There is no denying that the beauty industry is inundated with new launches on the daily, all marketed as a routine must-have or claiming to offer something never seen before.
Many beauty brands are positioning their products as the answer to a gap in the market, implying their products offer something never seen before.
But, in such an oversaturated market, are there any gaps left to be filled, or has this phrase simply become a marketing term that has lost its meaning?
Cosmetics Business posed the question to experts across all areas of the industry. Read on to discover their responses.
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Millie Kendall OBE, CEO, British Beauty Council
The current offer means that the term is timing out
“I think a niche in the market does still exist, but finding it is becoming increasingly more difficult.
You cannot just loosely say these days that a product or brand fills a gap in the market unless they truly do, and this requires you to do your research and have a level of transparency and honesty that some brands might not have in their arsenal.
We do not see many product gaps or ingredient gaps, but we do see lifestyle gaps, like beauty products for GLP-1 users, fitting in and around people's lifestyle and identity.
As the market place has changed so significantly over the past three decades it might be that the current offer means that the term is timing out.
We no longer need to use this as an identifiable asset.
If a niche has become so saturated it cannot by definition be niche, it immediately becomes mass.
“The next step is upgrading what was once a niche, that gap in the market, and creating an elevated version of the same – an ultra-mass.”
Sam Heath, Head of Beauty, at PR and communications agency, Aisle 8
There are only three kinds of gaps worth claiming
“The phrase ‘gap in the market’ appears in almost every beauty launch pitch, but very few brands c
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