Editors' Top Reads: News from Boots, Very, British Beauty Council and more...

Here are some of this week’s news and features highlights handpicked by TheIndustry.beauty team.

Boots targets 'savvy savers' with new value campaign

This campaign is perfectly timed (and perfectly executed) from Boots. The mood music from major high street retailers post-Christmas has been quite gloomy, even from those who had a good peak season. The impact from the Autumn Budget has led to many retailers predicting price hikes to help offset added costs from the increase in employers' NI contributions and the minimum wage. So, for Boots to launch a far-reaching campaign to promote its value credentials, and to target its most value-conscious shoppers, is a smart move indeed.

The 'savvy savers' campaign pinpoints those customers who have purchased low-cost items in specific categories such as dental care, skincare, haircare, toiletries, or cosmetics within the past year. It will also target shoppers with an average order value of £5 or less. The messaging essentially is that consumers can always find the best value for these purchases at the high street giant.

Filmed using a photo booth, dubbed "Snap Your Savings," the new campaign captures the genuine excitement of customers as they share their recent Boots purchases and the savings they have made. The campaign has been combined with special deals including 50% off big brands like No7, Oral-B, L’Oréal, Colgate, Olay, Garnier, and Nivea. Further savings are also available for Advantage Card Members.

I love this. It is loyalty done right and, as I said, the timing could not be more perfect.

Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.

Sustainable Beauty Coalition to tackle industry waste with new initiative

The beauty industry is said to produce over 120 billion units of packaging globally, much of which goes to landfill. In fact, the market accounts for a third of all landfill waste and 70% of the industry’s plastic waste is not recycled.

To tackle this, The British Beauty Council’s Sustainable Beauty Coalition is launching a "first-of-its-kind" collaboration between brands and retailers designed to reduce the amount of waste created by the industry.

Launching in March, 'The Great British Beauty Clean Up' will focus on increasing industry and consumer awareness and adoption of reuse and refill systems. It is also set to increase recycling rates of beauty empties through spotlighting take-back schemes and household recycling.

With the Sustainable Beauty Coalition urging all beauty businesses operating in the UK to get involved, this new initiative is great - and long overdue! Bringing brands together to tackle the issue collaboratively offers a chance to make a real impact on the industry's waste problem.

Sophie Smith, News Editor & Senior Writer.

Nationwide high streets partnership launches to drive UK economic growth

This week we learnt of the forming of a new "pro-growth" partnership representing over 5,000 businesses called High Streets UK, with the aim to address the most pressing issues facing the nation’s flagship high streets.

It’s being coordinated by New West End Company, the business improvement district for London’s West End, but it is bringing in business representatives from cities across the UK, including London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds, Cardiff, Newcastle, and Edinburgh.

The group will hold "summits" every quarter to share learnings and discuss solutions to common challenges faced by high streets across the country, from tackling retail crime and anti-social behaviour to planning laws and an unwieldy business rates system.

Collectively, the high streets involved contribute £34.7 billion in GVA each year and welcome over 473 million visitors annually – acting as key drivers of growth and important economic anchors for local communities. So, the more important voices and leaders coming together to develop new ideas and solutions that will secure the future success of the nation’s flagship high streets, the better.

Tom Bottomley, Contributing Editor.

Beauty drives Very’s 'exceptional' sales before potential float

Beauty retail is seemingly more buoyant than other markets in the face of rising costs. With Very's latest financial results, it's clear to see why more and more beauty brands are launching more products, stores and partnerships every week.

For the seven weeks up to 27 December 2024, Very UK posted "strong" financial results with sales up 2.3% year-on-year. This comes as the Barclay family, the owners of The Very Group, are preparing to float a sale of the business.

Very Group’s sales were up by 0.5% year-on-year and without the impact of Nike sales, Very UK grew up 4.5% and group retail sales grew by 2.8% year-on-year. Toys, gifts and beauty was up by 7.3%, driven by perfume sales.

CEO Robbie Feather said: "We’re delighted with our strong peak trading performance, which has been made possible thanks to the determination of our brilliant team who focus on helping families get more out of life, all while continuously enhancing the online shopping experience. By bringing together our amazing assortment of products with compelling deals and our best-in-class fulfilment operation, we delivered growth in almost all categories, with games consoles, air fryers and perfume among our best sellers."

Chloé Burney, Senior News & Features Writer.