Now Featured at Beauty Stores: Teens Driven by Social Media

Impelled in large part by TikTok to seek beauty products meant for adults, younger customers — teenagers and even preadolescents — are proving to be a mixed blessing for retailers such as Sephora and Ulta.

Retail analysts say that as beauty stores attract a new generation of shoppers, they will need to make sure that the experience remains fulfilling for their older, core customers — including some who may not enjoy stores full of tweens and teens.

Teenagers in the United States have said Sephora is their favorite beauty retailer, surpassing Ulta, according to a survey released in October by the investment bank Piper Sandler. The survey found that teenage respondents spent 23% more on cosmetics, skin care and fragrance in 2023 than the year before.

Teens and tweens, particularly girls, have always experimented with and spent money on skin care and makeup. But this recent shift from drugstore mascara and blush to the high-end serums and lotions that Sephora carries and are documented on TikTok is leading to younger and younger customers wanting to buy these expensive products once they see that their friends are doing the same.

But some dermatologists are questioning whether all the skin care and makeup products young customers are scooping up at retailers such as Sephora are necessary. They say skin is sensitive at that age and that too many products can cause irritation.

Artemis Patrick, who will take over as CEO of Sephora North America on April 1, said the interest from younger customers was both an opportunity and a challenge.

“I think that we at Sephora have a huge responsibility to make sure — as do our brands — to make sure that we educate this future consumer on what’s right for them,” she told a group of reporters this past week.

Ulta has also had younger shoppers flood their stores. The company has added displays and educational guidance, which include dermatologist recommendations, in the store and online, it said.

Despite the outsize attention Generation Z is receiving, Patrick said, younger people’s intrigue with beauty is nothing new.

“It’s always existed — this sort of youth obsession with your mom or your caretakers’ beauty products,” Patrick said. “The reality is, they know what they know, and they know what they want.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .