More shoppers are demanding beauty and wellness products that are clean, environmentally safe and serve a global purpose. Yet getting such products on the shelf can be a Herculean task for the many startups creating them. In Chicago this October, we’re offering an opportunity to change that.
A growing number of women are willing to spend more money on healthier, purpose-driven beauty choices as they seek wellness, yet they may not even know if the products they would love exist. Retailers can change that.
More than one-third of women, 34%, seek beauty products they believe are “clean,” or formulated to be healthy, according to our How America Shops® The Big Business of WELL report. Nearly 45% of women (and 50% of Gen Z) say they buy beauty products specifically to help make them look healthier.
And increasingly, their expectations of what defines clean beauty, health and wellness products include purpose – a broader commitment to serve social, economic and environmental missions. Two-thirds of consumers prefer to buy products and services from companies that stand for purposes that reflect their own values and beliefs.
Yet for the makers of purpose-based beauty and wellness products, getting on the shelf can be an arduous undertaking. Sure, they are highly innovative, nimble and willing to throw all they have behind one incredible niche product. But many of these companies also are small startups with limited budgets, and they don’t have enough time or money to find an audience with big retailers.
Shoppers want to buy more of their products. Is the retail industry listening?
Bringing Retailers and Suppliers Together, on Purpose
Some retail players are listening, clearly. As direct-to-consumer options become more affordable and mainstream, many large merchants are watching extraordinary product opportunities, and sales, pass them by.
But we get it; the challenges of connecting with scores of potentially promising startups go both ways. The logistics of meeting so many far-flung companies and determining the best prospects can be onerous even for big-name retailers. But as online options become more prevalent, accepted and threatening to mainstream brick merchants, they need to find a way to find these products – or get out of the way.
This is why we are supporting a movement that responds to the shoppers’ call for mission-based goods. On Oct. 28, WSL will participate in ECRM’s Beauty & Wellness with Purpose Summit in Chicago, an event dedicated to bridging the chasm between retailers and purpose-driven beauty and wellness suppliers.
Purpose-Driven Brands You Didn’t Know About
ECRM was founded 30 years ago for the sole purpose of giving important startup manufacturers an audience with retail buyers. This event is specially designed so small manufacturers serving social, economic and environmental missions can present to retailers they never otherwise would get to meet.
And vice-versa – the summit also is an all-in-one opportunity for buyers in the beauty and wellness categories to connect with purposeful, innovative and emotionally engaging growth brands they may never have known existed.
Today, packaging wellness and beauty is a different endeavor than it was a few years ago. It requires a new set of shopper-enforced standards. To win today’s consumer, retailers, as well as beauty and wellness companies, will have to extend the concept of “healthy” to their purpose, and mix it into their missions.
The ECRM event is an example of the industry listening to the shopper. To learn more about the “Beauty and Wellness With Purpose” summit, visit ECRM here.