The mainland has become the world's second-largest consumer market for cosmetics, after the United States. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the retail sales of cosmetics reached 414.2 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%. [Note: Cosmetics can be divided into two categories: beauty (including skin care, makeup, perfume) and personal care (hair care, body care, oral care, infant care)]
Despite the rapid rise of domestic beauty brands in recent years, there is still a big gap between the performance scale of "G8 brands" (Nature Hall, Proya, Osman, Pechoin, Marubeni, Kazlan, Xiangyi Materia Medica, and Han Shu) and international giants.
According to the statistics of "Cosmetics News", the overall revenue of the world's top ten cosmetics companies has reached 1,088.2 billion yuan (non-cosmetics business has been divested), new faces have appeared, and the ranking has also undergone a lot of changes. There are 3 in France, 2 in the United States, and 1 each in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Brazil, and Spain.
In the 6th-10th place are Beiersdorf of Germany, Shiseido of Japan, COTY of the United States, Natura &Co of Brazil, and Puig of Spain. Among them, Puig, known for its niche perfume business, made it to the top 10 in the world for the first time.
The Spanish company's business is mainly divided into three main segments: fashion and perfumery, makeup, and skin care products, with 13 brands, including beauty brands Uriage, Charlotte Tilbury (CT makeup), perfume brands PENHALIGON'S, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Byredo, etc.
Last year, Puig achieved a record high net revenue of 4.304 billion euros, up 19% year-on-year, and a net profit of 465 million euros, up 16% year-on-year. Double-digit growth was achieved across all segments and geographies. Sales in China increased by 27 percent, driven by strong sales under the CT Cosmetics and Byredo brands.
Shiseido Group's net sales were 973 billion yen and net profit were 21.749 billion yen, down 8.8% and 36.4% year-on-year, respectively, and the decline was particularly obvious in the Chinese market, and the global ranking was also surpassed by Beiersdorf. The latter continued to grow steadily, with the core brand Nivea (including the lip brand Labello) surpassing the €5 billion sales mark for the first time.
France's LVMH ranked fifth, with revenue in the perfume and cosmetics division increasing by 7% year-on-year to 8.27 billion euros last year, among which Dior Beauty's high-end line of products grew strongly, Sauvage once again became the world's best-selling fragrance, Guerlain continued to grow driven by the Flora and Aquatic Collection, Givenchy benefited from the continued success of its fragrance line, and Benefit benefited from its professional skincare range.
Estee Lauder fell out of the top three, with net sales of $15.910 billion and net profit of $1.006 billion in fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023), down 10% and 58% year-on-year, respectively. The largest proportion of skin care business net sales were $8.202 billion, down 17% year-on-year.
At the beginning of this year, Estee Lauder raised the prices of about 1,500 of its products, including the Little Brown Bottle Eye Cream and La Mer "Lady Cream", involving many brands such as Estee Lauder, La Mer, MAC Mico, Tom Ford and so on. This is also another price adjustment of the group since July 2023.
Source: "Cosmetics News"
Procter & Gamble of the United States rose one place to take third place. In addition to owning SK-II and OLAY, the daily chemical giant has also acquired mid-to-high-end beauty brands such as high-end hair care brand Ouai, probiotic skin care brand TULA, natural skin care brand Farmacy, and pure skin care brand First Aid Beauty. However, it is worth noting that in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 (the three months ending December 31, 2023), SK-II brand sales in Greater China fell by 34% due to significant price increases and temporary headwinds faced by Japanese brands.
The UK's Unilever is firmly in second place, with a turnover of 12.5 billion euros in Beauty & Health and 13.8 billion euros in Personal Care last year, accounting for 44% of the group's revenue. Among them, the core skincare brand Vaseline achieved double-digit growth, becoming a super single product of 1 billion euros.
L'Oreal remains the world's largest beauty group, with sales exceeding the 40 billion euro mark for the first time, reaching 41.18 billion euros, up 11% year-on-year and achieving double-digit growth for the third consecutive year, and net profit of 6.184 billion euros, up 8% year-on-year.
According to public information, L'Oréal Group has been established for more than 110 years and has 36 brands, which are divided into four major divisions: mass cosmetics, high-end cosmetics, dermatology and beauty, and professional hair products. In April last year, it defeated potential competitors such as Shiseido, LVMH, and L'Occitane to acquire Australian high-end beauty brand Aesop from Natura &Co for the "highest price in history" of $2.525 billion.
China has become L'Oréal's second-largest market, with sales in Chinese mainland rising 5.4% year-on-year last year, amid a 5.8% decline in North Asia as a whole. The Chinese fragrance market is a key area for the Group to expand in the future, and it has previously invested in local Chinese brands Wenxian and Guanxia. The newly upgraded Atelier Cologne has also re-entered the high-end fragrance market in China.