Indie Beauty Is Growing Fast (And It’s Powered by In-Store People)

Independent beauty brands are increasingly taking market share from large conglomerates, thanks in large part to more in-store shopping, according to new findings from NielsenIQ.

As reported by Beauty Independent, NielsenIQ data shows that indie brands now represent roughly 32% of the $125 billion U.S. beauty and personal care market, growing more than three times faster than major beauty companies (22.3% and 6.1% growth over one year, respectively).

According to NielsenIQ, a lot of this growth is coming from increased shopping trips by consumers—i.e., discovering new indie brands and spending time engaging with the products in person—while the larger brands are upping prices to see more dollar growth.

This growth underscores the power of people in stores: founders host events, brand ambassadors run demos, and field teams support launches and promotions across locations. Physical retail becomes a place for conversation and education, not just sales transactions.

Behind the growth is a different kind of workforce

Behind every pop-up, event, and store activation is a flexible team working across locations and programs. These flexible workers are often part-time, project-based, or contractor-style roles, moving among retailers, regions, and campaigns as brands expand.

Instead of building large, fixed field teams, many indie brands rely on a distributed workforce that can scale for launches, holidays, and key retail moments. That approach gives brands speed and keeps them close to customers as trends shift.

Read more: How Companies Used Flexible Talent in 2025

A different operating model

As more brands use this approach, workforce strategy starts to matter more.

In-store engagement isn’t just limited to a few special events, of course. For many indie brands, it’s a regular part of how they build awareness and support retail partners. That means managing workers across multiple retailers, regions, and timelines.

Brands start thinking about how to keep worker records consistent, how to onboard freelancers quickly for short-term activations, and how to maintain visibility into who’s working and where. The focus shifts from one-off programs to a repeatable operating model that supports growth.

This is where many growing brands begin to look for more structure. As field teams expand, spreadsheets and disconnected tools become harder to manage. Brands need an easy way to onboard, pay, and track flexible workers across retailers and regions without slowing down their go-to-market efforts.

Where workforce infrastructure comes in

The brands that scale this model successfully tend to invest early in how their field teams are managed.

Instead of piecing together agencies, manual onboarding, and separate payment processes, they build a consistent system for managing flexible workers across programs. That includes clear worker records, standardized onboarding, and visibility into active teams across locations.

Why this matters for growing brands

Indie beauty is showing that human interaction still drives growth. Shoppers respond to real conversations, education, and product experiences. Brands that invest in people on the floor are seeing the impact in shopping frequency and category growth.

As more brands adopt this approach, the people running those experiences become a critical part of the retail strategy. In the end, growth is tied closely to how well brands can support the teams representing them in stores.

If your brand is growing through in-store teams, the workforce behind those experiences deserves the same level of structure and visibility as the rest of your operations. Learn how AllWork helps beauty brands manage flexible field teams.