The top 10 cosmetic companies in terms of global revenue in fiscal 2021 were L’Oreal, Unilever, Estee Lauder, P&G, Johnson & Johnson, Shiseido, Natura&CO, LVMH, Beiersdorf, and Kao.
On March 10, Brazilian cosmetics giant Natura&CO released its 2021 financial results. At this point, the global head cosmetics company’s fiscal year 2021 results have all been announced, and the world’s top 10 cosmetic companies followed.
Natura&CO’s revenue last year was 40.2 billion reais (about $8.022 billion), up 8.8% year-on-year, with sales growth recorded for its Avon, The Body Shop, Aesop and other brands.
According to statistics, the top 10 cosmetic companies in terms of global revenue in fiscal 2021 were L’Oreal, Unilever, Estee Lauder, P&G, Johnson&Johnson, Shiseido, Natura&CO, LVMH, Beiersdorf, and Kao with the overall volume of revenue of the 10 companies reaching $139.089 billion exclusively in cosmetic businesses.
In 2021, the revenue of the top 10 global cosmetic companies cosmetic sector is better than in 2020. Among them, LVMH has the fastest growth rate, with its cosmetics sector revenue including brands such as Dior, Guerlain, Givenchy, Benefit and Fresh increasing by up to 27% year-on-year, with China’s Hainan duty-free stores making a significant contribution to that.
“We find in 2021 that Chinese customers buy more from LVMH than in 2019, despite the fact that they cannot travel abroad.” said Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH.
In addition to LVMH, L’Oréal, Estée Lauder and Beiersdorf all have more revenue in fiscal 2021 than they did in 2019 before the pandemic, and they all have one thing in common behind them: premium brands driving growth.
In 2021, L’Oreal’s premium cosmetics division overtook the mass cosmetics division for the first time and became the group’s largest division, with sales of $14.183 billion, up more than 20% year-on-year, and strong performance from its Lancôme Absolue series, HR, Shu Uemura and others.
Last fiscal year, Estee Lauder’s Advanced Skincare Division net sales increased 28% year-over-year to $9.534 billion, with an operating profit of $3.067 billion, of which LA MER achieved double-digit growth in global sales.
Last year, La Prairie, Feelunique and Aquaphor were key to Beiersdorf’s growth, with La Prairie sales up more than 20% year-over-year.
Compared to LVMH and Estee Lauder, P&G, Unilever and Kao, which are known for their personal care businesses, all had less than 10% revenue growth and lower net margins.
However, under the law of high-end winning and cost pressure, most companies have already started to act and committed to sell their products more expensive. There are two main ways: acquisition of high-end brands and product price increases.
The high-end brands represented by CPB, Shiseido and NARS have been the main growth drivers for Shiseido in the past few years. Last year, after setting up high-end beauty as its core business, Shiseido sold PURE&MILD, Za, SENKA, UNO and AQUAIR, and transferred its professional hairdressing business to Henkel this year. Then, high-end brands such as EFFECTIM and BAUM were launched.
In addition, P&G also acquired high-end skincare brand Tula Skincare and hair care brand Ouai. Last year, Beiersdorf acquired the parent company of Chantecaille, a luxury beauty brand. LVMH acquired Officine Universelle Buly, a century-old fragrance brand, last year.
Unilever, on the other hand, has made its high-end cosmetics business, which has a volume of about $791 million, a priority for development. Most of these brands came from acquisitions, including Dermalogica, Garancia, Tatcha and others.
In addition to acquiring high-end brands, Unilever is also increasing the prices of its original product lines. “The main challenge for 2021 is the sharp rise in costs.” Unilever responded with a pricing move that increased prices by 2.9 percent for the year, said Unilever CEO Joanne Lu.
P&G also said at its latest quarterly earnings meeting that it will raise prices in all of its top 10 categories, including cosmetics, in 2022. In addition, earlier this year, Estee Lauder, LA MER, Lancome and other brands also broke the news of price increases.
It is worth mentioning that Natura&Co is preparing for its two brands, Aesop and The Body Shop, to fully enter the Chinese market. The Body Shop’s first store in China may land in 2022.
