Each year, professionals across the beauty supply chain gather at Cosmoprof in Las Vegas to uncover the latest trends. Having attended the show over the years, it’s exciting to see trends shift from concept to reality. Here are the trends I think beauty professionals should take note of for Cosmoprof 2019: Big Data, Green Beauty, and Supply Chain Innovation.

Emergence of Big Data in Beauty

While the digitization of beauty is nothing new, the concept of what it means to the beauty and cosmetics industry has evolved as businesses have become more mature. With the rise of eCommerce and mobile app purchases, beauty companies have access to more consumer data than ever before. The next wave of big data will come in the form of tying consumer behavior to a deeper level of product and packaging data to drive insights and action. Doing this will enable companies to accelerate new product development and keep up with the growing pace of “fast beauty.”

Green Beauty Goes Mainstream

Sustainability is on the agenda at almost every beauty conference - and for good reason. As consumers care more about the environmental impact of the products they use, companies have started to take note. The first wave of sustainability centered around the packaging and carbon footprint of products. While many companies are still finding ways to solve and address packaging, consumers are driving a more holistic approach that includes clean ingredients and responsible sourcing. So what is green beauty exactly? Depending on the customer, green beauty can take shape in natural formulas, sustainably-sourced products, or even through innovative ingredients like cannabidiol (CBD). To compete and bring green beauty products to market, companies need to have greater visibility and control over existing formulas and supplier capabilities to quickly take advantage of the growing consumer sentiment in this space.

Supply Chain Innovation

Finally, we expect supply chain agility and innovation to be a common conversation “starter” in the booth and aisle discussions throughout Cosmoprof 2019. Changes in the business climate, including recent geopolitical developments, tariffs, and increasing influence of growth of social media on brand direction are forcing companies to create more agile supply chains to mitigate risk. Driven by advances in multi-cultural and social beauty brands, toll manufacturers and contract manufacturers will be touting investment in new capabilities and capacity while savvy brand owners will be looking to leverage this nimble supply chain network and bring their latest product innovation to market in record timeWhat will drive the next trends? Will it be based on innovation in formula and ingredient stories?  Perhaps advances in wearable technology and new behavioral data will lead to new insights?   Rest assured that no matter the source, the highly talented and deeply passionate beauty experts will be discussing these and other beauty industry challenges at Cosmoprof again this year.