France & Britain Got Their Green On

Britain and France lead all things ethical with booming sales of ethical cosmetics and skin care products.

The ethical shopping trend has most definitely taken both of the UK and France's beauty industry by storm as it now accounts for 74 per cent of the market, according to the market research firm Mintel's GNPD database. 

Mintel analyst, Nica Lewis commented on the market dominance of this emerging trend: "Beauty manufacturers are innovating by making their products more compatible with the emerging lifestyle trends of ethical shopping and eco-consciousness. They are clearly looking at ways to cut down the amount of packaging they use and are trying to reduce the negative impact production can have on the environment." 

This is further supported by Mintel's recent statistics which claim that 25 per cent of French women and 20 per cent British women insist upon purchasing recyclable beauty packaging. 

Ms Lewis believes that product packaging is now becoming one of the key priorities of cosmetic firms everywhere: "Today manufacturers are focusing more and more on using recyclable packaging or packaging made of recycled materials. The next step will undoubtedly see a move towards products that need hardly any packaging at all." 

This eco-trend looks set to continue dominating and fears no future slump with more than 420 new ethical products already hitting the shelves of European beauty stores.  2008 is all about ethical consumption!