Many of us have visited beauty salons before, whether to treat ourselves or to spend time with loved ones, but few of us may have paid attention to the packaging of the cosmetics or products used at the salon, at least not until we need to purchase them or bring them back home.
The truth is, similar to the packaging of most other products, the packaging of beauty salon products is crucial to ensuring that the relevant items remain hygienic and intact. This is especially so in light of recent health industry disruptions over the past few years, which have greatly increased public concerns over personal care and well-being.
This article will highlight the market overview of beauty salon packaging, before offering the essential beauty salon packaging trends.
Table of Contents
The market overview of beauty salon packaging
Popular beauty salon packaging trends
A fine blend
The market overview of beauty salon packaging
One may look at the potential of the packaging market for beauty salons from two distinct angles. First of all, let’s check out the cosmetic packaging market, which encompasses essentially all forms of packaging for products used for makeup, nail, skincare, and hair care since beauty salons often offer all of these services. Another perspective, of course, is related to the global expansion of beauty salon services, which is directly related to the use of the relevant product packaging.
The global cosmetic packaging industry is expected to grow at a very healthy rate at an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7%, increased by USD 21.06 billion over the next four years, up to 2027. And the strong growth of beauty salons and spa outlets is credited as one of the main reasons that contribute to this steady rise.
Meanwhile, it is anticipated that the demand for global salon services would grow by more than 60% from its initial estimation of $152 billion in 2021 to around $245 billion by 2030. This expansion is in spite of small declines in its statistics between 2020 and 2024, which were mostly caused by previous global social distance restrictions.
All of these positive statistics indicate a generally favorable picture for the beauty salon market while implicitly confirming the expansion of the packaging prospects for related products. In order to capitalize on this ongoing development, which is mostly fueled by rising disposable income and growing demand for personal grooming, let’s now examine the popular trends for beauty salon packaging.
Popular beauty salon packaging trends
Gender inclusive packaging
While gender-neutralism has long been observed in the fashion industry, gender-inclusive packaging has just emerged a few years ago. In fact, an article revealed that quite a number of salon professionals agreed that shifting to or starting a unisex salon could help them bring in more customers. And the numbers of unisex salons are apparently on the rise, for example, in the soon-to-be world’s most populous country – India.
The fact that Estee Lauder, one of the world’s top 3 major players among international beauty companies, decided to launch a unisex salon in India together with its Indian partner in March 2022 is further evidence of the region’s rising demand for unisex salon services.
As such, beauty salon products packaging featuring simple black and white, or any monochrome design with no particular gender association can be a perfect manifestation of a gender-inclusive image. For example, this semi-transparent pump dispenser or this minimalist airless packaging bottle, similar to those depicted in the picture below:
The unisex trend also sparked more interest in bigger bottle designs, such as an all-white, big capacity (more than 500ml) pump bottle or other large containers that can hold up to 1500ml of content and come in unisex colors.
Sustainable packaging
From drinkware packaging to ecommerce packaging, sustainable packaging has been the new favorite in the packaging industry in recent years, it has evolved into a key trend that is nearly applicable to almost all types of products. The cosmetics and beauty fields are not exempted from this trend. According to the Zero Waste Beauty Report from Upcycled Beauty Company, 74% of worldwide consumers were willing to pay more for sustainable packaging in 2022.
Paris Packaging Week, the largest packaging event for the aerosol, cosmetics, and luxury drinks industry in the world, also placed a strong emphasis on sustainable packaging, with that being the recurring subject covered across the event. And beauty industry experts predict a continuous surge of sustainable packaging, especially in Asia.
In reality, even while certain beauty products are packaged in 100% recyclable materials, such as the kraft paper tubes shown in the image below, the bulk of cosmetics packaging and containers still stick with the use of plastic.
In order to attain sustainability and to fully materialize reusable packaging, it is therefore imperative to ensure that safely recyclable plastic materials are used. A squeeze bottle with a push cap suitable for salon usage that is made of HDPE (high-density polyethylene), for example, is generally recognized as a safe and highly recyclable option.
Meanwhile, a transparent trigger spray bottle with an adjustable nozzle for flexible hairdresser usage, which is made of PET or sometimes also known as PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) is another well-known safe recyclable choice.
On the other hand, though the recyclability is not as widely accepted as the two materials above, an LDPE (low-density polyethylene) fine tip applicator with a squeezable container for easier hair coloring procedure is still recognized as one of the safe recyclable plastic choices for environmentally friendly goals. Another essential hair coloring tool, the hair coloring applicator brush bottles that are made of PP (polypropylene) also serve as safe alternatives for recycling purposes.
Refillable packaging
Refillable packaging is in fact a natural progression from sustainable packaging since it provides not only an equally eco-friendly packaging solution but also a step-up effort in extending the shelf life of the package.
Given these facts, one can predict the wide applications of refillable packaging, particularly for the cosmetics industry, which requires the use of various sizes of containers for many different types of cosmetics packaging, hair care, and skincare products. This is especially true considering the increasing use of sustainable packaging across the board for almost all types of products.
The popularity and bright prospects of refillable packaging are proven by the proliferation of refill salons last year and the efforts of globally recognized beauty brands such as L’Oreal and Kérastase to continually develop refillable containers and pouches for shampoo and conditioner.
Small sprayers or large mist sprayers, for example, are some of the most widely-used refillable tools in hair salons. These sprayers often come with variants in terms of bottle sizes and functions, such as a refillable sprayer with a long, thin bottle shape to provide a better grip or a sprayer that supports continuous fine mist sprays.
In the meantime, refillable packaging for shampoo and lotion is another popular container choice for beauty salons. These refillable bottles also come in different shapes and sizes. For instance, on top of the commonly seen refillable packaging with round, thick bottles, similar to the ones featured in the picture below, one may also opt for large, square-shaped refillable beauty ingredient dispensers or this transparent, long, and thin refillable pump bottle.
A fine blend
Much like the packaging of most other products, packaging for beauty salon products is indispensable to guarantee the hygiene of the packaged content. In line with greater disposable income and demands for personal care products, several forecasts demonstrated consistent growth in the global beauty salon services and cosmetic packaging sectors over the next few years. It is therefore beneficial for wholesalers to learn about the most popular types of packaging for beauty salons in order to create a well-balanced mix of packaging styles for their target markets. Three beauty salon packaging trends that will dominate include gender-inclusive packaging, sustainable packaging as well as refillable packaging. Check out the other articles on Alibaba Reads for additional sourcing ideas and business tips on the newest trends for the wholesale market.
