2020 was a rollercoaster year for the beauty industry. Large brands with brick-and-mortar locations were striking hard by COVID-19 lockdowns, forcing marketers to come up with new ways to sell to customers. As a upshot, many ecommerce and straight-to-consumer (DTC) brands saw an increase in sales due to the pandemic because millions of people had to shop most exclusively online.

Download Terakeet's Beauty Industry Report to see which brands are winning (and losing) in Google organic search market share.

What will the adjacent few years look like for the beauty industry? Volition consumers return to stores in the same numbers, or will they continue to purchase online? Terakeet analyzed current trends and search data with our proprietary software, Carina, to extract some key marketing insights.

Read on for a high-level expect at the beauty industry, trends that matter, and digital marketing strategies that volition create the most success.

lxx%

Asia Pacific and North America account for more than 70% of the total market size

Common Thread

four.75%

The cosmetics industry has an annual growth rate of 4.75% worldwide

Mutual Thread

$716B

Global dazzler industry revenue is expected to acme $716 billion past 2025

Common Thread

The beauty industry is a behemoth that shows no signs of slowing in growth. How much is the beauty manufacture worth? Total global sales in 2020 was a whopping $483 billion. With an annual growth rate of 4.75%, total revenue is expected to meridian $716 billion by 2025.

The Asia Pacific region has the biggest beauty industry market share, at 46%, followed by Northward America at 24%, and Western Europe at xviii%. Past geography, Asia Pacific and Northward America boss, accounting for more than lxx% of the total market size combined.

In the United states, beauty market share past revenue is segmented by the following beauty categories.

Category Market Share
Hair Care 24%
Skin Care 23.seven%
Cosmetics 14.6%
Perfumes & Colognes 9.v%
Deodorants, Personal Care, Feminine Cleaning 8.5%
Oral Hygiene 5.6%
Other xiv.1%

Beauty industry growth

48%

Online sales are projected to make upward 48% of all beauty sales by 2023

Statista

5.6%

The online channel for dazzler in the U.Due south. grew by five.6% in 2020

Statista

-1.ii%

The offline aqueduct for beauty contracted past 1.2% in 2020

Statista

Like many other industries, the beauty industry was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Historically, the lion's share of beauty products have been purchased in brick-and-mortar stores such as section stores, drugstores, and specialty shops.

However, that's changing chop-chop, with online sales projected to make up 48% of the full by 2023. This growth in online purchasing was already occurring prior to 2020, and the COVID-19 global pandemic greatly accelerated it. Overall, the online channel for dazzler in the U.Due south. grew by five.6% in 2020, whereas the offline channel contracted by i.2%, according to Statista.

Simply, why is the beauty industry growing? Moreover, how can online sellers capture market share from brick-and-mortar retailers? Let's look at some key drivers.

DIY dazzler

With many salons closed for months in 2020, there was a significant rise in demand for DIY beauty products, such equally peels, masks, and waxing kits. This trend is expected to grow, even as salons and spas reopen.

Clean beauty

Clean beauty is another business growth area within the dazzler industry to watch. Nonetheless, information technology'southward difficult to pin down an exact definition for clean beauty. In fact, it can range from natural production development, to cruelty-gratis products, to products created with sustainability in mind.

Consumers are wary of using products that contain harsh chemicals. That'southward why the global market value of natural cosmetics is projected to hit $54B by 2027.

Companies that sell clean dazzler products can expect to see a surge in demand moving forrard.

$54B

the global market value of natural cosmetics is projected to hit $54B by 2027

Statista

Inclusivity

Inclusivity is as well playing an increasingly important role in the beauty industry. Historically, many products immune for only a express range of skin tones. But, in recent years, cosmetic brands take get more inclusive, dramatically expanding colour options.

For example, Fenty features a face shade finder on its website and enables site visitors to cull from 40 different shades of foundation.

Example of beauty marketing - Fenty face shade finder website to help consumers choose the right cosmetic colors

Dazzler manufacture analysis: Google organic market place research

Consumer behavior has shifted. As more people research and purchase beauty products online, it's critically of import for brands in the cosmetics industry to seize the growing opportunity of organic search.

Nonetheless, an assay of Google organic search marketplace share in the beauty manufacture reveals a surprising reality.

Terakeet analyzed 3,168 high-value, not-branded beauty industry search queries, which account for 112.7 1000000 almanac Google searches in the U.South. These keywords span three vital markets, including skincare, makeup, and pilus care.

The surprising reality is that publishers and advisory sites significantly outperform dazzler brands and retailers.

percentage of organic search market share in the beauty industry based on retail vs non-retail brands

When nosotros compared informational vs transactional searches, online publishers really pulled ahead. The superlative six market share holders for informational searches are publications. Only three of the top ten are beauty retailers. And even among more product-focused searches, informational websites like Attraction, Skilful Housekeeping, and Byrdie performed well.

percentage of organic search market share in the beauty industry based on product vs informational searches in google

When we zoom in on the skincare marketplace (which includes lotions, moisturizers, anti-aging, and cleansers), the elevation four performers are publishers rather than skincare brands. Furthermore, 17 of the top 22 performers are publishers, capturing 62.3% organic market share.

And this isn't just the case for advisory keywords. Traditional brands and dazzler retailers are losing footing on product-related searches as well, when consumers are actively looking to buy.

Terakeet analyzed 915 of the height keywords in the skincare market, representing 26.52 million annual U.S. searches. Four of the top 5 skincare market share holders are online publishers. And the peak five websites hold 40% of the full organic search market share.

When we zoom in to examine 109 product-related keywords inside the Skincare market (which represent four.64 one thousand thousand annual Google searches in the U.Due south.), 6 of the top 10 Google search results are publishers or blogs.

pie chart showing that the top 5 brands in the beauty industry own 40% of the organic search market share

Think nearly that. Sixty percent of the Google folio one rankings for product keywords are for websites that don't even sell skincare products.

Allure and Byrdie rank first and second, and their websites concenter betwixt threescore and lxxx million organic search visitors overall each year. For more, read our article, How Byrdie Toppled Billion Dollar Dazzler Brands (Without Ads).

Why do they outrank the biggest beauty brands? Because they invest in high-value content that's relevant to consumers. In fact, Dotdash, the parent company of Byrdie, invested more than $50 million into content over a three-year menstruum across their publishing portfolio.

In addition to nifty content and SEO, these publishers also accept strict editorial standards and publish expert advice, including reviews, pilus, production, and makeup tutorials.

Bottom line, beauty brands are missing out on a major opportunity when it comes to organic search traffic.

Download our dazzler industry report below for more dazzler industry insights.

Then, where do some of the top beauty brands and retailers rank in terms of organic search market share?

Beauty brands such every bit Estée Lauder, L'Oréal, Glossier, and Clinique are nigh invisible in the non-branded organic search mural across skincare, makeup, and hair care. They just lack the SEO strategy and long-form content needed to compete effectively in Google.

top 10 websites that hold the most organic search market share in the beauty and cosmetics industry

Brands similar Sephora and Ulta, in comparison, perform much ameliorate than the traditional beauty brands in organic search. Nevertheless, they all the same lag backside many publishers, blogs, and even health-related websites, depending on the type of keyword.

For instance, here'due south the top five ranked websites in the moisturizers sector of the beauty industry (advisory searches vs product searches).

Amazon's dominance in ecommerce SEO is, of form, well known. However, even Amazon has challenges competing in various beauty market place sectors.

Across the skincare queries that Terakeet examined, Amazon ranked eighth in organic marketplace share. In makeup, Amazon ranked slightly better in position v. Hair care is where Amazon performed best in Google, with the second highest market place share.

With an always-increasing percentage of the buyer'south journey happening online, beauty brands must accept a clear digital marketing plan. Here are some of the virtually important online dazzler industry marketing trends to picket.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

As the above department demonstrated, SEO is incredibly important for beauty brands. And it goes far across making sure ecommerce pages are optimized, although that certainly matters. An effective SEO strategy allows companies to connect with and serve more people at each stage of the purchase funnel.

Past creating optimized content around advisory and enquiry-oriented keywords beauty companies tin can more finer depict in those who are in the early on stages of the ownership process and nurture the relationships until prospects are ready to purchase. And even informational content towards the heart of the funnel helps brands to capture more than non-branded queries and new prospective customers.

Content marketing strategy

In the highly competitive B2C dazzler manufacture, a effective content strategy tin help brands differentiate from the competition. For example, creating and promoting engaging content across multiple channels helps beauty brands increase brand awareness and create accurate relationships within their audience.

But, what is content marketing? The definition is rather broad, and means the publication and distribution of content across all platforms. Then, whereas content strategy is the high-level plan, content marketing is how you get it in front of your audience. Here are just a handful of content marketing examples to consider for your strategy.

  • Blogging and vlogging
  • Social media
  • Video
  • Interactive tools/apps (like the Fenty shade finder)
  • Podcasts
  • User generated content (UGC)

When information technology comes to beauty content marketing, the sky's the limit. Only, brand sure you include plenty of visuals, whether in the form of graphics, photos, or videos.

Additional Resources

Search engine marketing (SEM)

Investing in SEM allows dazzler brands to evidence upward at the top of search results for of import keywords. Paid search is effective when you lot demand to appear in the Google search results speedily or for specific short-term campaigns.

This digital marketing channel is especially effective when combined with SEO. When done effectively, information technology enables brands to own both the summit sponsored and organic spots in search results, which translates into a meaning amount of site traffic.

Of course, depending on the competitiveness of the keyword, companies may have to pay a pregnant corporeality per click in order to earn the meridian sponsored spot. Plus, keep in mind that roughly lxx% of the clicks in Google go to the organic listings. And another problem with SEM is that in one case you stop spending, your results literally become to zero immediately. Over the long term, SEO is better than PPC, providing both compounded returns and a much higher ROI.

Read our deep dive into SEO vs SEM here for a more thorough comparison.

Video marketing

The highly visual nature of the beauty industry makes video marketing a critical strategy for brands. Videos give people the opportunity to run into a production in action, which is especially important for cosmetics products. A successful video marketing strategy should include a variety of video types, including everything from brusk videos on Instagram and TikTok, to longer videos on YouTube and blogs.

Y'all'll also need to optimize your video for search and then it shows up for the right keywords!

The videos should likewise be a mix of promotional and informational, with the emphasis falling on advisory. Tutorials, comparisons, and behind-the-scenes are simple, nonetheless effective ways to build rapport with an audition. Every bit a issue, you'll create the sort of lasting relationship that oft ultimately leads to a buy.

Beauty influencers

Perhaps more than whatever other manufacture, the dazzler industry is associated with influencer marketing. And it still remains an important and effective marketing vehicle for makeup brands and other cosmetics retailers.

  • Certain brands volition benefit past working with mega influencers like Huda Kattan, Nyane Lebajoa, or James Charles.
  • Often, though, lesser-known beauty experts who have a more than defended, loyal, and sincere following deliver better results for brands. Fifty-fifty though their audition is smaller, they've built a more trusted community and therefore have more bodily influence.
  • One powerful trend in influencer marketing is brands building an influencer team. This emphasizes relationships and long-term dazzler marketing campaigns rather than superficial i-off transactions.
  • In addition, body positivity is a strong tendency in the manufacture. This has led more than brands to partner with a broader range of influencers. For instance, Dove recently named Lizzo a new brand ambassador.

Social media marketing is essential for beauty companies, but choosing the best platform depends on the brand'south target audience.

Companies that sell primarily to Millennials and Gen Z will want to focus on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and Pinterest (to a degree). Brands targeting older demographics will want to focus more on Facebook and Pinterest.

Beauty brands are increasingly learning how to use social media channels for bodily sales. L'Oréal has been a pioneer in social commerce through the years, including livestream shopping. In 2020 the visitor invested in the social commerce software visitor, Replika Software, in club to increase ecommerce sales and peer-to-peer selling.

"

To compete online, dazzler brands must develop new, innovative means to capitalize on social channels.

TERAKEET

Virtual experiences

Some other one of the biggest dazzler industry trends is virtual experiences. These are a relatively new marketing strategy that work especially well for the cosmetics industry where personalization is increasingly important. These types of virtual experiences can include:

  • Livestream dazzler tutorials
  • Online courses taught by experts
  • Virtual consultations
  • Augmented reality apps that let customers to virtually effort on new products

For instance, Ulta's Glam Lab lets customers see what they'll expect like using unlike types of color cosmetics like mascara and eyeshadows, equally well as with different hair color or eyelashes. Since the COVID-nineteen pandemic, utilise of the tool has exploded, with millions using it to virtually test unlike products.

While this blazon of marketing is relatively new, information technology'south going to be increasingly of import this year and coming years.

Email marketing

Email marketing ecommerce strategies are notwithstanding highly constructive and remain important for beauty marketing teams. It's especially important for ecommerce and directly to consumer (DTC) brands.

E-mail marketing allows brands to connect directly with customers in ways other marketing strategies don't. It can be used to nurture relationships, promote special offers, recover abased carts, highlight newly published content, and more. It'southward i of the most effective means of building make love.

Based on customer preferences, demographics, and behavior, email marketing also allows brands to deliver a more than personalized feel to customers. This, in turn, creates a stronger bond between a brand and its customers.

The Battle for Market Share Find out which beauty brands are winning the Google organic market share wars (and which ones are not).Download the Study

Word of mouth (WOM)

Few forms of brand marketing are more effective than Word of Mouth (WOM). Nielsen notes that 92% of people trust recommendations made past friends or family more than whatsoever other advertising.

How can marketing managers create WOM buzz around their products? The starting place is offering customers a superior ownership experience, including both the products and themselves and the purchasing process. If customers don't have a superior experience, they're not likely to spread the word to friends or on social media.

With the solid foundation of an outstanding experience, companies can get-go creating other means to go people talking. Some options include:

  • Creating a referral program that rewards brand ambassadors
  • Highlighting customer reviews on their website
  • Sending products to influencers without asking anything in render
  • Rallying around a social crusade, much similar TOMS did by supplying shoes to those in need
  • Creating viral content that people want to share

Communities

Building vibrant online communities is an effective way for brands to foster loyalty and increment engagement amidst customers. Individuals can share tips and tricks with ane another, assistance solve problems, and make recommendations based on their personal experience.

Brand representatives can also interact with grouping members, answering questions, addressing whatever problems that arise, and even getting feedback on various topics.

Sephora beauty insider community

Sephora is a skilful example, with its thriving Beauty Insider Community. Hither, yous tin can enquire questions, become tips, bring together challenges, receive recommendations, etc. By combining its Beauty Board, Beauty Talk, and Ratings and Reviews, Sephora has nurtured a cohesive and immersive environs for its customers.

Sephora further deepens the engagement past offering Groups of like-minded individuals. For example, the Group "Skincare Aware" within the Beauty Insider Community has more than 460,000 members with more than 16,000 unique chat threads.

Branded communities are the wave of the future, and smart beauty brands volition make them a priority.

The Future of the beauty manufacture

Although COVID-xix shifted consumer behavior inside the beauty industry, in that location'south no incertitude that the manufacture will continue its current growth trajectory. Though client demand and preferences will evolve as dazzler standards do, the primal human want to be attractive and reach wellness through self-care will remain the aforementioned.

To thrive, brands must be hyper-enlightened of current dazzler trends and shape their growth marketing strategies to align with the times. Legacy brands must adapt to these changes or they risk losing market share to startups utilizing different business organization models. Similarly, they need to go along pace with effective marketing strategies such every bit more advanced dazzler influencer marketing and branded communities.

With ever-increasing online sales, digital marketing is increasing in importance to dazzler brands. Publishers are dominating organically online in the beauty infinite, and beauty brands and retailers should take note and invest more in SEO and content in guild to capitalize on the millions of online searches being conducted each month.

There are aplenty opportunities to seize greater market share. Is your make doing what information technology'due south going to take to win in the time to come?

Beauty industry FAQs

How much is the dazzler industry worth?

Global beauty industry revenue is expected to top $716 billion by 2025, and online sales are projected to make upward 48% of all beauty sales past 2023.

Is the beauty industry growing?

The cosmetics industry has an almanac growth rate of iv.75%. The online aqueduct for beauty in the U.Due south. grew by 5.half-dozen% in 2020, while off-line sales contracted past 1.2% in the same yr.

Additional Resources