The Audience of Skin+Me and 'No Filters'

Recent studies conducted by Statista have highlighted that a significant proportion of British skincare users are millennials, female and have a medium annual household income (Gewiese and Rau, 2023). As a result, these consumers would be a significant part of Skin+Me's target audience. Further analysis conducted by management consulting company McKinsey & Company has highlighted the values and beliefs amongst global skincare consumers, including those amongst this specific British demographic. McKinsey specifically indicated a rise in the value of wellness in the skincare industry (McKinsey & Company, 2023). Whereby, shoppers are beginning to want to learn more about product ingredients and seek out brands that align with the philosophy of looking and feeling good (Amed et al., 2023a). Skin+Me's core offering of an online dermatology consultation service positively aligns with this value of wellness (Skin+Me, 2023f). This is because of the actions behind this offering, including using scientifically proven, prescription-strength ingredients curated in partnership with dermatologists and pharmacist prescribers (Skin+Me, 2023f). Thus, the company is successfully tapping into this wellness value through the firm's attention to its ingredients and the effective, medically driven results it hopes to create through its partnerships.

The current cost-of-living crisis is becoming an important point of discussion. As a result, many British skincare consumers believe this is the most critical issue the UK currently faces (Gewiese and Rau, 2023). These consumers are currently bearing the consequences of this pressing issue, as demonstrated by the 52% of British adults who reported an increased cost of living between September and October 2023 (Barton et al., 2023). Skin+Me's target consumers may be a part of this percentage, negatively affecting their ability to purchase non-necessity goods such as Skin+Me products. This may be especially the case due to the subscription nature of Skin+Me, which means consumers must spend on average £30 every 4-8 weeks to receive their personalised products (Skin+Me, 2023b). Therefore, Skin+Me might have to consider its consumers' challenges when debating whether this recurring high cost is realistic under the current economic climate.

Skin+Me Consumer Board created with Photoshop

Skin+Me's customer base is based solely in the UK, so there are inherent opportunities to expand this pool of consumers by offering products globally. McKinsey predicts that the US skincare market will become even more dominant, with solid growth expected within the next few years (McKinsey & Company, 2023). For this reason, Skin+Me may use this opportunity as a reason to offer their products to the American market. However, McKinsey also stresses the importance of placing investment and resources towards a unique value proposition when entering the US market (Amed et al., 2023b). Therefore, it can be suggested that if Skin+Me take on this suggestion and highlight its USP as a dermatology consultation subscription service, the company may benefit from expanding its current consumer base on a global scale.

The UK skincare market is saturated, so British skincare consumers are, as a result, left with an abundance of choice as to what products to purchase. This reality is evident within 2023 British skincare consumer reports illustrating that 79% of British consumers feel overwhelmed by the skincare industry (Wightman-Stone, 2023). With these feelings of overwhelm, consumers are, as a result, trying new products at least every six months (Amed et al., 2023c). Consumers consistently diversifying their product purchases may threaten Skin+Me when aiming to sustain a loyal customer base. However, Skin+Me's recurring subscription service that sends out products chosen by dermatologists, rids the consumer need to decide what products to purchase. On that account, the brand may avoid this potential threat to consumer purchases by communicating to their consumers why shopping with them removes the overwhelming elements of shopping within the current skincare industry.