Update: Take a look at our 2024 Top 20 Global Beauty Companies Report.

In a time of global uncertainty, beauty consumers’ zest for Luxe SKUs, Hero Products and Digital Sales boosted the bottom line.

The period 2021-22, was a challenging one for the world in general, fraught with complications ranging from the lingering pandemic, to soaring inflation to supply chain woes; the volatile geo-political situation in Ukraine, to regional energy shortages and China’s “zero-Covid policy.”

In the global beauty industry, on top of everything else, brands and suppliers also strived to meet CSR guidelines and looming deadlines for sustainable packaging mandates.

On the upside, the year-long “recovery stage” was a welcome reprieve from the most severe stretch of Covid-19 lockdowns. Brick-and-mortar and travel retail stores re-opened, masks were removed, salons were back in business and pent-up demand for items including makeup and lipstick, triggered a welcome uptick in consumers’ cosmetic spending—both in-store and online.

A Zest for Luxe Is Core to Success

Especially influential to 2021-22 sales for the Top 20 Global Beauty Companies in this year’s report appears to have been consumers’ tremendous zest for premium products and hero products, whether luxe or mass. In 2021, L’Oréal Luxe surpassed the company’s Consumer Products division by a small margin.

Unilever CEO Alan Jope noted that Prestige delivered second-quarter growth of 14%, which he said was helped by the launch of Tatcha into the U.K., the return of consumers to offline channels, and the expansion of some of the division’s brands in China.

LVMH achieved record-breaking sales with Dior’s Sauvage fragrance, while the Estée Lauder Companies saw elevated growth thanks in part to hero products from La Mer, Clinique and M·A·C. And at Beiersdorf, Nivea recorded organic sales growth of 5.5% in 2021, driven by the successful performance of the Nivea Luminous630 hero product range.

Our Top 20 also launched or announced an array of new products. Many of these were carefully developed to be cleanly formulated and sustainably packaged, such as LVMH’s collaboration with Stella McCartney on a new D2C “clean beauty” skincare line. Colgate-Palmolive rolled out its revolutionary recyclable toothpaste tube to the U.S. market. At L’Oréal, all Maybelline plastic packaging will now be made from 100% recycled plastic.

Online Sales Save the Day

Online sales also undoubtedly “saved the day” for The Top 20, with an ever-larger pool of beauty consumers comfortably ordering favorite and new products from brands around the world.

In 2021, Amorepacific Group focused on generating online sales and developing strong brands and as a result, says it was able to “significantly increase the profitability of the business and strengthen its presence in both Korean and global markets.” Just recently, the Korean beauty group purchased luxe U.S. brand Tata Harper to help increase its presence in North America.

Looking Ahead

In uncertain times, leaders of some of the Top 20 powerhouse brands had conflicting points of view as to the current —and future—state of the industry.

In May, in an interview with Reuters, L’Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus, said, “So far we see no impact of inflation and price on consumers’ beauty consumption.” In another Reuters session in June at the Consumer Goods Forum’s Global Summit (CGFGS) conference, Hieronimus reiterated the theme, saying he “remained confident about the outlook for the beauty industry with consumers continuing to want to indulge despite the global economy becoming even more complicated.”

Hieronimus told the CGFGS: “The Carpe Diem of the moment really trumps inflation.”

Meanwhile, a Bath & Body-issued company statement said, “Our data indicates that customers, particularly lower income customers, have become more cost-conscious and are limiting purchases and/or seeking out lower-priced sale merchandise as they are being impacted by the overall inflationary environment.”

In July 2022, LVMH offered a “wait and see” approach on the second half of the year, as the luxury company “evaluated issues of inflation, possible recession, supply chain disruptions, Chinese lockdowns and the war in Ukraine.”

Most recently (at press time), upon issuing its annual report in August, Estée Lauder Companies’ CEO Fabrizio Freda said, “We are very confident in the strength of our company and in the vibrant long-term growth opportunity of prestige beauty, but recognize the environment remains complex and uncertain at this point in time. For fiscal 2023, we expect to deliver strong organic sales growth, fueled by our diversified growth engines and enticing innovation, and to take the opportunity in this volatile year to continue investing for our exciting future.”

Top 20 Global Beauty Companies: Annual Beauty Sales

1. L’Oréal $37 billion

2. Unilever $25 billion

3. The Estée Lauder Companies $17.7 billion

4. Procter & Gamble $14.4 billion

5. Shiseido $9 billion

6. Bath & Body Works $7.9 billion   

7. Johnson & Johnson $7.7 billion

8. LVMH $7.5 billion 

9. Natura & Co $7.1 billion

10. Beiersdorf $7 billion

11. Coty $5.3 billion

12. Kao $5 billion

13. LG $4.8 billion 

14. Amorepacific $4.4 billion

15. Henkel $4 billion

16. Colgate-Palmolive $3.5 billion

17. Chanel $3.4 billion       

18. Mary Kay $2.8 billion  

19. Revlon $2.1 billion 

20. Kose $2 billion (9-mo. FY)

Report Data

A note on the compilation of this report: Companies were analyzed based on 2021 data. But annual reporting varied among these leaders from 12-31-21 to 6-30-22.

Beauty sales included only cosmetics, fragrance and personal care items when possible. Figures for companies outside the U.S. were based on the exchange rate for the fiscal year on the day it ended. Estimates are provided in cases where full disclosure was not available.