If you spend any time around tween girls, or shopping in a beauty specialty store for that matter, you may have noticed the growing obsession with skin care among this group. While there may not be an obvious need for an intensive skin care routine for kids whose skin hasn’t yet hit puberty, many have developed a strong interest in learning about their skin, and how best to care for it.

Growth is nothing new for the facial skin care category. Over the past few years, NIQ has seen dollar sales of facial appliances soar, thanks to the spa-at-home trend and as consumption among consumers increases. But the latest trend to move the category forward is the significant demand uptick among those not old enough to drive. In 2023, 46% of growth in the facial skin care category was driven by households with tweens or teens.

Gen Alpha consumers (born after 2010) have grown up with social media at their fingertips, and many have become influencers at a young age. Tweens such as Haven Garza, North West, and Penelope Disick have taken to TikTok to share their daily skin care routines, which are both educating and inspiring to their millions of followers so they can adopt routines of their own.

While the whole facial skin care category is growing at an impressive 13.1% year over year growth rate, households with tweens aged 6 years old to 12 years old grew their skin care purchasing by a whopping 27.2%; households with teens aged between 13 years old and 17 years old grew by 28.6%. Much of this growth is coming from outsized purchasing of toners, treatments (including masks,) moisturizers, and cleansers. So far, Gen Alpha has stayed away from eye creams.

Gen Alpha is also approaching the shopping experience in a new way. They are taking more trips to beauty outlets and are also more likely to shop in-store. The appeal of touching products in real life is bringing new excitement to the shopping experience for these young consumers. As digital natives, they may be discovering the fun of in-store shopping as they have a chance to direct some of their own purchasing decisions.

Download our infographic to learn more.

Source: NIQ Omnishopper Panel Total US latest 52 weeks ending 12/30/2023. Households with tweens: kids 6-12, Households with teens: 13-17