Home and Beauty Goods Outperform Apparel in Retail Sector

Retail trends are a great indicator of what end-users are looking for. Distributors are always looking at popular items in the retail space, and using that information to craft ideas for their clients. While apparel has long been a leader in both retail and promotional products, new information shows that retailers are starting to focus on home and beauty categories, as they've been outperforming apparel lately.

Forbes reported that, during the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference, multiple retailers announced that home goods and beauty items were selling more than apparel. What's more, some shoppers at the likes of Ulta Beauty are focusing on new trends, rather than restocked items. It indicates that people not only want home and beauty products, they want the new ones.

Forbes writes:

The interesting part of this is that the stores reporting home goods growth have continuously expanded their home offerings due to the success of the category. Meanwhile, in beauty, consumers’ search for, and discovery of, new beauty products is continuing to fuel growth. Ulta Beauty reported that when it analyzed sales data from its most loyal shoppers, it discovered that the majority of its sales, both online and in-store, came from new items—not replenishment items—highlighting the true enthusiasm of today’s beauty shoppers, as well as the retail opportunity.

Michael O'Sullivan, president and chief operating officer of Ross Stores, said that, after expanding its home goods offerings in the 1990s from just sheets and towels, the home goods category will likely continue to grow at a rate of 25 percent. He added that the company's research indicated that the apparel category is growing much slower, due in part to the fact that the apparel category is more spread out across multiple sub-categories.

For promotional products distributors, now might be a good time to look into more home goods, like kitchen and garden supplies, rather than apparel.