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Beauty statistics
How much do Brits fork out to look good and what's the leading beauty brand of 2020?
Beauty treatments are not just skin deep. A change in your appearance can allow you to better express yourself and it can boost your sense of self-worth. This power has been harnessed by companies and individuals alike, fueling the UK’s £27 billion beauty industry as we know it today.
Quick facts
- The greatest worldwide growth in a beauty market has been seen in China, where the beauty industry grew by £16 billion from 2014 to 2019 – over double the next largest growth, which was in Brazil.
- Brits like to keep well-groomed, and the amount spent at hairdressers and personal care salons in the UK was highest in 2019, reaching £8.6 billion.
- This is equivalent to every person in the UK spending £166 on personal care treatments yearly.
The cosmetics market
The cosmetics market in the UK is enormous. In a 2020 report, it was named the third-largest market operating in the UK. Globally, the UK has the seventh-largest cosmetics market, with the US and China taking the top two spots.
Leading beauty brands
In 2019, the leading beauty manufacturer was French cosmetics company L’Oréal, which made £25.4 billion in revenue. The global giant isn’t only making money off of hair colours; it also owns 39 more brands, including well-known names such as Lancôme, Maybelline, Urban Decay, Garnier, Essie and The Body Shop.
Producing beauty products and personal care items, Unilever is the second-largest beauty manufacturer, with £17.1 billion in revenue in 2019. Not only is it likely that you’ll find Unilever products in your beauty bag, but you probably even have an item signed by Unilever in every room of your home. It’s the owner of over 400 brands, including Dove, Ben and Jerrys and Persil, just to name a few.
At £12.1 billion in revenue in 2019, prestige cosmetics company Estée Lauder is the third-largest cosmetics manufacturer. The remaining companies’ revenues amounted to no less than £46 billion in total in 2019.
| Brand | Revenue in 2019 |
|---|---|
| L'Oréal | £25.4 billion |
| Unilever | £17.1 billion |
| Estée Lauder Companies | £12.1 billion |
| Procter & Gamble | £10.6 billion |
| Shiseido | £7.7 billion |
| Coty | £6.6 billion |
| LVMH | £5.9 billion |
| Beiersdorf | £5.1 billion |
| Chanel Ltd | £5.1 billion |
| L Brands | £5 billion |
Market by country
Asia and Oceania combined made up 39% of the cosmetics market in 2018. North America and Europe each made up a quarter of the market. In 2018, the European cosmetics market was valued at €77.6 billion.
| Continent | Market share |
|---|---|
| Asia and Oceania | 39% |
| North America | 25% |
| Europe | 24% |
| South America | 9% |
| Africa | 3% |
Market by product category
Around one-fifth of the cosmetics market is comprised of skincare products. With £920 million made from sales in 2018, non-medicated face care products (like moisturisers and exfoliators) were the best selling skincare cosmetics. Haircare and colour cosmetics make up 18% and 16% of the market, respectively.
| Product | Share of market |
|---|---|
| Toiletries | 25.10% |
| Skincare | 22.30% |
| Fragrances | 19.00% |
| Haircare | 17.90% |
| Colour cosmetics | 15.60% |
Organic beauty statistics
Going vegan, cruelty-free and sustainable is a trend that has been growing for years, and it isn’t stopping. In actual fact, 45% of British consumers report using at least one organic product during the last six months. 64% of consumers also report prioritising buying products with recyclable packaging.
Consumers are conscious and want to make sure that they support are also supporting the environment and the animals in it. In the UK alone, over 14,000 ingredients are certified organic, and over 15,000 beauty products are all-natural.
The organic industry has had nine years of consecutive growth and it shows no signs of slowing down. Between 2018 and 2019, the organic beauty industry’s revenue grew by 23%, the third-largest increase since 2010. The industry was making revenue worth £86.5 million in 2018, and it grew to no less than £106.4 million in 2019.
| Year | Sales value of certified organic health and beauty products in the UK |
|---|---|
| 2019 | £106.4 million |
| 2018 | £86.5 million |
| 2017 | £75.9 million |
| 2016 | £61.2 million |
| 2015 | £54.2 million |
| 2014 | £44.6 million |
| 2013 | £37.2 million |
| 2012 | £31.8 million |
| 2011 | £30.1 million |
| 2010 | £27.7 million |
The online market
Most commercials today are getting through to us via the Internet and social media, specifically with the help of influencers. For example, Kylie Jenner, who started off as one of the lesser-known sisters of Kim Kardashian, made a career out of influencing and is now the billionaire owner of Kylie Cosmetics and has ranked as number 27 on Forbes’s list of the richest self-made women.
The biggest beauty companies on social media
Looking at the number of followers on each platform, Instagram is obviously the one with the most customer engagement and number of followers. With Kylie Cosmetics in the lead with 24.5 million Instagram followers, Soap & Glory leads the charge on Facebook, with an impressive 1.2 million followers.
| Brand | Followers on Instagram as of 14 August 2020 | Instagram handle |
|---|---|---|
| Kylie Cosmetics | 24.5 million | kyliecosmetics |
| MAC Cosmetics | 23.4 million | maccosmetics |
| Anastasia Beverly Hills | 20.2 million | anastasiabeverlyhills |
| Sephora | 20.1 million | sephora |
| NYX Professional Makeup | 14.6 million | nyxcosmetics |
| Too Faced Cosmetics | 13.2 million | toofaced |
| Urban Decay Cosmetics | 11.2 million | urbandecaycosmetics |
| Morphe | 10.8 million | morphebrushes |
| Maybelline New York | 10.4 million | maybelline |
| Benefit Cosmetics | 10.1 million | benefitcosmetics/benefitcosmeticsUK |
| Brand | Followers on Facebook as of 14 August 2020 |
|---|---|
| Soap & Glory | 1,192,704 |
| Lynx | 1,088,549 |
| Slimfast | 639,863 |
| My Makeup Brush Set | 584,499 |
| Estée Lauder | 572,427 |
| BareMinerals UK & Ireland | 460,437 |
| LUSH | 427,839 |
| No7 | 412,330 |
| Gillette | 349,704 |
| Make Up Academy (MUA) | 265,190 |
YouTube
As of July 2020, the number of YouTube users was over 2 billion monthly – a quarter of the world’s population and a third of all Internet users. In 2018, the number of beauty-related content views reached 169 million, which is equivalent to the UK’s entire population watching a beauty video two and a half times each.
How much do we spend on beauty treatments?
In the UK, 38% of Brits claim that they don’t spend at all on beauty treatments and products. 33% said that they spend £1-£15 per month, which would be £12-£180 per year. Meanwhile, 3% of all Brits spend £51-£100 per month on their looks, and a rare 1% spend over £100.
| Monthly amount spent on beauty products | Percentage of UK consumers |
|---|---|
| £0 | 38% |
| £1-£15 | 33% |
| £16-£30 | 16% |
| £31-£50 | 8% |
| £51-£100 | 3% |
| More than £100 | 1% |
Sources
Office for National Statistics
L’Oréal
Twittercounter.com
Socialbakers.com
Trackalytics.com
Cosmetics Business
L’Oréal
Twittercounter.com
Socialbakers.com
Trackalytics.com
Cosmetics Business
Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact:
Matt Mckenna
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806
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