Beauty eCommerce in Italy has experienced significant growth in recent years. Also thanks to social media, such as Instagram and Tik Tok, where beauty influencers are all the rage and the most popular products go viral in a matter of minutes, and consequently cannot be found on shop shelves in a matter of days, beauty eCommerce is experiencing what could be described as a golden age.
In the 21st century it is certainly nothing new to pay attention to the care of one’s appearance, but the real news is that in the space of a few years consumer shopping habits have changed radically thanks to online commerce.
E-commerce platforms have revolutionised the way consumers discover, evaluate and purchase beauty products. Moreover, buying products for one’s daily beauty routine or skin care online is not only more convenient and faster, but also more affordable. Finally, the accessibility of online platforms has democratised the industry, allowing even emerging brands to compete with the more established players and thus providing consumers with a vast product offering.
In this article, we will take a closer look at the Beauty eCommerce sector in Italy, trying to shed light on how much it is worth, how it is evolving, and above all which are the main trends, including logistical ones, to watch out for in the future. Let’s get started!
How much is the beauty market worth in Italy
According to the 2024 closing projections of Cosmetica Italia, the national association of cosmetics companies, the value of the turnover of cosmetics companies exceeded EUR 16.7 billion (+10.5% compared to 2023), while a further 8% growth is expected for 2025, which will bring the total turnover to EUR 18 billion.
How much is Beauty eCommerce worth in Italy
Looking at the Cosmetica Italia data, we discover that the eCommerce channel is the one that recorded the highest percentage change in the first half of 2024: 10.1%, with a further growth forecast of 11.2% in the second half. On the other hand, the mass market stops at 4.5% (6.1% in the second half of the year), while perfumeries stop at 9.8% (10.5% in the second half of the year) and pharmacies at 7.5% (6.8% in the second half of the year).
Thus, eCommerce accounts for an increasingly significant share of the industry’s sales. According to the Annual Report 2024 of Cosmetica Italia, online purchases of cosmetics products reached a value of EUR 1,100 million in 2023, with a growth of 12.5% compared to 2022 and an online penetration of 12% of total retail purchases in the beauty sector.
In general, the level of satisfaction found in eCommerce for the Beauty sector is very high, and has no comparison with other sectors. Moreover, those who start buying online do not stop any longer and, on the contrary, progressively buy in increasingly different product categories and themselves become promoters of the new shopping style among people who have not yet had the experience, as indicated by the report ‘Analysis of online purchases of Cosmetics’ by Cosmetica Italia and Netcomm.
Who are the customers of eCommerce beauty and how many are there?
The online beauty shopping experience already concerns 33.5 million people in Italy, divided into 8.6 million sporadic buyers (one or two purchases every three months), and 24.4 million regular buyers (three or more purchases).
The gender profile of online buyers of cosmetics has always been skewed towards the female population. Today, however, men too are becoming increasingly attentive to their appearance and, as a result, they too are becoming online buyers in the sector. Women now represent only 55.3% of the total buyers.
The ‘typical’ online buyer of cosmetics is concentrated in the 18-44 age group and resides to a greater extent in large centres.
But what do beauty eShoppers mainly buy?
Best-selling beauty products online
According to data from Mordor Intelligence, the facial cosmetics segment continues to dominate the online cosmetics market, holding around 38% of the market share in 2024.
“This prominent position,” explains the Mordor Intelligence report, “can be attributed to the growing make-up trends among the young population and the expansion of eCommerce distribution channels globally.
Furthermore, nail cosmetics are emerging as the fastest growing category, with a projected growth of around 9 per cent in the period 2024-2029.
In Italy, as reported by Cosmetica Italia on the basis of Human Highway surveys, there is however also another segment that is growing rapidly online, and that is that of hair care products, whose share of online buyers would be 16.1% at the end of 2023, together with personal care products, the second largest product family by share of buyers (15.6% share of online buyers at the end of 2023).
In third place are facial care products. This is followed by perfumes, body care products, toothpastes and mouthwashes, face make-up products, styling products, sun creams, hand care products and, finally, hair colouring products.
Cosmetica Italia’s 2024 analysis, however, concludes with a further interesting aspect. In fact, the report states that “the general attitude towards this type of shopping experience is also evolving, which, in reading the characteristics of a perfect service, shifts the focus towards speed of delivery and assortment, to the detriment of convenience, which is now well established”.
Translated: the speed of delivery of products purchased online, hence logistical efficiency, plays a key role.
How to ensure faster eCommerce shipments for the beauty industry
As we have seen, logistics therefore play a crucial role in the online shopping experience, influencing customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
For 17% of online shoppers, speed of delivery is one of the key features for a perfect online shopping experience. Only the quality of the products (18%) is more important than the speed of delivery, while shipping costs are only relevant for 5% of consumers.
But how can we guarantee faster and faster deliveries? The answer, for those who have been reading us for some time now, should be obvious by now: of course, through Out of Home deliveries, which include Locker and Pick-up Points and which are gaining increasing popularity among Italian consumers.
The convenience and flexibility offered by these delivery methods make them particularly attractive to consumers looking for quick and flexible pick-up options, not to mention that Out of Home delivery is also more convenient and sustainable.
Furthermore, in the case of particularly delicate cosmetic products, especially those made from natural ingredients, the use of refrigerated Lockers ensures that the products are kept at the right temperature until they are picked up by the customer, thus ensuring that the product arrives in the hands (and on the skin!) of the consumer in perfect condition.
Leading retailers are already gearing up to improve the pick-up experience – and thus the shopping experience in general – of their consumers by offering them the possibility to pick up their purchases as quickly as possible directly at Lockers and Pick-up Points.
And you, what are you waiting for?
GEL Proximity: the solution for implementing Lockers and Pick-up Points
If you have an eCommerce in the Healthcare & Beauty sector and you have not yet integrated Out of Home delivery services into the checkout of your online store, offering your customers the possibility of picking up their orders at Lockers and Pick-up Points, then you should turn to GEL Proximity!
With our network of more than 300,000 Lockers and Pick-up Points, we are the technological leader in Out Of Home logistics management, offering advanced solutions and tools for the integration of Lockers and Pick-up Points for eCommerce, carriers and logistics operators.
Thanks to our Europe-wide network and partnerships with leading logistics operators, GEL Proximity allows merchants to
- Implement Locker for the distribution of food and pharmaceutical products.
- Optimising urban logistics while reducing costs and environmental impact.
- Enhancing the customer experience with flexible and secure collection solutions.
