The 2022 New Year, New You Consumer Report

As consumers shift their focus from holiday consumption to more health-conscious New Year’s resolutions, this will undoubtedly dictate a corresponding shift in how CPG brands and retailers prepare to market and sell to them.

To gauge how much of a shift may occur, we surveyed 1,118 U.S.-based consumers about their upcoming health, fitness, and beauty plans in the new year. Data from Catalina’s Buyer Intelligence Database was also layered into the report to highlight past sales of beauty and enhancement products in January 2021 compared with January 2020.

As we head into another year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear people’s approach to fitness has changed. According to The COVID Era Fitness Consumer Report conducted in late 2020 from The Global Health & Fitness Association, when comparing people’s physical activity prior to pandemic-related shutdowns with periods where shutdowns occurred, 50% of respondents reported being less active. However, 94% of gymgoers reported that they planned to return to the gym in some magnitude, according to that same report.

While optimism may have been high heading into 2021, data from our report indicates that many did not meet their health and fitness goals last year. In fact, nearly half of respondents (48%) said they failed to meet their fitness goals in 2021. Over half of the female respondents (51%) indicated they did not meet their fitness goals in 2021, while 44% of male respondents failed to meet their fitness goals in the same year.

Below is a breakdown of the health and fitness-related goals that were most commonly not met by survey respondents throughout 2021.

• Weight loss: 60%
• Increasing mobility/flexibility: 40%
• Increasing lean muscle mass: 33%
• Maintaining the same level of overall health: 20%
• Socialization (meeting new people at workout classes and/or the gym): 16%

Both males and females cited “weight loss” as their top failed fitness goal in 2021 — with 67% of females and 51% of males claiming it as a failed goal this past year.

2022 Health and Fitness Goals

The future is reportedly bright for many heading into 2022 — with 73% of respondents planning to increase their attention and/or effort on their overall health and fitness in the new year.

Age Breakdown of Respondents Who Plan to Increase Their Focus on Weight Loss and Overall Health in 2022

18-29: 66%
30-44: 68%
45-60: 61%
60+: 57%

What steps are being prioritized for those looking to improve their health in 2022? Healthy eating tops the list, with 4 out of the top 5 reported tactics aimed at achieving a healthier lifestyle in 2022 focusing on clean eating and dieting.

Breakdown of What Respondents Plan on Doing to Increase Overall Health/Weight Loss Efforts in 2022

• Eating more vegetables: 60%
• Restricting caloric intake (dieting): 43%
• Eating lean proteins: 42%
• Eating out less (cooking at home more often): 38%
• Purchasing at-home workout equipment: 34%
• Purchasing a gym membership: 34%
• Fasting: 21%
• Purchasing weight-loss supplements: 17%
• Group fitness classes: 16%
• Juice cleanse: 14%

The increased attention on fitness and health may, in part, be due to increased in-person functions in the new year. Forty-six percent of respondents anticipate dieting or exercising more aggressively than in years past due to the likely increase of in-person functions in 2022.

Keeping Up (Personal) Appearances

It appears that some of the trends that developed around beauty and personal care throughout 2020-21 may continue into 2022: 43% of respondents stated they are equally as concerned with their appearance as they were during the height of the pandemic. Twenty percent of respondents stated they are more concerned than they were prior to the pandemic, while the same amount (20%) said they are less concerned than they’ve been in previous years. Seventeen percent of those surveyed said they are not concerned with their appearance whatsoever.

Female respondents have heightened concern around their appearance, with 22% of females and 16% of males reporting that they are more concerned with their personal appearance now than before the pandemic.

Planned Spending on Beauty and Enhancement Products in Early 2022

An overwhelming majority (71%) of respondents plan to spend as much, or more, on beauty and enhancement products in early 2022 as they did previously (when compared with 2020 and 2021). Fifty-two percent plan to keep their overall spend flat when compared with 2020 and 2021. Nineteen percent plan to increase their overall spend when compared with the previous two years. Fifteen percent of respondents do not plan to purchase products that improve their appearance, and 13% plan to decrease their overall spend when compared with 2020 and 2021.

Breakdown of the Beauty and Enhancement Products That Respondents Plan to Purchase in Early 2022

• Deodorant: 70%
• Hair care products: 60%
• Skin care products (anti-aging lotions, serums, etc.): 45%
• Cologne/Perfume: 38%
• Makeup products (lipstick, mascara, blush, foundation, etc.): 33%
• Nail care products (nail polish, etc.): 24%
• Teeth whitening products: 21%
• Aftershave: 15%
• Sunless tanning products: 7%

Beauty and Enhancement Product Sales: January 2021 vs. January 2020

Unsurprisingly, as lifestyles evolved during the pandemic, shopping behaviors shifted as well. When comparing post-New Year’s sales of beauty and enhancement products, Catalina data shows there was a market decline in a number of beauty-related categories.

Looking back at actual sales in January 2021 versus January 2020, the categories that saw the largest year-over-year decrease (in dollars) over this time period were: “lip cosmetics” (-48%), “face cosmetics” (-27%), “hair care styling” (-18%), “eye cosmetics” (-17%), “men’s hair care” (-11%), and “deodorants” (-10%).

The categories that saw the largest sales increases year-over-year in January 2021 were “texturing hair care” (+31%), “women’s cologne/perfume/scent” (+23%), “nail polish/treatment/artificial” (+9%), and “hand & body cream lotions” (+9%).

What’s Ahead for CPG Brands and Retailers in Early 2022

While the pandemic never ceases to keep retailers and CPG brands on their toes, data from our “2022 New Year, New You” report suggests that consumers are as interested as ever in purchasing clean foods, fitness, and beauty-related products in 2022. Brands and retailers alike can prepare for future consumer behavior shifts by leveraging Catalina’s vast database of shopper insight data. For more information on Catalina’s suite of services, click here.

UPDATE FEB. 2022:

We’ve provided an update to the “2022 New Year, New You Consumer Report” that includes actual January 2022 sales data from the Catalina Buyer Intelligence Database. This data explores how consumers’ beauty and enhancement product purchases have shifted by comparing category sales (January 2022 vs. January 2021).

Despite consumers’ plans to purchase beauty and enhancement products, according to the “2022 New Year, New Year Consumer Report” survey (conducted in late 2021), only four categories saw an increase in actual sales in January 2022: “lip cosmetics” (+7.9%), “hair care – styling” (+4%), “men’s hair care” (+3.7%), and “hand & body cream lotions” (+0.7%).

Notably, three out of the four categories that saw the largest sales lift in January 2022 (when compared to January 2021) were categories that experienced the largest decline in sales in January 2021 (when compared to January 2020).

The beauty and enhancement product categories that saw the largest decrease in sales in January 2022 (when compared to January 2021) were: “women’s cologne/perfume/scent” (-17.9%), “aftershave lotion/men’s cologne” (-14.9%), “texturing hair care” (-13.6%), “skincare – aging” (-13.5%), and “sunless tanning” (-11.8%).

Interestingly, the two top product categories that experienced the largest year-over-year increase in January 2021 (when compared to January 2020), “texturing hair care” and “women’s cologne/perfume/scent”, were among the worst performing categories in January 2022 (when compared to January 2021).

Catalina will continue to monitor Omicron’s impact on consumer behavior and provide brands and retailers with the tools and information to leverage our vast shopper insights. To learn more, click here.

Survey Methodology

Total respondents: 1,118
Margin of error: +/- 2.991%
Country: United States (USA)
Region: All Regions
Gender: All Genders
Gender balancing: Census
Age of respondents: 18–99+
Age balancing: Basic Census