Today, Boots keeps on top of trends via traditional data platforms and reports but also AI-led platforms that scan TikTok, Instagram, Google and even Reddit.
“Tracking trends is the easy bit. The hardest bit is identifying when the right time to respond to that trend is,” said Grace Vernon, head of global foresight and trends at Boots. “It’s definitely an ever-changing beast; the pace is increasing. And that is why it’s important for us to make sure we have the right insights, the right data and the right people to leverage all of that.”
Fast-tracking viral brands
For the retailed, the challenge lies in finding the sweet spot between identifying and responding to a trend, Grace Vernon told Premium Beauty News. Tracking, analysing and integrating data on trending brands or beauty and wellness movements in real-time, on top of insights provided by its 17 million active Boots Advantage cardholders, provides a much clearer picture on when to move on a trend, she said.
Sometimes, Boots will launch a trending brand or product into regular store space but other times it will use its Boots Ignite programme for a launch. This initiative, launched in December 2024, aims to fast-track emerging, viral beauty and wellness brands that often don’t have the capacity for a fully scaled regular retail launch. To date, the programme has launched 44 brands, with 95% moving into wider category retail space and increasing distribution after initial launch. One of the first brands launched under Boots Ignite, for example was Biodance with its sheet masks which sold out within two weeks. “The brand is now one of the most successful brands we’ve launched on Ignite and the brand continues to go from strength to strength,” Vernon said.
What Ignite does, is enable Boots to launch and scale smaller brands incrementally and, more importantly, do so quickly, she said. “Our fastest turnaround is currently eight weeks. If we had a conversation with a brand today, we can launch them within eight weeks because we’ve created this fast-track process to do that (…) For an online launch, we could probably go even quicker.”
And whilst speed-to-shelf is key in keeping Boots competitive, carefully curation and choosing which brands and trends to back remains crucial for reputation, said Alice Rafferty, director of beauty at Boots.
“The right side of a trend”
“We do have to make sure we stand by our trust and heritage and get on the right side of a trend,” Rafferty explained. “It’s about understanding the trends but also where our responsibility sits as a retailer.”
Boots’ beauty advisors play a central role in this, she said, providing shoppers advice on products and trends that are suitable or relevant to them, based on ongoing beauty and wellness training.
Vernon agreed on the importance of not simply responding to the “constant churn” of beauty trends, but instead being thought leaders. “Our priority is to educate customers but also navigate and find out what’s right for them.”
As trends, hashtags and online movements build, therefore, she said it is more important than ever that Boots focuses on curation. Boots’ K-Beauty activation is a good example of this, she said, where the retailer has pooled together products under themes and trends, providing explanatory cards to inform customers about how to use formulas and tools. Similarly, the retailer’s online and in-store ’Trending on Social’ space pools together viral brands and products but in an informative and highly curated way.
And these spaces are not just for younger shoppers, said Rafferty. “Boots is definitely a multi-generation retailer. We have customers of all ages who learn about trends through stores. We have people on the post-partum journey, weight loss, menopause; there are so many people who start that conversation in-store. And because we are that trusted retailer, they come in looking for help.”
Staying relevant to a varied demographic is a key priority for Boots when responding to trends, said Vernon. Her trends team, for example, meets weekly to discuss viral trends and analyse how Boots is responding and remaining a relevant part of that conversation. “It’s about making sure we have the right breadth of range to speak to all demographics and genders, especially when, from a global beauty point of view, the world has never been so accessible.”
Reactive, proactive, strategic
Boots’ retail strategy today is built on reactive, proactive and strategic actions. The reactive side, Vernon explained, centres around those weekly meetings and cultural conversations; the proactive angle relates more to leading on important trends, like K-Beauty in the UK; and strategic is about longer-term action and planning. “Trends, alongside consumer insights and consumer behaviour and market insights, is really a key part of that – fuelling the business at all three levels.”
Rafferty said on the strategic side, Boots is heavily invested in building long-term partnerships with brands. “Whilst trending is important, it’s also important to look at the lifespan. It’s also about partnership and how we continue to grow that brand,” she said.
Vernon added: “The main thing is about being responsive to what’s happening in the market, maintaining relevance and being thought-leaders. We haven’t been around for 176 years by accident, it’s because we’ve evolved to market dynamics, consumer behaviour and we’re accessible. We’re identifying trends and getting them to customers first, and doing it in a way that’s disruptive.”
