REIMAGINING THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY AMIDST LOOMING TARIFFS

Consider the fact that many ingredients, packaging and products are imported from several countries. How will beauty brands take the increased cost of tariffs into consideration and will the end consumer decide to purchase products and services at higher prices? What does all of this actually mean for the beauty space? In this ever changing climate there is so much to consider and the time to pivot is now.

Businesses and consumers may decide to buy only US made products to avoid an increase in their favorite beauty brands, but many of these US made products might include some imported items, i. e. the packaging and some ingredients. Regardless of where the products are made the manufacturer and business might have to pay more for those supply chain items and pass the cost on to the end consumers. Companies have already been brainstorming to avoid price increases on products. In order to accomplish this companies could choose to source ingredients, products and packaging other countries with significantly lower tariffs. They could also change the formula to avoid purchasing ingredients from countries with high tariffs, but that may significantly impact the quality of the product that the consumer is expecting. Placing orders now and negotiating with manufacturers could also be a beneficial strategy. Placing orders early for all components of the end product, be it ingredients or packaging, and paying pre tariff pricing is one solution, however short term it may be.

For now what we know for sure is, we have short term loss, for long term gain. These are challenging times and the topic of tariffs are a global issue.

The beauty industry made it through salon closures. I don’t think tariffs are going to scare us!