Need to Know
26 : 04 : 22

By Abi Buller, Savannah Scott and Lavinia Fasano

A waste-free beauty solution targeting Gen Z, science finds its way into the shopping mall, and the cost of living crisis isn’t affecting eco-shopping choices.

In today's news:

An antidote to single-use sheet masks

A convenience store gamifying on-the-go meals

Well-frastructure finds a home in shopping malls

Stat: British shoppers are prioritising eco-packaging

An antidote to single-use sheet masks

Avant Guard by Experiment Beauty, US

US – Beauty brand Experiment is offering a solution to wasteful single-use cosmetics masks with its debut product line. The Avant Guard re-usable sheet mask can be used with any serums or moisturisers before being washed and re-used.

According to Experiment, the mask acts as a solution to the 250m sheet masks that are currently being sent to landfill each year. Through its sustainable credentials and playful aesthetics, the mask appeals to the needs of Generation Z beauty buyers, who are seeking both practical and visual-first brands. Lisa Guerrera, co-founder of Experiment, says: ‘Experiment marries the idea of true sustainable thinking, elegant formulation and fun aesthetics to create a brand that looks towards the future beauty consumer.’

From community-first branding to bio-positive formulations, discover our round-up of beauty brands that are redefining the sector for Gen Z audiences.

Strategic opportunity

With many commonly used beauty products proving damaging to the environment, consider how your brand can create solutions that reduce waste and appeal to next-gen consumers

A convenience store gamifying on-the-go meals

Gogo rebranding by Meat Studio, Beijing

Beijing – Chinese convenience store Gogo is making the daily commute more entertaining by turning grab-and-go food shopping into a physical gaming experience.

To inject a feeling of joy into the mundaneness of meals to go, the store has partnered with branding agency Meat Studio to develop food packaging based on video games. As a result, portable items like beigels, salad bowls and juices are packaged with pictures that imitate the in-game icons that restore a player's health.

Located throughout the Beijing subway, Gogo convenience stores specialise in on-the-go foods and products. According to Ronald Tau, creative director and founder of Meat Studio, ‘convenience stores are like ‘item shops’ in games, or checkpoints between levels: they let you recalibrate yourself momentarily and keep you going’.

Gogo's food packaging is part of a larger trend of companies bringing internet aesthetics into the physical world. Just this month, the Crosby Studios Meta café also explored the style of Mirrored Realms.

Strategic opportunity

Food companies can take it one step further than Gogo by including QR codes on food packaging that allow customers to redeem in-game prizes.

Well-frastructure finds a home in shopping malls

Nashville – To meet the needs of the post-pandemic health landscape, sprawling suburban malls are being converted into medical facilities. In Tennessee, the Hickory Hollow Mall – which spans 1.1m square feet of retail space – is undergoing a complete healthcare transformation funded by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Since the start of the pandemic, many US mall complexes have been converted into multi-purpose medical clinics. With acres of parking space, convenient suburban locations and palatial quantities of room, the dead mall offers many perks for the healthcare industry.

In the case of the Hickory Hollow Mall, the building is also in a diverse neighbourhood that requires increased access to care infrastructure. The mall's neighbouring zip codes had the some of the highest rates of Covid infections early in the pandemic and some of the lowest rates of primary care visits. The location of many mall facilities is also ideal for catering for the suburb’s ageing residents.

As medicine's repurposing of retail space expands well beyond the pandemic, it's evident that the mall-to-medicine concept is becoming a permanent Well-frastucture model.

Auctioning Off A Dead Mall by Jesse Rieser for The New York Times, US, 2020

Strategic opportunity

Thanks to the pandemic, science is finding its place on the high street and in the suburbs. How can your company make science a more public-facing asset?

Stat: British shoppers are prioritising eco-packaging

Street Food Box, UK

While high prices are hitting many British shoppers’ ability to make eco-conscious shopping choices, many are still prioritising sustainable packaging in their weekly shops. According to a small study by Quantilope, one in five Britons make planet-friendly food choices that prioritise sustainable packaging (20%), while 19% buy products with local ingredients.

Despite this willingness to opt for items with sustainable packaging, the majority (79%) of shoppers make decisions about food brands and products based on price considerations. Peter Aschmoneit, CEO and co-founder of Quantilope, says: ‘There are barriers that need to be removed, or reduced, to make sustainable behaviours easier; money is the biggest barrier, with uncertainty about what is sustainable and limited access to sustainable products also reducing sustainable actions.’

With this research in mind, brands should focus future strategies on providing accessible food options that also offer sustainable packaging.

Strategic opportunity

Food suppliers should consider working with local communities to encourage circular packaging solutions that are inexpensive and make use of existing resources