At the third annual The Business of Beauty Global Forum, held at Stanly Ranch in Napa Valley, California, beauty leaders convened to address a pivotal moment for the $441 billion global beauty industry. Unilever Prestige’s CEO Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson joined BoF’s chief business officer and head of beauty, Johanna Stout, to discuss how evolving consumer expectations are reshaping the meaning of value within the prestige beauty space.
Once propelled by rapid growth — with demand expanding 7 percent annually between 2022 and 2024, according to BoF and McKinsey & Co.’s The State of Fashion: Beauty 2025 report — the beauty industry now faces a period of recalibration amid evolving economic conditions, regional maturity and global uncertainties.
Yet even in a shifting landscape, growth continues — projected globally at 5 percent per year through 2030 — spurred by an expanded definition of beauty that now includes wellness, personal care and treatments. At the same time, consumers are increasingly driven by value, skeptical of “hype” and obsessed with proven product efficiency.
Seventy-five percent of industry executives surveyed for The State of Fashion: Beauty Report 2025 pinpoint consumer scrutiny on perceived value as the dominant force shaping the sector, while 54 percent see uncertain consumer appetite or restricted spending as the clearest risk to future growth. As a result, prestige brands must sharpen and reframe their value propositions to remain relevant.
For Unilever Prestige, this recalibration is paying off. In 2024, its “Beauty and Wellbeing” division posed underlying sales growth of 6.5 percent — with volume accelerating at 5.1 percent and its prestige brands such as Hourglass, Tatcha, Dermalogica and Paula’s Choice each delivered double-digit growth.
As today’s shoppers demand efficiency, clarity and authenticity, Gasco-Buisson shared on stage how prestige brands can stand out, compete with mass brands on performance, navigate the rise of dupe culture, and reimagine the future of the category.
Redefine value through efficacy and consumer experience
Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson: Value in beauty is a three-part equation: efficacy, experience and emotional resonance, weighted against the price that is paid. It is all about how you deliver the efficacy that you promised. Is the experience of using your product amazing? Do you love it? And do you love that over-the-price that you pay for it?
There are two crucial moments that brands must win — the moment of awareness and the moment of use. At that moment of awareness, the multiplier is: “Must I have it?” And at that moment of use, that is where magic happens — when the product changes something that really matters to you. That is where it becomes unforgettable.
When thinking about my own beauty journey, I started with indifference. That grew into a profound appreciation for products that helped me through skin issues that occurred. Beauty isn’t superficial — it’s about how you show up in your life, with your family and with your colleagues.
Innovate with purpose
MCGB: As accessible brands continue to raise the bar on innovation and performance, prestige players can no longer solely rely on brand image or luxury positioning to justify price. Why would anybody go to a prestige brand in a world where everything is accessible? It’s because we expect a more extraordinary experience.
Rather than viewing dupes as a threat, I see them as a call to action. In a world of infinite choice, brands must go beyond surface-level differentiation.
Innovation is not just the latest trend — it’s finding the problems that are still not solved, and solving them in a way that is unforgettable. A recent example of this for us was with K18 — a biotech-driven brand addressing hair damage repair with breakthrough science. They went after hair damage in an advanced, purposeful way — and that is exactly the kind of innovation we want at Unilever Prestige.
Consider ‘dupe culture’ a call to action
MCGB: The rise of dupe culture underscores a shift in how consumers define value. But rather than viewing dupes as a threat, I see them as a call to action. In a world of infinite choice, brands must go beyond surface-level differentiation.
What can’t be copied here is the deep emotional connection that is formed when a product truly transforms experience, whether that be restoring confidence after hair loss or creating a nighttime ritual that becomes a moment of self-love. Prestige beauty must be able to deliver on the feeling of irreplaceability. That is where desire is built, not just within marketing but in the products’ actual ability to exceed expectations, solve problems and generate loyalty through their impact.
In this way, that ‘must-have’ status becomes less about exclusivity and much more about emotional urgency — that real sense of a product not just fitting into your routine, but actually transforming it.
Preserve the founder’s vision and ethos as you scale
MCGB: At Unilever Prestige, building brands that stand the test of time means nurturing visionary founders and protecting the essence of what makes each of those brands distinct. We have a model that embraces that founder-led creativity while scaling operational excellence. It’s something that my predecessor Vasiliki Petrou established and its essence has remained core to our division’s growth.
In a world where every brand is fighting for a fraction of attention, the winners will be the ones who deliver value across every single touchpoint — efficacy, experience, emotion and ethics.
The goal here isn’t to standardise but to codify what exactly makes each brand unforgettable and elevate it. That could be a self-care routine that is embedded in Tatcha’s nighttime skincare, the mission-driven innovation behind Hourglass or the biotech behind K18.
Across our portfolio, what united these brands is their commitment to quality, to purpose and to values that aren’t up for compromise — whether that be in sourcing, in storytelling, in formulation or experience. That is what keeps prestige beauty relevant even as the market floods in with alternatives.
Prestige isn’t just about price or packaging. It is about integrity, insight and that courage to raise the bar.
Rethink innovation to push the category forwards
MCGB: I believe that future growth hinges on identifying unmet needs and backing the brands that solve them with originality and science. Indeed, we believe that ‘sameness’ is the enemy of value, which means investing in true product breakthroughs, not just new, buzzy launches.
In a world where every brand is fighting for a fraction of attention, the winners will be the ones who deliver value across every single touchpoint — efficacy, experience, emotion and ethics.
As I see it, prestige beauty’s greatest strength lies in its ability to make people feel seen, supported and empowered — not just in front of a mirror, but in their lives. It’s that kind of value that never goes out of style.
This is a sponsored feature paid for by Unilever Prestige as part of a BoF partnership.
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