Euromonitor: growth and structural change in global beauty care

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2026/04

Andrea Kurucz
independent analyst

Strong nominal trajectory, more moderate real growth

According to forecasts, the global beauty care market could grow at a rate of 6.6% at current prices in 2026. The same growth calculated at constant prices is only 2.9%. Based on the 2025 baseline, this projects a global market size of approximately USD 664.3bn for 2026. The share of online sales rose to 25% by 2024, up from 14% in 2019 – an 11 percentage point rise in five years. Such a rapid increase in penetration is no longer simply “channel expansion”: it indicates that a growing proportion of consumer product discovery and decision-making is taking place in a digital environment.

Digital experience as a business driver

The rise of the online channel on the beauty and personal hygiene market is less and less explained by convenience alone. The digital shopping environment now actively reduces the uncertainty associated with product selection, which has traditionally been a strong deterrent in this category due to texture, scent and efficacy claims. Digital tools no longer just play a marketing support role: AI and interactive formats have become an integral part of the purchasing process.

Key trends transforming the global market

Several mutually reinforcing structural trends are emerging behind the global growth trajectory. These trends have a direct influence on product development, consumer expectations and sales models. Long-term health preservation at the centre of skin care: with beauty care based on pure ingredients becoming the norm, the focus is shifting to long-term health preservation. Skincare is moving towards wellness and prevention: the focus isn’t on immediate results, but on future skin and health conditions. Clean reimagined: free-from claims alone no longer provide a competitive advantage. The Clean Reimagined approach focuses on the origin, traceability and clinically proven effectiveness of ingredients. Purity is therefore not an aesthetic or communication issue anymore, but a functional requirement.

Lifestyle-driven beauty care: beauty care is increasingly becoming a lifestyle product. Smaller, affordable, visually appealing products (body sprays, lip products or hand sanitisers) not only serve a functional role, but also convey identity, mood and social status. Purchasing decisions are often driven by emotional motivations and the need for self-expression. Scroll to shop: in the online space the line between shopping and content consumption is becoming increasingly blurred. Following the Scroll to Shop logic, videos with shopping functionality (shoppable videos), product discovery on social platforms, and AI-based recommendation systems are becoming active decision-support tools. Asian century: the growing economic and cultural weight of Asia is also increasingly evident on the beauty market. Asian brands – especially K-beauty players – are entering the global market.

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