2022 World Ecommerce Report: Well being and Magnificence

Ecommerce could have roots all the way in which again to 1969, however there’s little question that the final two years have fully reworked the world of on-line purchasing.

In 2022, international retail ecommerce gross sales are projected to surpass $5 trillion for the primary time, and by 2023, digital gross sales are anticipated to succeed in 22% of world retail gross sales, in comparison with simply 14% in 2019 — which works to point out that ecommerce is not a rarity, however a norm. 

Within the age of Amazon and a fading pandemic, there are few issues you may’t purchase on-line. Vogue attire, electronics, digital merchandise and even groceries are only a few of the preferred on-line purchasing classes. 

Following within the footsteps of our World Ecommerce Report on trend and apparel, for BigCommerce’s second business development report, we’ve determined to look at one other purchasing class that’s poised for super development: well being and wonder.

In accordance with Statista, international ecommerce gross sales within the well being and wonder class are projected to succeed in $449.6 billion by 2027, and Insider Intelligence forecasts U.S. cosmetics and wonder retail ecommerce gross sales in 2022 can be greater than double these of 2019. Our information reveals the well being and wonder class is poised for development if the tendencies of the primary half of 2022 stay fixed or enhance.

Learn on for extra insights into the state of well being and wonder ecommerce to this point in 2022 from BigCommerce and our retailers.

Methodology

BigCommerce’s well being and wonder information is sourced immediately from our retailers and was pulled on August 23, 2022. All information is international and pertains to all nations the place BigCommerce retailers do enterprise, until in any other case famous. 

All comparisons are congruent comparisons between the identical variety of current shops relationship again to the earliest interval used within the comparability. For instance, a comparability between the primary half (H1) of 2021 and H1 2022 would use information solely from BigCommerce shops that existed in H1 2021, until in any other case famous. 

How the Well being and Magnificence Business is Performing in 2022 

In H1 2022, we noticed a 12% enhance in gross merchandise quantity (GMV) for well being and wonder retailers in comparison with H1 2021. The identical development held true for well being and wonder’s orders, which noticed an 11% enhance between H1 2021 and H1 2022. 

Nonetheless, year-over-year (YoY) common order worth (AOV) for the wholesome and wonder class didn’t observe this identical sample, with AOV remaining comparatively flat from 2021 to 2022. 

Social platforms stay a dominant gross sales channel.

With the U.S. social ecommerce market anticipated to surpass $50 billion yearly by 2023, it’s no shock that social media stays a number one gross sales channel for well being and wonder manufacturers.

Evaluating 2022 to 2021, well being and wonder retailers promoting on each Fb and Instagram noticed an 83% enhance in H1 for YoY GMV. Taking a look at YoY orders, these retailers skilled a rise of 140% in H1, whereas YoY AOV decreased by 24%.

Cell gross sales skilled slight change.

Regardless of a widespread shift towards cell and social commerce, our service provider information revealed that YoY orders had been down 6% in H1 2022, GMV was down 2% whereas AOV was up 5% in comparison with H1 2021.

When evaluating order sources, on-line gross sales by way of iPhone clearly outperformed gross sales by way of Android.

Between H1 2021 and H1 2022, the well being and wonder class noticed a 3% enhance in GMV, a 6% enhance in AOV and solely a 2% lower in orders by way of iPhone. Nonetheless, by the identical measure, the well being and wonder class noticed an 8% lower in GMV, a 3% enhance in AOV and an 11% lower in orders by way of Android.

Well being and wonder manufacturers develop in B2C and hybrid B2B.

When it got here to B2C companies, well being and wonder confirmed vital YoY enchancment. Well being and wonder orders for B2C had been up 10% in H1 2022, and YoY GMV numbers had been additionally up 10%. Nonetheless, YoY AOV was solely up 1%.

Hybrid B2B (retailers promoting each B2C and B2B) numbers had been much more drastic. Well being and wonder orders had been up 21% in H1 2022 in comparison with H1 2021, GMV elevated by 32% and AOV elevated by 9% YoY.

Pure B2B companies, however, didn’t present the identical development. Well being and wonder retailers skilled a 1% lower in GMV, a 2% enhance in AOV and a 2% lower in orders between H1 2021 and H1 2022.

Well being and wonder outperformed general ecommerce in AMER.

The well being and wonder class considerably outperformed general ecommerce in North America, with a 15% enhance in YoY GMV in H1 2022 and a 15% enhance within the complete variety of orders, whereas YoY AOV remained flat.

Nonetheless, APAC and EMEA informed a barely totally different story. 

In APAC, well being and wonder retailers skilled solely a 6% enhance in GMV, a 9% enhance in orders and a 3% lower in AOV from H1 2021 to H1 2022. And in EMEA, the well being and wonder class noticed an 1% lower in GMV, an 11% lower in orders and an 11% enhance in AOV between H1 2021 and H1 2022.

Well being and Magnificence Ecommerce Developments and Predictions

The numbers stated it greatest: the well being and wonder business is certainly forward of the curve on the subject of ecommerce.

Trying again on the primary half of 2022, listed here are some noteworthy tendencies which can be shaping this ecommerce class:

Social commerce helps manufacturers meet clients the place they’re.

In accordance with eMarketer, the U.S. social commerce market is projected to surpass $50 billion yearly by 2023, which signifies that promoting on social media is a should, particularly for ecommerce manufacturers. Plus, with Gen Z gaining shopping for energy and 26% of them utilizing social media to make purchases, this goal demographic represents a major alternative for retailers to realize market share and enhance on-line gross sales.

Instagram and Fb cleared the path in social commerce functionalities, however different social media websites are additionally gaining traction: YouTube, Pinterest and, most notably, TikTok. 

A comparatively new participant to the social commerce recreation, however now a family title, TikTok has a novel skill to make lesser identified customers, manufacturers and merchandise go viral in a single day. Outfitted with ecommerce options similar to analytics instruments, product hyperlinks and promoting choices, TikTok has change into a hub for companies — particularly well being and wonder manufacturers — to succeed in new audiences and drive extra gross sales. 

Movies with the hashtag #Make-up have been seen over 230 billion instances on the app, and #BeautyHacks (15.5 billion views) reveals the variety of TikTok viewers who use the platform for recommendation and training. Only a fast swipe by means of “BeautyTok” — the section of TikTok content material devoted to make-up and cosmetics — proves that well being and wonder manufacturers have an enormous alternative to market and promote on TikTok.

A kind of well being and wonder manufacturers is BigCommerce service provider Bliss, a physique and skincare model, which started tapping into the facility of TikTok in early 2020.

In 2021, Bliss launched its second annual marketing campaign on TikTok with The Trevor Mission, a LGBTQ youth-focused nonprofit. Internet hosting a cyberbullying speak known as PepTok Dwell, Bliss donated $1 to The Trevor Mission for each optimistic remark posted on TikTok that tagged the model.

Now with nearly 400 thousand followers and viral hashtags similar to #ThisisBliss and #FindYourBliss, the corporate has expanded its attain to the Gen Z viewers and quickly grown its model consciousness.

TikTok apart, we will’t discuss well being and wonder advertising and marketing with speaking about video.

From make-up tutorials to product opinions, visible content material is a primary technique to market well being and wonder merchandise, irrespective of the social platform you’re utilizing. 

• YouTube, particularly, has been a widely known platform for well being and wonder influencers to advertise their favourite manufacturers and merchandise. 
• Instagram and Pinterest supply reels and short-form movies, permitting manufacturers and creators to carry their merchandise to life. 
• Livestream Procuring supplies an unfiltered, uncooked expertise, permitting clients to buy in actual time with out having to go to a bodily retailer.  

AR and VR bridge the hole between on-line and offline.

Because the in-person purchasing expertise shifts on-line, ecommerce manufacturers have wanted to seek out methods to bridge the hole between the bodily and digital. How can a buyer strive on an eyeshadow, visualize the colour of a nail polish or match a basis to their pores and skin tone — all from the consolation of their very own dwelling?  

Buying any merchandise on-line (particularly one which’s high-cost) could seem dangerous sufficient, however buying a magnificence or beauty product with out bodily making an attempt it on provides a brand new stage of uncertainty. So, for an business as hands-on and visible as magnificence, this purchasing class is undoubtedly one of many strongest use circumstances for augmented actuality (AR) and digital actuality (VR) in retail. 

AR and VR works to ease this nervousness and supply consumers with an expertise that matches that of a brick-and-mortar retailer. From Instagram and Snapchat filters to digital make-up try-ons, these rising applied sciences give customers the power to work together with three-dimensionally rendered representations of merchandise in real-time.

And in no place will we see these tendencies extra able to take maintain than within the Metaverse.

In truth, our World Client Report — which surveyed greater than 4,000 web shoppers within the US, UK, Italy, France and Australia — discovered that just about half (46%) of respondents stated they’re keen to buy on the Metaverse, and of these, 51% are fascinated with shopping for each digital and bodily items — which suggests the time for well being and wonder manufacturers to spend money on rising applied sciences is now.

Publish-pandemic comfort stays top-of-mind.

As we study the well being and wonder class because it emerges from the opposite aspect of the COVID-19, we will’t deny that the results of the pandemic are nonetheless being felt.

In accordance with a 2021 survey by Statista, 36% of respondents indicated they ordered extra drugstore and healthcare merchandise on-line throughout the pandemic than earlier than the pandemic, and one other survey cited that the highest cause for purchasing on-line is comfort.

Evidently, the comfort of on-line purchasing launched by COVID-19 isn’t going away anytime quickly. However what does this imply for on-line retailers?

First, it means providing quick and free delivery. Assume Amazon next-day supply, pick-up in-store and real-time monitoring updates.

Second, it means providing a number of different cost choices. Digital wallets, cryptocurrency and, most notably, purchase now, pay later (BNPL) have skyrocketed in recognition, as they offer consumers the flexibleness to pay when and the way they need. In truth, our World Client Report revealed that 16% of customers have used BNPL at checkout, and 49% of customers who’ve used BNPL say it helps purchases match into their budgets. 

LARQ, a self-cleaning water bottle model and BigCommerce service provider, skilled firsthand the benefit that comes with providing a number of cost choices. With just one possibility for bank card checkout and two-thirds of its transactions coming by means of cell, LARQ ultimately launched Google Pay in its place cost methodology. 

“A good portion of our transactions have gone by means of Google Pay since we carried out it, which is an effective indication for us that we’re providing one thing that clients discover beneficial,” stated Antonio Kaleb, LARQ Ecommerce Architect, and Justin Wang, LARQ Co-Founder and CEO. “The power to entry issues like Google Pay seamlessly by means of BigCommerce has helped enhance our conversion fee by about 20% since launch.”

Lastly, comfort means making a seamless checkout expertise, utilizing options like intuitive class navigation, one-click checkout and in-app purchases. Each further click on a buyer makes is one other probability for them to exit out of your web page and by no means come again, so it’s your job to make the checkout course of as fast and frictionless as doable. 

Clear magnificence steals the highlight. 

As Gen Z beneficial properties spending energy, ecommerce manufacturers are studying the right way to communicate to the values of immediately’s consumers. In our World Client Report, when requested what model values affect their buy choices, nearly all of customers ranked honesty and transparency as an important worth. And on the subject of well being and wonder manufacturers, this honesty and transparency extends to a product’s components, its packaging and even the labor behind the product. 

Fading are the times of widespread, mass-produced cosmetics manufactured with harsh chemical compounds and toxins. In the present day’s youthful customers are paving the way in which for brand new requirements of magnificence — calling for sustainable, pure components, minimal packaging and honest working situations.

In truth, our client conduct survey discovered that almost all of customers fee sustainability as both essential (32%) or considerably essential (52%) when making a buying determination. Plus, solely 8.5% of Gen Zers said that they had been detached about sustainability, which suggests it’s much more essential for manufacturers that concentrate on a youthful viewers to market their sustainability efforts.

As a B Corp-certified, clear, cruelty-free skincare model, Bliss has totally embraced the transfer towards clear magnificence. The model’s merchandise are “clear, dermatologist-tested and thoughtfully formulated to reduce our environmental affect,” and the corporate even contains an Substances Glossary on its web site.

Range and inclusion change into a high precedence.

However client model values don’t cease at sustainability — range and inclusion have additionally change into important to sustaining buyer loyalty.

Traditionally, the well being and wonder business has been restricted in each its product choice and model messaging on the subject of range and illustration. However within the wake of COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter motion and rising assist for the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, customers are advocating for magnificence that displays all ages, pores and skin tones, genders and physique sorts. And lots of international magnificence manufacturers are getting on board.

However range and inclusion isn’t nearly providing a better vary of basis shades (although analysis reveals that distinctive shade choices in cosmetics have grown 7x as quick as product traces). Range and inclusion now means better illustration in product pictures and movies, commercials, fashions and even influencers on social media. 

As extra customers search out manufacturers that align with their core values, international magnificence manufacturers that embrace the “magnificence for all” motion are poised for fulfillment — whereas people who don’t danger lacking out on a brand new technology of customers. 

Navigating the Way forward for Well being and Magnificence Ecommerce 

With rising applied sciences reworking the way in which customers store on-line, the well being and wonder business is in prime place to learn from these tendencies.

From digital make-up try-ons to AR filters, the way forward for well being and wonder ecommerce is barely simply across the nook.

Omnichannel promoting creates a related person expertise.

Finally, lots of the most profitable companies are those with a powerful omnichannel technique — one which weaves collectively all enterprise channels, on-line and offline, to create a constant, participating buyer expertise.

In truth, advertising and marketing throughout three or extra channels earns 250% greater engagement.

With on-line marketplaces similar to Amazon and Walmart, social media channels like Instagram and Fb and engines like google like Google, there are a whole lot of how to succeed in clients except for a standard on-line retailer. 

However the important thing to omnichannel promoting is to supply a cohesive buyer expertise throughout all contact factors. This implies syncing stock to keep away from cross-selling, merging on-line and offline gross sales and sustaining a constant model message all through each channel. 

New applied sciences open the door for personalization.

Personalization drives buyer loyalty. Whether or not or not it’s by means of focused advertisements, awards and advantages or different custom-made experiences, on-line retailers are discovering new methods to mildew the purchasing journey to fulfill their clients’ wants.

In accordance with our client conduct survey, solely 28% of customers are unwilling to share some type of private info in change for a customized purchasing expertise — and unsurprisingly, youthful technology consumers are probably the most keen to share their private information. 

Particularly for well being and wonder manufacturers, rising applied sciences similar to AR, VR and AI supply new alternatives to carry the salon on to the shopper and create a product made uniquely for them.

Personalised skincare, hair care and anti-aging merchandise are simply the tip of the iceberg, and as extra manufacturers reap the benefits of rising applied sciences, this type of personalization simply may change into the brand new norm.

Leverage the velocity and suppleness of headless commerce.

After all, we will’t discuss personalization with out speaking about headless commerce.

Headless commerce, the decoupling of a storeʼs frontend design from its ecommerce backend, is the brand new frontier for on-line retailers seeking to create distinctive buyer experiences.

Because the ecommerce panorama continues to evolve, on-line companies want to have the ability to transfer shortly and provides clients the versatile person expertise they’re in search of. 

One BigCommerce service provider that’s leveraging the facility of headless is ecommerce well being model MitoQ. When their crew made the swap to BigCommerce, they discovered {that a} headless infrastructure was the important thing to minimizing inconsistencies and creating an optimum person expertise.

“We wished one thing that was going to be largely plug-and-play with different programs,” stated Shaun Worth, Head of Buyer Acquisition at MitoQ. “Ought to we need to use them, we might seamlessly use current integration instruments to increase the performance of our web site.” 

The Last Phrase

Evidently, the well being and wonder class reveals big promise for the remainder of 2022 — and reveals big potential on the subject of social commerce and each B2C and hybrid B2B promoting.

Moreover, well being and wonder is skyrocketing notably in North America, and as Gen Z beneficial properties spending energy, there’s an growing want for well being and wonder retailers to talk to client model values, similar to sustainability and variety and inclusion. 

As ecommerce continues to emerge from a two-year pandemic, time will inform which tendencies stay related and which of them fall by means of the cracks — but when the information reveals something, it’s that ecommerce is not what it was.

With a view to stay aggressive in immediately’s digital panorama, well being and wonder manufacturers should preserve tempo with the newest improvements and be keen to adapt to altering client conduct. 

Be looking out for our subsequent 2022 Ecommerce Forecast, after we’ll discover much more purchasing verticals and the way on-line retailers can keep forward of the curve.