What’s new under the sun?
The skinification of hair, scalp care and makeup has been a thing, but now ingredients and benefits endemic to skin care are filtering into the sun care category. The latest crop of sun protection products work overtime to deliver benefits beyond avoiding sunburns.
The sun care industry spent decades educating consumers about the importance of SPF. Consumers got the message, especially Gen Z. SPF is as much a part of a day at the beach as a good book and comfy chair.
Now shoppers are on the hunt for sun care that does double duty including blocking blue light, protecting against pollution, reducing signs of aging and enhancing skin health. Ingredients associated with facial skin care like niacinamide and hyaluronic acid are popping up in sun care and sunless tanners. Clean formulas, options for melanin-rich skin, mineral forms, tanning drops and serums are high on shoppers’ lists. Industry experts predict ingredient and form stories will continue to brighten sun category sales.
“Incorporating ingredients that are strongly associated with health, such as probiotics, can help category players better appeal to the growing number of skin health-focused consumers. 31%of adults consider 'recommended by doctor/dermatologist' as a driving factor when shopping for facial skin care products, which is likely a shared theme among sunscreen and skin protection products,” said Jasteena Gill, vice president of marketing for CeraVe. Protection is paramount, she added, with almost 70% of skin protection users wearing sunscreens to reduce their risk of cancer. Transparency about ingredients and sourcing is also important to today’s sun care shopper.
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Broader protection provided by the new breed of products has made sun care part of daily routines, according to a report from Mintel Group. Sun care products produced sales gains exceeding 12% in 2022, per Circana, one of the strongest performers in personal care. Reportlinker.com estimated that global sun care sales reached $12.83 billion in 2022 and is projected to expand to $15.5 billion by 2026. Beyond upgraded products, sales have been propelled by Americans traveling more after the pandemic.
While many consumers learn about sun care trends via TikTok or other social media (hashtags such as #bestsunscreen have millions of views), retailers are doing their own fair share of education.
“One of the reasons we created our Skin Care Centers was to provide more education about all skin care, including sun,” said Andrea Harrison, CVS’ vice president of merchandising for Beauty and Personal Care. CVS has expanded its breadth of assortment in sun including SPF 70 formulas, a private label Sheer Face and Body sunstick and Black Girl Sunscreen for people of color.
Walgreens’ Heather Hughes, group vice president and GMM of beauty, personal care and seasonal, said the chain’s 3,000-plus beauty consultants are trained to help consumers with sun care advice. Some items also have QR codes to offer skin cancer prevention information.
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The efforts to step up selection and offer education arrive at an important crossroads in the category. Multifunctional sun care products open the opportunity for higher price tags and consumers appear willing to shell out. Mintel found that 28% of shoppers agree it is worth it to pay more for premium products. That’s one reason Circana data showed prestige sun care gains outstripping mass in 2022.
To maintain their dominant share of sun care sales, mass market retailers are putting a bigger spotlight on the category with a bevy of new brands, enhanced education in stores and traffic-stopping displays merging sun protection and seasonal fare. Surprisingly, price is not among the top five reasons for selecting an item, Mintel said. The level of sun protection ranks first followed by brand name, clean ingredients, formula and format. That permits mass merchants to offer premium products balanced by options such as value-priced private labels.
Innovations From Emerging and Legacy Brands Heat Up Sales
Legacy brands constitute 70% of the market, according to NielsenIQ data. The top five brands are Neutrogena, Banana Boat, Coppertone, Sun Bum and Hawaiian Tropic. The leaders have not taken the throttle off of product development. Edgewell, which owns Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic, expects robust sales for the remainder of 2023, especially as Americans travel more.
“Overall, one of the biggest trends we’ve seen is that consumers are looking for good-for-your-skin ingredients that not only protect them from the sun, but also help with their long-term skin health and appearance,” said Brianna Bostick, Associate Marketing Manager, PR & Partnerships at Edgewell Personal Care.
This is why we’ve created products like Banana Boat Protection + Vitamins, an SPF multitasker that nourishes, hydrates and rejuvenates skin with ingredients like vitamins C and B3, as well as Hawaiian Tropic Sheer Touch Serum, a breathable SPF serum with hyaluronic acid that gives skin long-lasting moisturization and protection.
Coppertone kept its momentum going with the debut of Pure & Simple 100% Natural Botanicals, a hypoallergenic sunscreen lotion with SPF 50 and zinc oxide protection. For the younger set, the brand added Kids SPF50 Clear Sunscreen Face Stick, Kids SPF 50 Clear Sunscreen Spray and Kids SPF50 Clear Sunscreen lotion. To appeal to people with more melanin, Coppertone launched Every Tone sunscreen.
Beiersdorf’s Eucerin skin care brand franchise is expanding into sun protection with the launch of Eucerin Sun. The collection features seven products for body and face. All products contain a complex of five antioxidants to go beyond sun protection and help promote healthy-looking skin, according to the company. Under its Nivea brand, Beiersdorf also rolled out a customized sunscreen for a child whose condition precludes exposure to sunlight. Wearing the sunscreen allows the child to be outdoors in the sun for a few minutes.
As chains upgrade, several have added L’Oréal’s La Roche-Posay. The company recently launched its UVMune 400 sun filtering technology, which the company says is its biggest sun care innovation in 30 years. It was developed to protect the skin against ultra-long UVA rays, “the 30% of solar rays that have so far been insufficiently filtered, but are contributors to skin aging and skin cancer,” according to the company. Currently available in La Roche Posay Invisible Fluid SPF50+ and La Roche-Posay Hydrating Cream SPF50+, the technology is expected to roll out across L’Oréal’s sun care brands.
Another blockbuster L’Oréal-owned brand, CeraVe, made the successful leap into sun care in 2019 and has been a catalyst for the expansion of mineral sunscreens. Mineral sunscreens are still a small but growing sector of sunscreens. All of its products in sun are 100% mineral except its newest launch, Hydrating Sheer Sunscreen, which is a blend of chemical and mineral ingredients which the company called an “evolving segment that is gaining traction.”
Known for trailblazing the natural space, Burt’s Bees is growing in sun, too. Its lineup includes items to round out sun protection SPF 30 Sensitive Solutions Calming Day Lotion, SPF 30 Sun Care Tinted Lip Balm and SPF 15 All-Weather Moisturizing Lip balm.
A host of smaller brands are edging their way onto retail shelves, including lines that appeal to Gen Z, parents with toddlers and consumers who put clean on the top of their shopping list.
Bubble, a Gen Z skin care favorite, just entered the sun care space with the launch of two mineral SPF sunscreens, Plus One and Solar Mate. More than 9,000 CVS, Walmart and Ulta Beauty doors are adding the products to their assortments. The launch is the result of feedback garnered from Bubble’s community of 6,000 consumers.
“I am extremely proud of our team of chemists who, after nearly 100 different iterations and three years of effort, were able to formulate two effective and affordable broad-spectrum SPF 40 sunscreens that will disrupt the SPF market,” said Shai Eisenman, founder and CEO of Bubble. “We wanted to address common issues consumers face with typical sunscreen offerings, which is why Bubble’s formulations have no ‘sunscreen smell,’ are non-comedogenic, leave no white cast or residue and are lightweight and easy to apply. By introducing two different mineral sunscreens in travel-friendly air-pump packaging, we are continuing to open up our brand to new categories of consumers across different ages, demographics and skin care needs.”
Shoppers are seeking out clean formulas, according to Flora Stay, the brand's founder. Cleure has roots in the oral care business where Stay created toothpastes that were safe for children to swallow. Reacting to market demand, she expanded into skin and sun products. "We are increasing sales significantly year by year," Stay said. "Consumers of all ages are looking for clean formulas, 30 SPF and above. Our products are reef safe, non-comedogenic, easily absorbed, good for all skin types and made with zinc oxide which is rated the safest and most effective sunblock ingredient by the FDA.”
Parents are on the search for sun protection for their tots. Sustainably derived from sugarcane, Pipette’s proprietary squalane is an ideal ingredient for babies, said Kristine Naylor, director of retail marketing at Pipette. “In fact, it closely mimics a super-moisturizing molecule that skin naturally produces from birth. Beyond squalane’s skin-nourishing properties, it helps sunscreen to glide on easily and blend into skin. In a clinical study,100% of users reported that Pipette Mineral SPF 50 was easy to apply to baby’s skin—and 100% said skin felt soft and smooth after application,” she explained. The non-comedogenic formula, which won’t clog pores, also makes it suitable for babies, kids and adults. Pipette Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 is sold at Target, Walmart, Walgreens, Meijer, Wegmans, CVS and Rite-Aid.
A handful of product recalls a few years ago prompted consumers to seek ways to vet sun care ingredients. The Environmental Working Group just launched its Verified Sunscreen program, which includes two brands sold at leading mass retailers. Beautycounter which is now available at Ulta Beauty and Babo Botanicals which is sold at Target, Ulta Beauty and Wegmans, among others. According to EWG, only 25% of the 1,700 SPF products on the market offer good broad-spectrum protection without troubling ingredients. For its list, EWG rigorously tested thousands of products, and applied its stringent standards to find the healthiest and most effective sunscreens that ensure comprehensive defense against the sun’s most damaging rays.