With the outbreak of the corona crisis, and people staying at home, the interest in self-care seemed to be rising among online users of beauty and personal care pages on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. During the period from March to November 2020, the online search volume for the term "selfcare" increased the most in April, reaching 248 percent.

Cosmetic procedures have contributed to an almost 58 percent increase in the number of Google search engine beauty queries, year-on-year. In contrast, inquiries about lip protection decreased by nearly 11 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

In 2024, La Roche Posay ranked as the most searched beauty brand on Google worldwide. Google users searched for the popular French skincare brand approximately 33.6 million times. Another skincare brand placed second, Cerave, with around 33.4 million searches. Sol De Janeiro came in third, accumulating roughly 32 million Google searches.

In 2022, Alibaba was the leading online retailer in the health, beauty, and personal care category based on sales. That year, the Chinese e-commerce company was estimated to achieve net sales of approximately 58 billion U.S. dollars. Among other notable e-tailers in that category were Amazon and Pinduoduo.

Alibaba and Amazon lead in sales, Lookfantastic in traffic

Globally, online marketplaces are the primary source of inspiration for the acquisition of beauty products. Alibaba, Amazon, and Pinduoduo lead in terms of e-commerce sales. However, out of all analyzed online marketplaces, Lookfantastic appeared the most when searching for beauty brands online in 2023. Almost one-fifth of search engine results for beauty brands referred to the marketplace. Amazon was the second most commonly appearing marketplace, with around one-tenth of Google search results.

Asia at the forefront of online beauty

Worldwide, China is the leading beauty and personal care e-commerce market. In 2022, the Chinese online beauty care market was worth approximately 10 billion U.S. dollars. The United States followed with a market revenue of around nine billion U.S. dollars. In terms of online traffic, Asia is at the forefront of the fastest-growing online beauty industries. In China, year-on-year (YoY) traffic to beauty and cosmetics sites grew by more than 40 percent in 2022, compared to only four percent traffic growth in the United States. Other Asian nations are also demonstrating notable growth in the online beauty and cosmetics industry, with India and Thailand exhibiting a YoY traffic growth of approximately 17 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

In contrast to the change in the number of beauty queries in the Google search engine, the most popular search queries on YouTube were about body care. Interest in nail on YouTube channels decreased by one percent compared to the same period last year.

Between November 2017 and October 2022, personal care brand CeraVe was the most visible consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand online with a Google search index score of 4,333. Packaged foods company Wellio, which was acquired by Kraft Heinz in 2018, was ranked second. Overall, L'Oreal was the most visible company with seven brands present in the ranking.

Between February 2022 and January 2023, the celebrity beauty brand Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez was googled the most, with over 7.7 million searches worldwide. This brand was followed by Rihanna's Fenty Beauty.

Celebrity beauty brands

Celebrity endorsement of a certain beauty product has always been a very common marketing strategy. However, in recent years, the beauty industry has witnessed the revival of celebrity beauty brands and celebrity fragrances. In the early 2000s, celebrity fragrances were all the rage, with singers like Britney Spears launching several perfumes that are still very popular nowadays. However, after a few years, the celebrity fragrance frenzy seemed to have reached an end, at least until Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in 2017. After that, a long series of celebrity beauty brands and fragrances were brought to life, with some reaching extreme levels of popularity among beauty consumers. In fact, as of 2023, celebrity beauty brands recorded sales of over billon U.S. dollars in the United States alone.

Rare Beauty

Selena Gomez’s brand Rare Beauty has quickly become a consumer favorite. Launched only in 2020, some of its products are among the most viral beauty items on social media. In 2023, Rare Beauty was one of the most followed celebrity beauty brands on Instagram, with over four million followers, as well as the leading beauty brand on the platform based on user engagement. The brand has gained popularity especially among younger generations: as a matter of fact, in 2023, it ranked second as the leading cosmetics brand among Gen Z shoppers in the United States.