From blossoming beauty capitals across the country to a highly competitive and flourishing retail landscape, it’s been a busy year in UK beauty. What do these exciting developments mean for the industry at large?

These insights can be explored in the British Beauty Council’s third edition of The Value of Beauty report, produced in partnership with Oxford Economics. The report dives into the economic impact of the UK personal care industry in 2023 and 2024, updating its previous study and setting a forecast for 2024.

Here are the key takeaways:

2023 Contributions

• The personal care and beauty sector contributed a total of £27.2 billion ($34.9 billion) to the national GDP, an 11% increase compared to 2022.
• The personal care industry constitutes 0.5% of the nation’s GDP.
• Hair and beauty services sector accounted for 31% of that contribution.
• It made a direct contribution of  £13.5 billion ($17.3 billion), with an additional contribution of £13.6 billion ($17.4 billion) through supply chain and employee spending.
• It increased its direct contribution to the UK economy by 11% (3% after adjusting for inflation versus the overall UK economy’s growth rate of 0.1%).
• Its economic activity supported £7.3 billion ($9.38 billion) in tax revenues, £3.6 billion ($4.6 billion) of which was contributed directly by the sector and its workforce, with £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) from indirect and £2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) from induced channels.
• Personal care spending increased by 10%.

2023 Employment

• The personal care industry employed 603,000 individuals, a 9% increase from 2022.
• 418,000 of these were supported by the industry itself, with the hair and beauty services secretary employing 224,000.
• Workforce increased by 10% year over year, to 418,000.
• Wage payments supported £8.1 billion ($10.4 billion) of economic activity.

2024 Forecast

• Beauty product and service spend is expected to increase by 3%, a slowdown from 2023 driven by inflation and less expenditure by UK households.
• The personal care industry will support a total GDP contribution of £28.1 billion ($36.1 billion), an increase of 3% from 2023 and 15% from 2022.
• It will have a direct GDP contribution of £14 billion ($18 billion), with indirect contributions of  £5.7 billion ($7.3 billion) and induced contributions of £8.4 billion ($10.8 billion).
• 604,000 individuals will be employed across the industry.
• It will contribute a total of £7.4 billion ($9.5 billion) in tax contributions.
• £3.7 billion ($4.7 billion) of these contributions will be through direct channels, £1.4 billion ($1.8 billion) through indirect channels, and £2.4 billion ($3 billion) through induced channels.

Beauty is proving a robust category, even in challenging times, outpacing the UK economy’s overall growth rate and with significant workforce growth rates. Growth is expected to slow during 2024 as a result of inflation, but the personal care products and services sector will be less affected than the overall UK economy, a testament to the industry persevering in even the most challenging of circumstances.