The global beauty industry in 2025 is booming. But driving the roughly £500 billion market is not, as you might expect, a generation of women, but rather a skincare-savvy, make-up obsessed generation of teens and tweens. If you have, or know, one, it should come as no surprise that the Gen Alpha cohort (that’s anyone born between 2010 and 2024) is revolutionising the global beauty industry. While it’s important to point out that this demographic covers a broad span of ages, from one-year-olds to 15-year-olds, according to global studies, the age at which a Gen Alpha consumer starts flexing their spending muscle is between nine and 13.
To those on the outside, it may seem ludicrous that a generation of children who are too young to be in employment are key players in a multibillion-dollar market, but the numbers speak for themselves. First of all, it’s important to note that they are big spenders with expensive taste in brands, likely emulating their mothers’ shopping habits. Margaret Mitchell, Space NK’s chief commercial officer, cites Summer Fridays and Rare Beauty among the store’s most wanted. For many mothers, gone are the days of worrying about husbands stealing from their stash of expensive skincare on the sly. In 2025 it seems thieving fingers are much smaller.
In fact, they (via the bank of mum and dad, as they’re still too young to actually have a credit card) are such prolific shoppers that Mintel predicts their global spending power will reach more than £4 trillion by 2029. Consumer intelligence company NIQ, meanwhile, reports that Gen Alpha is driving 49 per cent of US skincare sales growth, with cleansers and moisturisers from brands such as Drunk Elephant accounting for the largest sectors. One of the reasons that Gen Alpha wields so much spending power is that they’ve simply been active in the space for longer than previous generations. According to American beauty giant Ulta’s recent The Joy Project beauty report, while Gen Z started experimenting with beauty products and services at 13, Gen Alpha has a five-year head start on them, with an average entry point age of just eight years old.
Despite elements of obvious allure to a younger buyer – many of the most coveted brands have colourful branding and tween-termed “aesthetic” packaging – the reason teens are choosing to spend their pocket money on toners over toys primarily lies in the pervasive influence of social media. Their fascination with the beauty world is fuelled by an enticing combination of aspiration and awe, perfectly hitting that sweet spot between education and entertainment. While the appeal of Get Ready With Me videos of celebrity offspring such as North West and Penelope Disick might seem obvious, others are more surprising. Eight-year-old twins Haven and Koti Garza, who have 5.2 million TikTok followers, are one such duo with growing popularity here and in the US. Among their content, beauty hauls and videos entitled “How Much Will They Spend In Sephora?” rank highly.
Aaron Chatterley, cofounder of teen skincare brand Indu, recognises the appeal of community fostered by platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. “Everything we do as a brand is a result of regular insight from teens on all levels… There’s true power in community. We don’t just try and aim for what they want, we give them a platform to tell us exactly what they’re looking for and need, what they’re missing – we get straight to the source.”
Don’t discount the power of IRL influence either though. While social media stars play a large part in whetting the appetite of teen buyers, there’s no denying parent power. “Gen Alpha has been raised by a generation of millennial skintellectuals,” explains Marc Elrick, founder of tween-aimed skincare brand Byoma. “Millennial beauty consumers are well informed, seek out transparency and actively educate themselves about ingredients. We can expect to see this approach trickle down and be adapted by Gen Alpha.” (Side note: if you’ve ever wondered why your Laneige lip balms or Mario Badescu mists never seem to last, you might want to check in on who else in your household is using them.) This thirst for education is evident at Indu, where the Everyday Hero SPF50+ is consistently a top performer online and in store. “With the boom in knowledge around the importance of SPF among teens [online], they’re looking for a product that suits their needs,” adds Chatterley. “For our SPF, not only is it a fantastic product, but it’s exactly what teens want and are looking for. It’s lightweight and non-greasy with no white cast, plus it doubles as an effective make-up primer.”
