European market overview

Looking at the European cosmetics market, skin care products and toiletries were the two dominating products. While skin care's market share reached just over 27 percent in 2019, toiletries were close behind. By comparison, decorative cosmetics achieved the lowest share with 14 percent. Among the leading beauty retailers in Europe, UK company, Walgreens Boots, accumulated the highest revenue. As of 2019, the company generated around 27 billion euros and was followed by the German retailer, DM-Drogerie Markt, with a revenue of roughly 11 billion euros. Within the European cosmetics market, Germans also consumed the largest amount of cosmetics in the same year; their total cosmetics consumption value amounted to around 14 billion euros. In second place came France, followed by the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain.

Leading cosmetics companies

Based on its brand value of approximatively 12 million U.S. dollars, the brand L’Oréal Paris was first in the ranking of European cosmetics brands in 2020. The French personal care company was founded in 1909 and has not only become the largest cosmetics and beauty company in Europe, but also in the world. Nivea ranked second, with a brand value of about seven billion U.S. dollars. Nivea is a German personal care brand, owned by the multinational corporation Beiersdorf AG, which was founded in 1882. In the past years, both companies showed increasing revenues – according to the latest available financial figures, L’ Oréal reached its peak at approximately 30 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, while Beiersdorf peaked at nearly eight billion euros that same year.

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