Cosmetics and hygiene industry in France - statistics & facts

Today, the cosmetics and hygiene industry has indeed developed a very lucrative body care market, which targets a large public and offers a wide range of beauty products. The use of these commodities has evolved and the value of the global market for make-up products is expected to reach 89.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2025. Other categories of cosmetic products such as hair care, body and face products, and perfumes also contribute to the development of the cosmetics and hygiene market.

L'Oréal: a market leader

The production of cosmetics and beauty products is controlled by a handful of multi-national corporations – L’Oréal, Unilever, Procter & Gamble Co., Shiseido Company, The Estee Lauder Companies, and Lancôme to name a few. In 2020, the market leader, L'Oréal, which is headquartered in Clichy in the Paris region, generated around 33 billion U.S. dollars in worldwide sales. The company also owns the world's leading personal care brand, L'Oréal Paris, which was valued at 29.47 billion U.S. dollars in 2020.
Based on retail sales, the Sephora beauty chain was one of the leading health and beauty retailers in France in 2019. At the time, its market share for the millennial generalist beauty retail market amounted to 57.3 percent, and it was followed by Yves Rocher with a market share of 19.6 percent. Moreover, the websites of these two brands have recorded a total number of visits equal to 5.5 million in 2020.

New consumer trends

While generalist cosmetics brands remain rooted in the consumption habits of young French people, the lockdown which was implemented in France in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 outbreak created a favorable context for people to rethink their consumption patterns. Regarding make-up, environmental and social criteria seem to be taking an increasingly important place in people's purchasing behavior: in June 2020, one woman out of three said that the lockdown had encouraged them to review their cosmetic consumption, giving preference to home-made products or local producers. Around the same period, more than 70 percent of the French were using solid hygiene products instead of liquid ones, or were willing to do so.
Moreover, when it comes to cosmetics, an always bigger share of consumers tends to purchase natural and/or organic cosmetics, and the value of the global natural cosmetics market is expected to reach 54.5 billion dollars in 2027.

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