the at-home flu vaccine works.

Though beauty has remained a relatively resilient category amid rising prices, tariffs could put a damper on that as they take hold. 29% of US adults say they鈥檒l likely cut back on beauty/personal care spending if tariffs raise prices, according to February 2025 data from CivicScience. That鈥檚 why retailers like Walmart, Amazon, and Target are boosting their beauty offerings to drive sales and increase customer loyalty. Here鈥檚 how.

鈥淸Our marketing approach] really depends on the time of the year,鈥� said Nick Hasselberg, vice president of performance marketing and ecommerce at men鈥檚 care brand Every Man Jack on a recent episode of 鈥淏ehind the Numbers.鈥� 鈥淎t the beginning of the year, it鈥檚 brand marketing. In the back half of the year, it鈥檚 probably a little bit more [about] performance marketing.鈥�.

Ecommerce will account for nearly a quarter (24.5%) of US beauty retail sales by 2028, according to our October 2024 forecast.

Ulta Beauty is tapping into trends like Korean beauty and wellness to stay relevant with younger consumers while Pop Mart has created viral excitement around its collectibles through smart digital marketing and gamification. In addition, Urban Outfitters has launched a back-to-school dorm makeover contest and Away Luggage is enhancing the travel experience with a giveaway. Here are the eight most interesting retailers and brands from last month, as ranked on our 鈥淏ehind the Numbers鈥� podcast.

The news: US Gen Zers鈥� rising interest in financial independence is driving them to favor banking websites over beauty, gaming, or news websites, according to our industry KPI data provided by Comscore. The number of unique visitors ages 18鈥�24 to banking industry websites grew from 15.0 million to 15.7 million between January and June 2025. Other industries saw a drop in unique visitors of that age bracket over the same period. Our take: Financial institutions (FIs) must adapt their strategies to align with Gen Z's priorities and behaviors, because their competitors clearly have.This will require them to rethink the user experience, shift from products to value, and embrace socially native communication.

The news: Ulta Beauty acquired upscale UK beauty retailer Space NK for an undisclosed amount, the company said, as it turns to new markets to offset slowing US growth. Our take: The US beauty market is becoming increasingly saturated as more retailers lean on the category to boost sluggish sales. While expanding to new markets comes with its own set of challenges, Ulta鈥檚 decision to rely on acquisitions and distribution partnerships will help smooth its path.

Ecommerce penetration of beauty and personal care sales is rising: 41% of category sales take place on platforms like Amazon and TikTok Shop as consumers respond to virality and convenience.

Est茅e Lauder posted a wider quarterly loss as sales slumped and warned that tariffs could reduce earnings by about $100 million over the next year. Est茅e Lauder is taking necessary steps to turn around its business鈥攆ocusing on product innovation, cutting costs, and broadening its customer reach鈥攂ut it will be tough given intense competition in the beauty market. With key rival L鈥橭real gaining US momentum and newer brands emerging, Est茅e Lauder must accelerate product innovation, reduce reliance on discounting, rebuild momentum in China, and take other steps to win new customers, or risk ceding more ground in the longer term.

The Ulta Beauty at Target partnership, which put more than 600 Ulta mini-stores inside Target locations, will end in August 2026 when the current agreement expires. The companies said they mutually agreed not to renew the deal, which launched in 2021. With this business venture set to end, Ulta will focus on new growth opportunities, while Target will gain space to focus on operational improvements and refine its retail strategy.

High tariffs have become an unavoidable part of doing business in the US following the implementation of President Donald Trump鈥檚 sweeping reciprocal duties. Retailers are slowly becoming resigned to the fact that higher tariffs are here to stay鈥攆or now. But their ability to minimize business disruption is severely hampered by the fact that new tariffs can be imposed at any time, which could immediately turn any attempts to adjust sourcing into sunk costs. As e.l.f. Beauty CEO Tarang Amin told CNBC, 鈥淚t鈥檚 the uncertainty around the tariffs that make things more difficult.鈥�

Shiseido is planning a 鈥渨ide-ranging and significant reduction鈥� to its Americas workforce, according to an internal memo first reported by Instagram account Est茅e Laundry. That marks the latest in a string of beauty layoffs, with both Est茅e Lauder and Coty announcing headcount reductions earlier this year. While some of Shiseido鈥檚 problems stem from its misjudged acquisition strategy, its downsizing also speaks to the difficult beauty environment. We expect cosmetics and beauty sales to rise 2.4% this year, less than half of 2024鈥檚 growth rate鈥攁nd a far cry from the 11.2% increase in 2023.

The news: More than one-third of Pinterest鈥檚 570 million global users are men (30.4% in the US), driven largely by Gen Z, per the company鈥檚 first Pinterest Men鈥檚 Trend Report. Their searches鈥攕panning fitness, grooming, parenting, and finance鈥攗pend stereotypes and signal new ad opportunities. Our take: Advertisers have an opportunity to plug into Pinterest鈥檚 male-centric expansion with the following strategies. Launch campaigns via the 鈥淧interest Man鈥� hub and align creative with top categories (fitness, skincare, parenting). Partner with male creators to boost authenticity, engagement, and time spent. Use Pinterest鈥檚 gender-specific analytics and trend reports to optimize ad timing and targeting.