Growth in consumer spending on personal care goods in France was already weak in France. In 2019 it grew by just 0.4% to €21.7 billion, which is only €300 million larger than in 2015. The COVID-19 epidemic has had serious consequences for the beauty and personal care sector, where much spending is discretionary and new product launches are a key driver of growth. Our COVID-19 tracker data (run 7-15 January) showed that 25% of French adults said they were buying less or no BPC items compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak. We estimate that market spending shrank by 6% in 2020 as a result of two national lockdowns, curfews and reduced footfall in stores due to safety concerns.
Sephora dominates the specialists sector, with a share of 18% of all sector sales in 2019. The two largest rivals are Douglas-owned Nocibé and botanical brand Yves Rocher, both of a similar size with 14%. Marionnaud is the only other perfumery chain of any size, the rest being made up of smaller, niche players, such as Kiko Milano (cosmetics) and Aroma-Zone (make-your-own products) and some groupings of independents.
Online was already a significant channel for BPC spending and it grew strongly during 2020, as retailers developed new ways to engage digitally with customers and improved their click&collect and home delivery options.
Key issues covered in this Report
The impact of COVID-19 on the beauty and personal care retailing sector.
How people shop for beauty and personal care products and which retailers they use.
The winners and losers in the beauty and personal care retailing sector since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
How behaviours of beauty and personal care shoppers have changed since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The growth of the online channel within the beauty and personal care category and the boost given to it by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Areas covered in this Report
This report examines the beauty and personal care retailing market in France. The report combines analysis of the market in France, including market sizes and forecasts for consumer spending on beauty and personal care and beauty retailers’ sales, along with our in-depth consumer data which analyses shoppers’ behaviours in France. It covers:
Beauty – including makeup and colour cosmetics, nail care, fragrances and skincare
Personal care – including haircare, body care, hair removal and everyday toiletries such as oral hygiene, bathing and deodorants
BPC accessories and electricals – including hair and make-up brushes, hair styling tools, beauty and dental tools.
For our consumer research this year we asked questions about the following topics:
Beauty and personal care products purchased in the last year
Participation in online and in-store shopping for beauty and personal care products in the last year
Which retailers have been used for beauty and personal care shopping in the last year
Interest in a range of statements relating to innovations in shopping for beauty and personal care products.
For the purpose of this report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
Consumer spending: The total amount spent by French households (including sales tax) on beauty and personal care goods and services.
Retail sales: Total sales of all types of goods and services (excluding sales tax) via stores and directly to the consumer in beauty retailers, drugstores and perfumeries. It excludes sales of pharmaceuticals and sales of beauty goods through other types of retailer. It includes online sales of these retailers where the majority of sales are in bricks and mortar outlets.
Beauty specialists, drugstores and perfumeries: this includes chains and independents for which the largest part of sales are in beauty and personal care products.
