Winter Love Island to "boost economy" as beauty sales soar at Argos

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 21, 2020

There have been plenty of news stories suggesting that Winter Love Island hasn’t achieved the viewing figures that the summer version reaches, but the ITV show is still having a big impact on product sales in Britain, a release from general merchandise retailer Argos claimed on Tuesday.

It said the average 18-34 year-old will spend £100.38 on products as a result of watching Love Island and that the show could “provide the UK economy with a £750 million boost” based on the number of people this age group in the population.

The Sainsbury’s-owned company commissioned Censuswide to speak to1,510 UK adults aged 18-34 and found that 51% of them have bought products after seeing them on the reality show, which has extensive sponsorship deals.

The top products that it persuades people to buy are make-up, sunglasses, swimwear, hair tools, nails, tanning products and gym equipment, we’re told.

And consumers who want to recreate the lifestyle at home also buy bean bags, pool toys, hot tubs and wheelie suitcases, the study found.

It’s interesting too that the show seems to have an instant effect on these consumers with 64% of them saying they’d browsed online shops while watching Love Island. Argos’s own data showed a 60% jump in m-commerce sales year-on-year.

A week into the winter version’s run, the retailer said epilator sales have risen 63% and false eyelashes are up 48%. Sales of tanning moisturisers have also risen and charcoal and mud masks are “soaring” year-on-year with Love Island being the clear catalyst as the show didn’t have a winter version this time last year.

The summer show also sparked higher sales for many products at the retailer in 2019 with a number of non-fashion and beauty items rising, as well as sales of beard trimmers surging 91% and heated rollers 86%.