Consumer & Sustainability Perceptions 2024: Western Europe

Our Consumer & Sustainability Perceptions 2024 report is part of a series of reports that explores how consumers view beauty and sustainability around the globe. 

This report focuses on Germany and France. It includes consumer data and insights as well as highlights local beauty brands that are innovating in the beauty sustainability space.

Our Consumer & Sustainability Perceptions 2024 report is released in eight parts covering different regions around the world:

• Latin America - HERE
• Asia-Pacific - HERE + Malaysia - HERE
• UK & Northern Europe - HERE
• Southern Europe  HERE
• Western Europe - (below article) HERE
• Central & Eastern Europe - coming soon
• North America - coming soon
• Middle East & Africa - coming soon

Sustainable Initiatives & Priorities: Snapshot

Regions:

Western Europe

The key markets covered in this report:

France

Market Insights

Economy

• According to INSEE, with 68,37 Millions people, there is a general inflation of + 2,2% in 2024 (as of May 2024), while hygiene and beauty product prices have increased by +8% over the period (Cosmed).
• French people are spending carefully, and household consumption keep decreasing by an average of 0.8%.
• 39% of French consumers declared a desire to decrease the consumption of beauty and hygiene products in 2024 (Cosmed), compared to 64% for clothing items.

Culture

• A recent survey by Kantar Media reveals that the advertising investment in CSR has decreased in the last year, and communications tend to be more focused on Corporate CSR rather than product sustainability. This can be explained by the risk of GreenWashing on product Specific claims.
• L’Oréal, one of the biggest brands in the world, is French, and is focusing on Beauty. Beauty is part of the culture in France, and less stigmatised as “superficial outlook”.

Beauty

• While the visibility of skincare products is constantly booming via the web, there is a somewhat constant decline in makeup.

Consumers want effective products, and want details on the product origins (26%), the ingredients and its advantages.

• Consumers favour products with specific active ingredients (51%) such as hyaluronic acid, retinol, vitamin C, etc. and are often (30%) ready to spend more for better efficiency or proven effectiveness.
• Long term results are also at the center of consumers expectations (40% are primarily looking for long-term effects, and 21% for long-lasting products).