Beauty's Next Competitor Probably Doesn't Call Itself a Beauty Brand

Beauty brands have become experts at analysing each other. The problem is, consumers no longer think in categories. It’s time to look beyond the category.

Words from NXT LVL contributor Brontë Paterson

Walk into almost any beauty business and you’ll find the same conversation happening.

Somebody is presenting the latest competitor analysis. New launches are spread across the table. Packaging is compared, pricing is debated and retailer activity is scrutinised. Entire marketing strategies can be built around understanding what everyone else in the category is doing, and rightly so. Knowing your market has always been one of the fundamentals of building a successful brand.

The more time I’ve spent inside beauty, though, the more I’ve started to question whether we’re defining that market in the right way.

For years, we’ve assumed our biggest competition is the brand sitting next to us on the shelf. I’m no longer convinced that’s true.

The biggest change I’ve seen over the last few years isn’t a new ingredient, a different retail model or even AI. It’s that consumers have stopped thinking about beauty in the neat categories the industry still uses to organise itself.

They don’t wake up wanting another serum.

They wake up wanting clearer skin, or thicker hair, or to feel more confident.

The product has become secondary to the outcome.

That sounds like a small distinction, but I think it changes almost everything.