Durban bridal show taps into the big business of beauty

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The NWJ Bridal & Beauty Experience aims to celebrate the millennial generation’s impact on the future of the beauty industry, and show budding local influencers that just about anyone can become a household name by creating a successful living for themselves in the beauty industry thanks to the power of social media.

Catalyst, a global research NPO, found that the millennial generation (born between 1984 to 2004) currently accounts for 15% of the global workforce and, by 2025, is estimated to escalate to 75%. Recognising the buying power of this digitally savvy market is what these beauty icons recognise as the future of the beauty industry.

In South Africa, millennials are no different according to a survey by Cosmopolitan magazine. Of the 19,5 billion millennials surveyed, 78% were employed and economically active, with 62% admitting to out-of-budget buying habits.

Recession-proof industry

Yasmin Kathoria

Recognising the future of the relationship between Instagram influencers and brands in SA is Yasmin Kathoria, creative director of The NWJ Bridal & Beauty Experience.

“Beauty is a recession-proof industry and is broadening in its terminology; individual expression has come to the fore. Make-up artists, hair stylists, barbers, models and celebrities, who dare to push the limits of traditional beauty to accentuate identity, are being recognised as powerful marketing tools just by being themselves on their social media platforms,” says Kathoria.

According to a global case study performed by Marketing Solutions company, McCann Bucharest, 83% of women worldwide view beauty as a “non-negotiable” part of their lives, even in tough economic times, based on the beliefs that looking beautiful impacted on getting what they want (70%) and that feeling attractive improved their confidence (93%).

Driving trends and sales

Identifying with this finding, beauty influencers drive trends and brand sales through their social media accounts, generating and maintaining followers, while sparking interest from other brands that identify with them.

“Millennials depend on social media for their news, entertainment and trends but not through advertising; they look for visual inspiration from people that they identify with – the influencers of their interest,” says Kathoria.

Locally, the influencer market is growing steadily. Beauty fanatics like Aisha Baker (Baked Online), The Threaded Man, Bonang Matheba, Hencoe Beukes, Cynthia Gwebu, Mihlali Ndamase, Aldytha da Silva (Make-Up Your Mind), Jaydé Mouton (The Glam Doll Diary) and Laurina Machite are inspiring their followers with personalised techniques and subsequently driving beauty product sales and trends.

Building on the existing event, Kathoria and her team hope to drive this market by giving local beauty influencers, brands and designers a platform to show off their creativity at the event in March.

“We want to embrace some of the characteristics of the millennial generation through The NWJ Bridal & Beauty Experience, such as celebrating diversity, expressing your identity and a strong focus on experiencing life,” says Kathoria.