External-first solutions: Beauty consumers likely to explore devices, treatments before supplements

While beauty supplements play a role in modern skin care routines, the allure of instant gratification is pushing more people towards tech-enabled tools and treatments that promise quick fixes.

“Consumers these days have so many available options. Topicals are the typical day-to-day and what comes next may not necessarily be supplements. There are devices and treatments and then comes the ingestibles,” said Sharon Kwek, director of consulting, Mintel.

Kwek was speaking at the 13^th​ Supplier’s Day Symposium held by the Singapore Cosmetics Scientists Society (SCSS) on August 30.

With the convergence of beauty and wellness, Kwek emphasised that many consumers are starting to seek skin health support through an inside out approach.

According to Mintel data, 53% of Indian consumers reported that they would be interested in beauty supplement products that can prevent hair fall and support healthy and strong hair.

However, she noted that today’s consumers are more focused on achieving quick results.

As such, they are more likely to place their faith in technology-based solutions devices, non-invasive or minimally invasive treatments.

These methods are perceived by consumers as being more effective in delivering the immediate visibly improvements.

“That’s not to say that ingestibles aren’t important or that inside-out beauty is not an important trend. But in terms of priority, consumers really want to see faster results. And truth be told, if you want faster results, it’s really about the tech-based devices and treatments that will really help them,” said Kwek.

Beauty from the inside out​

Regardless, Kwek believes the adoption of beauty supplements will continue to increase as consumer increasingly adopt a holistic approach towards health and beauty.

“We definitely recognise that consumers acknowledge they need to boost and improve overall health. Maybe it’s not so much a fun thing, they might have a bit of that fear element, like the fear of ageing,” said Kwek.

“They will definitely go down this road and hunt for all these solutions, which is giving our industry a lot of opportunities to help them.”

One of the biggest factors that may drive consumers to adopt beauty supplements is convenience.

“With ingestible beauty, as with most of the consumer behaviours these days, they are looking for the ‘easy way out’ – whichever is the most time saving yet without compromising on efficacy. And ingestible beauty offers that kind of convenience, while delivering results at the same time,” said Kwek.

At the same time, the gut-skin connection is drawing more consumers towards supplements, she added.

“Gut is the second brain – that’s the saying we’re hearing often now. People are understanding that when your gut health is poor, it affects your physical health and your skin appearance. We definitely hear how consumers are looking wanting to maintain or even improve digestive health in order to also improve their skin appearance. So, we are seeing a lot more attention being paid towards gut health.”