New data reveals top beauty brands building stronger loyalties and followings with Gen Z

Caught amidst the cultural shift of de-influencing, influencer fatigue, and an economic uncertainty troubling the wallets and minds of many consumers, the beauty category faces a unique challenge: not just capturing attention, but securing lasting loyalty.

Research and strategy company dcdx has released its Q3 2024 Gen Z's Top 50 Beauty Brands Ranking Report, which measures the ability of brands and retailers in attracting popular and consistent user-generated content (UGC).

The measure is a 0-100 scale analysing how magnetic a brand is with Gen Z. The four tiers are Weak Brands, Functional Brands, Relevant Brands, and Magnetic Brands.

Weak Brands are both less involved in conversation and less consistent in that involvement, while Functional Brands do attract some level of consideration but are not typically first-choice brands for Gen Z, and Relevant Brands attract consideration from this generation.

However, Magnetic Brands do well in attracting young consumers by controlling their own brand ecosystems, driving pricing power, enabling innovation, and creating further distance from competitors. Of the top 50 beauty brands, the following 25 fell into the Magnetic tier:

• Sephora
• Charlotte Tilbury
• Rare Beauty
• Dior
• Maybelline
• E.l.f. Cosmetics
• Nars
• Rhode
• Benefit
• ColourPop
• ABH
• Huda Beauty
• Fenty Beauty
• Lush
• Saie
• Nyx Proffessional Makeup
• Kosas
• MAC Cosmetics
• Kylie Cosmetics
• The Ordinary
• Ulta Beauty
• Tarte
• Milk Makeup
• Urban Decay
• Drunk Elephant

While many have improved significantly since last year, legacy brands, however, are said to be struggling to keep up with the industry and the rate of cultural change in 2024.

From Manscaped to Neutrogena and Cetaphil, these brands tend to target broader or more male-centric target audiences, receiving less engagement than more niche and/or female-centric audiences, as evidenced by the report.

By analysing UGC from nearly 50 brands, the data also identified recurring content themes within the industry.

These factors can be used to understand the composition of organic conversations in the beauty industry for Gen Z.

The percent contribution of organic conversation in the beauty industry for each relevance factor includes:

• Tutorials & Trends - 25.1%
• Lifestyle - 20.3%
• Random - 16.7%
• GRWM (Get ready with me) - 15.9%
• Brand Experiences - 12.3%
• Product Reviews - 9.8%

Read TheIndustry.beauty's feature on how beauty brands can leverage TikTok to drive growth.