Cosmetics Industry in the U.S. - Statistics & Facts

Statistics and facts on the Cosmetic Industry in the U.S.

Skincare, hair care, make-up, perfumes, toiletries deodorants, and oral cosmetics are the main product categories of the cosmetic market. Since the early twentieth century, the production of cosmetics and beauty products has been controlled by a handful of multi-national corporations – L'Oréal, Unilever, Procter & Gamble Co., The Estee Lauder Companies, Shiseido Company, to name a few. Led by the U.S., North America made up 24.7 percent of the global cosmetic market. In 2015, the U.S. was considered the most valuable beauty and personal care market in the world. That year, the American beauty and personal care business reached a market value of 80 billion U.S. dollars.

Ohio-based Procter & Gamble was the leading beauty company in the U.S. in 2015, with the company generating about 13 percent of the American beauty industry’s total revenue. L'Oréal, Estee Lauder and Unilever also held a representative share of the cosmetic industry in the U.S.. Similarly, hair care and skin care products represented the largest part of the beauty industry in the U.S. in 2015; together, they accounted for nearly half of all beauty industry sales that year. Cosmetics held a share of about 15 percent of all sales from the beauty industry, and perfumes and cologne accounted for about 9.5 percent. Based on retail sales, chain beauty store Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance was the leading health and beauty retailer in the U.S.. In 2015, sales of Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance generated about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. Based on online sales per store however, Sephora (LVMH) took the lead. In 2015, Sephora’s sales per store reached a total of 5.1 million U.S. dollars.

Within the cosmetic category in the U.S., foundation was the most profitable segment. In 2016, about 985 million U.S. dollars were generated from sales of foundations in the U.S.. Mascara was the second most profitable segment, with sales revenue of 941.1 million U.S. dollars. Mascara was also the leading segment of the eye cosmetic industry in the U.S.. The segment also included eye liners, eye shadows, eye brow makeup and eye combo. Together, these segments generated more than 2.1 billion U.S. dollars in sales revenue in 2016. Besides foundation and mascara, lipstick was also a profitable segment within the cosmetic industry in the U.S., generating 630 million U.S. dollars in revenue for the lip cosmetics category in 2016.
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