Press Release
Top Tan Towns: Britain’s Biggest Beauty Kings & Queens
Worldpay Data shows Residents of Uttlesford, Carlisle & York are Britain’s Top Beauty Spenders for 2018August 29, 2018
London, 29th August 2018 - Despite reports of UK consumers tightening their purse strings 1 , beauty Kings and Queens across the country have pumped and plumped over £100 million into the industry this summer. In particular, barber and beauty salons saw a 6% increase in summer sales volumes compared with last year, showing the UK’s appetite for beauty continues to be strong.
Markle Sparkle and Dyer Dazzle
Worldpay’s analysis of UK consumer spending over the summer months suggests that events including the Royal Wedding and Love Island have contributed to helping keep Britain’s beauty businesses busy. While the day of the Royal Wedding was quiet, the week before and after saw beauty-related spending up almost 7% on last year. Similarly, in the first two weeks of this year’s cult reality TV show Love Island, the average number of beauty-related purchases in the UK rose 7.3% compared to last year. Spending volumes in salons also increased by an impressive 14.5% the day after the first episode aired and 9.3% the day after glamour model Megan Barton Hanson entered the villa.
Who are Britain’s Biggest Beauty Kings & Queens?
It’s not just Dani Dyer doing Essex proud: Worldpay’s analysis found that the residents of Uttlesford, Essex reign as Britain’s biggest beauty kings and queens. Neighbours of the Love Island winner spent 27% more on beauty over the summer period than in 2017. Northern beauties were pipped at the post this year, with Carlisle and York coming in second and third. Representing the capital, Southwark is home to London’s most prolific beauties, up 16% compared to last year, and Dundee flies the flag for Scotland, up 15%.
While the Northerners just missed out on the crown for this year, the North East wins the award for the biggest Love Island impact, with a massive 12.9% increase in spending over the first week of the show this year. Yorkshire and The Humber caught the Royal Wedding fever, with beauty businesses seeing an 11.3% increase in transaction volumes across the wedding period.
2018’s Biggest Beauty Kings & Queens 2 |
| 1. Uttlesford – 27% |
| 2. Carlisle – 22% |
| 3. York – 21% |
| 4. London Borough of Southwark – 16% |
| 5. Dundee City – 15% |
Steve Newton, Executive Vice President of Worldpay, UK and Europe, said: “It’s great to see appetite for beauty remains strong, and that consumers are spending more on treatments in barber shops and beauty salons. The busy British summer seems to have enhanced this positive spending trend, with Love Island and the Royal Wedding both correlating with peaks in footfall.
“Now the summer sun is starting to die down, beauty businesses can still keep customers coming through the doors. Using social media to engage with customers, or improving online offerings for faster booking or payments can help to keep customers coming back. In the beauty business, customer service is still king – those who get it right might just win the crown next year.
Notes to editors:
About the data:
Analysis of UK card transaction data for health and beauty spas, barber and beauty shops and cosmetic stores processed by Worldpay during the 12th May – 9th July 2017 and 2018.
About Worldpay
Worldpay, Inc. (NYSE: WP; LSE: WPY) is a leading payments technology company with unique capability to power global integrated omni-commerce. With industry-leading scale and an unmatched integrated technology platform, Worldpay offers clients a comprehensive suite of products and services globally, delivered through a single provider.
Worldpay processes over 40 billion transactions annually through more than 300 payment types across 146 countries and 126 currencies. The company’s growth strategy includes expanding into high-growth markets, verticals and customer segments, including global eCommerce, Integrated Payments and B2B.
Worldpay, Inc. was formed in 2018 through the combination of the No. 1 merchant acquirers in the U.S. and the U.K. Worldpay, Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange as “WP” and the London Stock Exchange as “WPY.”
For more information please contact:
Siobhan Acha Derrington siobhan.derrington@worldpay.com +44 (0) 203 664 4822
Rebecca Mansfield, Golin rmansfield@golin.com + 44 (0) 20 067 0855
1 https://www.ft.com/content/891db2bc-5550-11e8-b3ee-41e0209208ec
2 Represents analysis of UK transaction volumes within the beauty sector processed by Worldpay between 12.05.2018 – 19.07.2018 vs same period in 2017