The state of the economy appears to be taking its toll on beauty purchases across most retail channels, with the exception of one – the Internet.
According to “Emerging Channels Series: Beauty Care Products, Special Focus: The Internet” from The NPD Group, Inc., the Internet gained one percentage point and was the only retail channel to experience an increase in the number of women who reported mentions for beauty products .

The Internet, an increasingly dynamic, though comparatively small channel for beauty, has a higher ratio of women saying they spent more, relative to those who said they spent less on beauty in the past year. The average annual beauty spending per woman is $86 for this channel. The ease of shopping online and product availability continues to be what is driving Internet shoppers who spend more via this channel than in the prior year.

Women who spent more on the Internet also told NPD that they purchased more beauty products in general and that they started buying more expensive brands and products than in the previous year. Higher gas prices also had a positive impact on Internet spending. More consumers opted to shop for and buy beauty products online, instead of driving to a store.

In addition, the Internet plays a key role in shopper research. About two in three Internet shoppers who shopped for beauty online, but did not make a purchase, said they use the Internet to gather information and make price comparisons through different Web sites, preferably ones that offer various brands or a combination of multi-brand and single brand Web sites.