The Moscow-based first national chain of make-up stores and perfumery, L’Etoile, occupied a stable 15 percent market share in recent years. New York-founded Colgate, presented in over 140 million selling points countrywide in 2018, was the dominant brand in the Russian cosmetic market with a nearly 70 percent of the household penetration rate that year.
In 2019, Russian cosmetics customers revealed a clear preference for offline shopping, though, nearly half of them also purchased such products online. Furthermore, female shoppers' spending in online cosmetic stores was greater than in traditional shops, compared to their male counterparts. This tendency manifested into a nearly 25 percent growth rate of e-commerce trade in this market as of July 2019. Products for hair care generated roughly one-quarter of total market sales and also confirmed the formerly mentioned fondness for hairstyling across the country. Negative sales growth rates, nevertheless, were recorded for every segment of the decorative cosmetics market between July 2018 and July 2019.
Cosmetic products' import value increasing far beyond the exports led to a balance deficit in the Russian cosmetic trade over the last years. In 2018, the most imported types of decorative cosmetics were lip and eye makeup products with the respective imports’ worth of roughly 150 and 160 million U.S. dollars. Russia actively imported shower care products too, and accounted for an estimated negative 200 million U.S. dollars trade balance during 2018, in this segment only.
When it comes to advertising in the Russian cosmetics industry, almost 70 percent of the advertising budget was absorbed for promoting professional cosmetics in 2018. Mass cosmetics, which generated over 80 percent of sales turnover in 2018, only accounted for two percent of the total advertising expenditure - a quarter of which was spent by L'Oreal. Of all product categories, perfumery had the most generous ad budget in 2018. Shampoo, on the other hand, led as the market’s most bought product among men and women in Russia during the first half of 2018.
