Spurred by tariffs, inflation and job insecurity, 2025 was a year of consumers pulling back on discretionary spending and redefining value. According to McKinsey’s State of Beauty 2025 report, 54% of executives see restricted spending as the greatest current risk to industry growth. It’s a shift that executives not only recognized but also actively recalibrated their strategies around in 2025. “Inflationary price increases have been plaguing us since as early as about 2022. We now have the additional tariff-induced price increases. And even more recently, in the last few months or so, we’ve started to see a tough job market. All of these things have collectively driven the consumer to pull back their spend,” said Stacey Ramstedt, CMO at Church & Dwight. McKinsey’s report, published in July, posed the question of whether the “white-hot” $450 billion beauty industry was “finally cooling.” Larissa Jensen, Circana’s svp and global beauty industry advisor, pointed out that, though consumer sentiment has indeed been struggling, beauty growth has not halted. Circana’s latest data, from January 2025 through September 2025, shows that prestige market sales increased 4% to $24.1 billion, and units sold also saw a 4% boost year over year. Sales in the mass channel increased 5% to $54.5 billion, and units sold grew 2%.Continue reading this article on glossy.co. Sign up for Glossy newsletters to get the latest on the business of beauty, fashion and pop culture.
