D. Petruzzi
Research expert covering Cosmetics, Personal Care, Health & Hygiene industries.
Cosmetics industry in the U.S. - statistics & facts
Beauty and personal care items have become an essential part of our day-to-day lives. Skincare, hair care, make-up, perfumes, toiletries, and oral care products are some of the main categories of the cosmetics 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, and Shiseido Company, to name a few. North America and North Asia were considered the most important geographic areas for this industry in 2023, both making up around 28 percent of the cosmetics market.
The landscape of the cosmetics market in the United States is an ever-evolving one, constantly offering innovations and different possibilities to consumers, who might change the way the shop, but are unlikely to give up established staples of their routine.
Different cosmetic segments, different sizes
Within the color cosmetics category in the United States, facial cosmetics was the most profitable segment. In 2023, about 2.3 billion U.S. dollars were generated from sales of such products. Meanwhile, eye cosmetics was the second most profitable segment, with a sales revenue of around 2.2 billion U.S. dollars. Of the eye cosmetic industry, mascara was the leading product in the United States. This category also included eye liner, eye shadow, eyebrow makeup, and eye combos. Besides the eye cosmetic segment, lipstick was also a profitable segment within the cosmetic industry, generating over 550 million U.S. dollars in revenue for the lip cosmetics category as of 2023.Leading brands and retailers
Given the size of the cosmetics market in the United States, consumers are faced with nearly unlimited options in terms of which brands to purchase, with several brands standing out as the best-known. According to a 2023 survey, L'Oréal was the leading cosmetics and make-up brand, recognized by 83 percent of online consumers in the United States. Ranking second was Revlon, which accounted for a brand awareness of 80 percent. Based on retail sales, chain beauty store Ulta Beauty was the leading health and beauty retailer in the U.S. In 2022, Ulta generated approximately 10.2 billion U.S. dollars in retail sales, whereas Sephora’s retail sales reached a total of nearly seven billion U.S. dollars.Online beauty purchases in the U.S.
In recent years, e-commerce has played a greater role in the U.S. cosmetics industry. Although many consumers still prefer to shop in-store, the share of online health and personal care sales as a percentage of total retail e-commerce sales was projected to increase from around nine percent in 2017 to nearly 11 percent in 2025. As of March 2024, ulta.com was the most popular beauty retailer website in the North American country, with approximately 30.4 million monthly website visits. It was followed by qvc.com and sephora.com.The landscape of the cosmetics market in the United States is an ever-evolving one, constantly offering innovations and different possibilities to consumers, who might change the way the shop, but are unlikely to give up established staples of their routine.
