Last year was a dynamic one for the beauty industry, and this year, a lot of trends will likely continue to evolve from the groundwork laid in 2023. So while we’d never be able to anticipate which beauty products will go viral on TikTok or which celebrity will attempt to launch their own brand, there are a few things that beauty experts are a bit more certain about for the year ahead.

Effective immediately: The quiet luxury trend took over TikTok last year, thanks in part to the chic looks Sofia Richie donned at her much-buzzed-about wedding and the simple but expensive stylings on HBO’s Succession. While stemming from the fashion world, that trend will make its way into beauty in 2024, Clare Hennigan, senior beauty analyst at Mintel, told Retail Brew.

Not only does this mean more minimalist packaging and design, but clear communication about product efficacy. Consumers will seek out more clear info from brands on the active ingredients in products and what exactly they do, backed by scientific evidence, Mintel predicted.

• Emphasis on these luxury in tandem with efficacy will help brands with higher price points stand out among the proliferation of dupes, Hennigan said.

“It speaks to overall consumer desire for high-quality goods,” she said. “Consumers are being a bit more discerning with their budgets, particularly given these cost of living prices.”

Keep reading here.—EC

Get ready, retailers, because NRF 2024 is right around the corner—and Shopify is showing up and showing out. Join Shopify (and many others) at this three-day retail extravaganza from Jan. 14–16 in the heart of New York City.

Experience the Shopify difference as you enjoy the following events:

• workshop presentations from Shopify product leaders, solutions engineers, and other SMEs
• hands-on demos of Shopify’s latest innovations in storefronts, checkouts, and headless commerce
• happy hours and dinners for top enterprise brands to network and connect

As for the crescendo? Shopify President Harley Finkelstein will keynote with BÉIS founder Shay Mitchell and Glossier CEO Kyle Leahy. They’ll talk through retail disruption, creating an iconic brand, and where these retailers are headed next.

Book your meeting today and Shopify will curate an experience for you that maximizes your time.

It’s the thought that counts, and Uncle Larry certainly meant well when he gave you that set of throwing stars to defend yourself when the feds–it’ll happen any day now–impose martial law. Chances are, however, you returned them, and when you did so you were in good company.

Returns in the week following Christmas were up 16.2% over the same period a year ago, according to Loop, a returns management software company that works with retailers.

Loop based its calculations on merchants that used the platform for the past two holiday seasons:

• For the week following Christmas (December 26–January 2), returns on the platform totaled 451,376, up from 388,205 last year.
• The biggest day for returns was December 26, when Loop processed 127,983 returns.

You shouldn’t have: While retailers increasingly began charging for at least some types of returns last year, they remain the gift that keeps on giving returning.

Keep reading here.—AAN

Rite Aid is banned from using artificial intelligence (AI) facial recognition technology in its stores for five years after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruled on December 19 that the company failed to take “reasonable” precautions to prevent harm to customers.

The technology, which was used in hundreds of stores between 2012 and 2020, frequently misidentified Rite Aid customers as shoplifters, causing the shoppers—mainly women and people of color—to be falsely accused of theft, the FTC said.

Keep reading here on Healthcare Brew.—MA