Own-label showcase: Aldi Lacura beauty & skincare

Expert verdict

This week our expert is Lucy Cornford, category director for beauty & personal care at Mintel

What do you think?

With its Lacura line, Aldi has done what Aldi does best: drawing inspiration for NPD from prominent brands, but attaching a more accessible price tag. Keen-eyed consumers will instantly recognise the shapes, styles, designs, functions and active ingredients borrowed from leading beauty brands, with this familiarity likely a comfort to buyers as a marker of quality.

Aldi hasn’t stopped there. The retailer is also tapping the premium aspirations of today’s beauty shopper, such as with its Lacura Caviar line, which reflects both the style and substance of exclusive beauty brand La Prairie, but for around £300 less per product.

I believe a further move towards more affordable, accessible luxury could see Aldi become as much a formidable player in the beauty market as it has across the rest of the grocery sector, particularly as finances continue to be squeezed but demand for premium beauty continues to rise.

How interesting is the range?

Whilst many of the products available are essentially duplications of top sellers, it is the approach that Aldi has taken to the structuring of its Lacura facial skincare and cosmetics portfolios that I feel is particularly unique in the own-label beauty space. Here we see the retailer challenge leading brands across all pricing tiers of the category – superluxe, prestige, masstige and mass – enabling shoppers to feel as though they are ‘trading up or down’ on individual products within the Lacura brand.

Aldi is on point when it comes to targeting the semi-engaged beauty consumer too. It’s quick to piggyback trends that have hit the mainstream – such as charcoal in skincare – helping the Lacura brand appear fresh, relevant and innovative. 

I’d say the retailer has an opportunity here to become a destination for beauty as well as food. In a heavily saturated market, Aldi could stand out by offering more guidance and education around formulations, functions, ingredients and trends to help shoppers cut through the noise.

And what does this tell us about the wider own-label strategy?

Premiumisation is the way to go, driving growth in the retail sector over the last two years, but this doesn’t need to be reflected in the price tag as Aldi has demonstrated with its Lacura Caviar line.

The stigma of buying from discount grocers is fast decreasing, and Aldi has found itself increasingly appealing to a more affluent consumer base. By extending its beauty offering to reflect the wants and needs of different shopper tiers it’s aiming to reduce the repertoire of outlets shoppers use to buy their core products. It’s now not only competing with other leading supermarkets but with department stores, high street health & beauty retailers and online shops.

However, to truly challenge leading beauty brands and retailers, I think Aldi could maximise this opportunity even further by being a little smarter. Lacura sub-ranges may be significant in number, but they are small, with committed focus on the leading grooming essentials in each category (e.g. moisturiser, shampoo and conditioner). Expanding and innovating on the types of products available could see shoppers invest in a more comprehensive beauty routine through the retailer.