Australian consumers are increasingly tuning out beauty influencers, with new research finding that trust, value and product performance have overtaken social media as the biggest drivers of beauty purchases.
A joint report by Shop! ANZ and consumer insights platform Vypr, Beauty Under the Microscope: How Shopper Behaviour is Evolving, found social media and influencers rank last among the factors influencing beauty purchases, cited by just 11 per cent of shoppers. By comparison, price and promotions (66 per cent) remain the strongest purchase driver, followed by trusted brands (56 per cent), product performance (41 per cent), ingredients (29 per cent) and recommendations from friends and family (28 per cent).
The gap is even more pronounced when consumers are trying new products. Promotions (68 per cent), recommendations from friends and family (39 per cent), free samples (34 per cent), in-store testers (30 per cent), and new product launches (28 per cent) all outperformed influencers (14 per cent), suggesting that shoppers place far greater trust in personal experience than in sponsored content.
“Our findings challenge one of the biggest assumptions in beauty marketing, indicating that Australians aren’t rejecting product discovery; they’re simply rejecting unearned trust,” said Sam Gilding, chief revenue officer at Vypr.
“A recommendation from a friend, a sample in hand, or a brand they know delivers results carries far more weight than a sponsored post. Social media may create awareness, but awareness and influence are not the same thing, and our data shows the gap between them is enormous.”
The report also points to increasingly considered shopping habits. Nearly seven in 10 consumers (68 per cent) said they always or usually plan their beauty purchases in advance, while only 2 per cent described their purchases as mostly impulse-driven.
However, in-store execution continues to influence purchasing decisions. Around 68 per cent of consumers said displays and in-store advertising affect their beauty purchases, highlighting the role of retail media in converting planned purchases into sales.
“Beauty shoppers are doing their homework long before they reach the shelf,” said Carla Bridge, GM at Shop! ANZ.
“That means the battle for the beauty dollar is won through trust, proven performance and smart retail execution, not follower counts.”
The research also found that chemists and pharmacies remain the leading beauty retail channel, used by 67 per cent of shoppers, ahead of supermarkets (61 per cent). Meanwhile, beauty remains one of the most promotion-responsive FMCG categories, with 94 per cent of consumers likely to purchase a beauty product when it is on promotion.
- Further reading: Most Aussies want more healthy products on promotion, survey shows.
