Consumer Interest in Organic, Cosmeceutical Products Rising

WASHINGTON—The Benchmarking Co. released The Age of Naturals, a comprehensive new consumer study that covers the motivations, purchasing habits and attitudes of shoppers who purchase or may consider purchasing natural and organic beauty products, as well as nutricosmetics and cosmeceuticals. The study found 93 percent of all women would be willing to try a new beauty product if it had the USDA Organic Seal. Additionally, when asked why women buy natural/organic beauty products, 80 percent said they were better for the skin, 64 percent said they didn’t want chemicals on their skin, and another 27 percent mentioned that ingredients found in traditional beauty products were harmful.

“Consumer demand for natural and organic beauty brands may just be the single most important issue to impact the beauty industry in its history,” said Alisa Marie Beyer, president and CEO, the Benchmarking Co., a research and brand strategy firm that exclusively serves the beauty industry. “Consumers have been inundated with headlines focusing on lead in lipstick, off-label use of pharmaceuticals in cosmetics, the potential perils of parabens and other ingredients, Chinese product recalls and global warming caused by manmade toxins. But nowhere has the fear of ingredients been felt more acutely than in the beauty industry.”

The 123-page report tracks women’s opinions on more than 80 natural/organic beauty brands; showcases the five top study vitals; provides a summary of forward-thinking Pink Predictions™; and includes 72 tables, charts and hundreds of data points. Findings from the report are based on a 40-minute online survey from a representative sample of more than 1,800 women ages 18 to 50+ across the United States. The report defines beauty buyers as women who declared they had purchased skin care or makeup products over the previous 12 months. Additional information and sample pages of the Pink Report™ The Age of Natural are available here.

Other highlights from the report:

• Sixty-one percent of all women agree it is difficult to tell which beauty brands are natural or organic.
• Women want to feel safer, and 89 percent of them feel companies should be more forthcoming about which products are truly natural.
• Ingredients they are leery of include artificial fragrances (54 percent); silicone (43 percent) and gluten (34 percent). Parabens are not wanted in cosmetics by a quarter of natural buyers and 15 percent of traditional buyers . Hydroquinone is unwanted by 21 percent of natural buyers and 11 percent of traditional buyers.
• The word “mineral” was the cosmetic watchword for 2007.
• Women are most eager (74 percent) to try a consumable beauty product that can be eaten on-the-go; 72 percent prefer a beauty supplement in a pill or capsule form.