What: 88% of shoppers saying they are more likely to shop with a beauty brand that offers a BNPL option.

Why is it important: As beauty is a critical business for department stores, data shows all age groups have increased their orders during the pandemic.

“Klarna’s beauty survey has uncovered new consumer insights and trends that beauty brands should keep in mind as they plan their strategies for the rest of the year,” said David Sykes, head of U.S. at Klarna. “For example, a key learning is that shoppers across all generations agree that brand values play a significant role in their purchasing decisions when shopping their favourite beauty items.”

More consumers in the Baby Boomer generation said sustainability values were most important when shopping for beauty products (31%) than Gen Z (19%). Instead, diversity and inclusion was named the most important value by both Gen Z at 40% and Millennials at 31%. When asked what items beauty shoppers want most, skin care came out as the top beauty category shopped during the pandemic.

As vaccines become available, Klarna’s survey found many young shoppers plan to return to stores to shop for beauty — 30% of Gen Z and 24% of Millennials. However, while 67% of respondents said they preferred shopping in-store for beauty pre-pandemic, 42% said they plan to continue to shop as they currently are even after the vaccine rolls out.

Over the past year, the survey shows that Millennials were the top generation to prefer mobile shopping at 42.5% while all other generations preferred shopping on a desktop. Overall, the option to buy now, pay later was found to be the “biggest factor in improving the online shopping experience” during the pandemic in all age groups. 88% of shoppers saying they are “more likely to shop with a beauty brand that offers a BNPL option.”

“A lot of our partners are looking for new customer-centric strategies to drive customers back to store,” said Alex Fisher, Afterpay VP of retail, adding that there has been “massive demand” for Afterpay to be at beauty retail stores.

According to a BareMinerals spokesperson, in-store locations typically see an average order value of USD 42, but this has increased to USD 96 since the start of its Afterpay partnership. Additionally, the repeat purchase rate for Afterpay customers is over 20%, which is higher compared to other payment methods, the spokesperson said.

Klarna Survey Reveals Changing Consumer Behaviors in the Beauty Sector

Buy Now Pay Later platforms are catching on in beauty stores

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