It's all about stewardship, life, and energy, and it's playing out in the beauty and health and wellness categories.
In the 1990s, the word "natural" conjured up images of burlap, Birkenstocks, and granola. Beauty, skin, and hair-care products often were packaged in a relatively uninspiring manner, utilizing earth-tone colors as a primary communication mechanism of what was inside.
What natural means today has changed significantly. Packaging and ingredient representations are luscious, vibrant, and indicative of key ingredients inside like botanicals, fruits, and florals—full of life, energy, and succulence. Emotionally, the meaning of "natural" has changed, too. It's about stewardship and our connection to nature, as much as it is about lifestyle choices. There is a heightened awareness and concern about what is being put onto and into our bodies, and the ramifications for our planet.
As a society, we are putting more effort toward incorporating natural products and philosophies into our lives. Living a natural lifestyle is appealing to consumers as a way to balance or ground them by rejecting old ways and forging ahead with new thinking. There is a growing environmentally conscious market segment dubbed LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), a $209 billion U.S. marketplace for goods and services focused on health, the environment, social justice, personal development, and sustainability. Consumers attracted to this market are referred to as "Cultural Creatives." Currently, 35 million people across the nation are considered LOHAS consumers. These people are dedicated to planetary health and are more than just focused on natural/organic products. They have surrendered to the idea, and they have the buying power to prove it. Natural products, in this age of sustainability, are seen as premium or a new luxury. Consumers embrace natural products because they communicate purity, safety, protection, and sophistication.
Some product manufacturers are conveying this positioning through white or transparent packaging that provides consumers with a view of the product, enhancing brand trust and building a sense of integrity. Institute Milano, from the Phytopure Skin Care line, is encasing products in packaging with varying levels of transparency and utilizing clean typography.
Consumers also think of products like shampoo or lotion that contain natural, edible ingredients as good for their hair and skin. CARGO's PlantLove Botanical Lipstick, for example, is formulated from all-natural botanicals with no mineral oil or petroleum. To further engage consumers in the natural product positioning, Cargo's lipstick tube is made entirely from corn, a renewable resource, and the outer carton is made of seeded flower paper. The carton, when moistened, will actually sprout wild flowers.
Natural is a trend with a stable market opportunity that is here to stay, and one that will have lasting, positive implications for beauty care and health and wellness products, as well as for the consumers who use them.
Read more of Valerie Jacobs' analysis of the new-natural trend.
By Valerie Jacobs, Director of Trend Analysis, LPK
