As countries around the world emerge from lockdown after extended periods of staying home, one category that has had a recent surge in online sales is personal care. The world is preparing to venture back to a version of our previous lives, and also means getting ready to show ourselves publicly again.

Since the start of April, at ChannelSight we have noticed a definite increase in the personal care category. In particular, a key category to see this surge has been the hair grooming category. Whether it be needing a haircut, trimming your beards or even just dying your hair it is a challenge for many of us at home.  With parlours, barbers, and nail salons closed for the foreseeable future many of us have to tend to our personal care on our own. Looking at Google trends we are seeing drastic increases in search terms such as “Home hair dye” and “how to cut my own hair”, “Hair scissors” amongst others. What is interesting now, is that these google trends are starting to decrease in recent days, as lockdown restrictions start to ease. 

At ChannelSight, looking at our own eCommerce Intelligence data we are seeing similar trends in consumer behaviour. The data shows a large increase in the same for personal grooming products. 

Hair Clippers

Though it would not be the first choice for many people, cutting one’s own hair at home has become increasingly popular amidst the lockdown. According to Google Trends there is a large icrease in the searches for hair tutorials. This is mirrored in our own eCommerce data. Our chart below shows a large increase in both traffic as well as sales for hair clippers.

As our data shows, the sharp increase has taken place from March to April. This is the time period when strict lockdown restrictions in many countries were extended and many realised that they will be tending to their own haircuts for the time being. The increasing popularity of DIY haircuts is also reflected on social media platforms such as Instagram where by hashtags such as #Lockdownhaircuts, #covidhaircut and #lockdownhairstyle have gone viral.

Shown below is the google trend for the following searches:

Beard Trimmers become increasingly popular

A big part of grooming for men is their beard. However, since barber shops are closed for the foreseeable future due to being considered high contact environments, the next best solution is having a beard trimmer. 

ChannelSight’s data shows that there is a sharp increase in the demand as well as conversions for beard trimmers. This increase happened from March, right about the time when lockdowns around the world were being put in place. 

Hair Dye

Another interesting trend that we saw based on our data was the increase in demand and sales for hair dye. While the increase from February to March for hair dye was limited, the increase was much larger from March to April. We extrapolate that this is based on the increasing time that went by in lockdown without access to salons and hairdressers. Hence consumers resorting to taking care of appearances at home. Josh Wood Colour, a UK based brand, has seen a drastic increase in the demand for their hair dye driven by women aged 35 or above with graying hair. 

Next Steps

While we are valuing hairdressers, salons and beauticians more than ever, many of us are also learning to do things ourselves. As we slowly being to emerge from the lockdowns, it will be interesting to see the shifts in consumer behaviour that will stay beyond the lockdown period. Hence, it will become more vital than ever for your brands to take data driven decisions. 

Would you like to learn more information about ChannelSight and how you can take data driven decisions? Get in touch with us here.