Look, we like to believe that we're all evolving. That things that mattered decades ago and the viewpoints prevalent them have slowly died out. And honestly, it is true, to a certain extent. I mean, casual racism and even plain racism which was prevalent not just for decades and centuries, but even till just a few years ago, has now been clamped down on. People who make such comments are very likely now to be ostracized from communities and social circles, and even lose their jobs. Though yes, this is only implemented in successful, advanced economies in the West and hasn't been given as much thought or importance in developing nations. This also leads to the interesting question of whether cancel culture has gone too far, with boycotts being launched against people even with perceived racism, though that is a topic for another time.
Further, in addition to eradicating, or if that's too strong a word, at least censoring people who engage in it, even bigger strides have been made against homosexuality. Now, same sex marriage has been legalized in dozens of countries, including the United States of America, while people cannot be terminated or discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. Further, the acceptance of homosexuals has increased manifold as well, but once again, there is a caveat that this is only for advanced economies, while in many nations in Africa and Asia, you might even go to jail or receive the death penalty instead.
Biggest Cosmetic Companies In The World
If we look at body shaming and fat shaming, we've made significant progress there as well. Normal sized people and overweight people are accepted, regardless of them not really being a size zero, because there are much more important things on which you should judge people. However, there is a fine line regarding fat shaming, because encouraging people to stay fat can have very real effects on their health, as being overweight and obese has been directly linked to a myriad of diseases and can quickly shorten the life expectancy of a person. In the same way, there has also been a normalization regarding looks, though this has perhaps not been as successful, if we look at the cosmetics industry.
Makeup has long since been used by women mostly, to enhance or change their features completely. In a perfect world, where people would be accepted and loved for exactly how they are, the cosmetics industry would be very small and almost inconsequential. It would certainly not be worth more than $380 billion, with the biggest companies in the industry earning billions in revenue while having tens of thousands of employees.
In fact, by 2027, it is expected that the cosmetics industry will be worth at least $463.5 billion, which is a CAGR of 5.3%. This growth rate is due to the fact that cosmetics are a mainstay in the lives of most people, and even as we try to normalize how people look and celebrate differences rather than hide them, people are growing more and more conscious about their features, which can be attributed to social media and the fact that people portray flawless lives on such apps and websites. While I mentioned the fact that women are often involved with makeup, the fact is that it is quickly becoming and important in the lives of men too. Many celebrities are also hopping on board, either by endorsing such products, or by launching their own lives, which are often massively successfully, making people such as Kylie Jenner worth close to a billion dollars.
The cosmetics industry includes products such as foundation, mascara, skincare products, haircare and toiletries, among many other products. While the industry is massive as mentioned earlier, it is also dominated by some companies which have a really strong foothold and hence, are the biggest players there. Europe is the biggest market in the world for cosmetics, with the Americas and Asia not far behind, and quickly catching up.
The cosmetics industry however, is full of major controversies too, one of which is colorism. Many cosmetics companies promote products which help lighten skin, advertising it as a lifestyle choice. These products aim to improve your beauty by lightening the color of your skin, which is as racist a thing as any. And while they were able to get by without repercussions for decades, the community is now waking up and asking questions, which has led to many companies abandoning such products or at the very least, renaming their brands so as not to invite criticism. Another issue that has led to severe criticism of the cosmetics industry is animal testing, as brands are first tested on animal to ensure that they do not affect humans negatively, requiring approval before they can be sold to the general public. However, this is another instance where public hue and cry has forced companies to backtrack, and animal testing has been decreasing steadily over the years. In fact, in the European Union, a ban was enforced in 2013 on cosmetic products which have been tested on animals, though the ban does have a few loopholes which companies tend to happily exploit.
As we all know, the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world in 2020, causing more than 2.5 million deaths and well over a hundred million infections so far. Many countries imposed lockdowns to counter the threat posed by the virus, which resulted in billions of people being confined to their homes unless there's an emergency. These lockdowns had a significant impact on the cosmetics industry, with the impact being mainly two-fold. The first was that since people weren't leaving there houses and gatherings and parties were virtually non-existent, while people were also working from home rather than going to office, there was little reason to purchase cosmetics. The second reason was that as countries banned foreign transport, the global supply chain of the cosmetics industry was also significantly impacted, resulting in lower production. Due to lower production and lower demand, sales also fell and McKinsey forecasted that 20-30% of sales would be lost for the cosmetics industry in 2020.
However, if any companies will navigate the pandemic, it will be the biggest cosmetics companies in the world. These companies are absolute giants and have enough reserves, goodwill and brand loyalty to see out the trying days we are in now, and navigate to the future. To determine the biggest cosmetics companies, we have referred to their annual reports, ranking these companies based on their revenues for both 2019 and 2018. There are companies here with major revenues, but only a small percentage coming from cosmetics. Hence, we have only selected the revenues pertaining to cosmetics, by taking the segment-wise revenues to determine the correct revenues. For example, Johnson & Johnson has revenues of $82 billion, but only $4.5 billion are relevant to cosmetics So without further ado, let's take a look at the giants of the cosmetics industry, starting with number 15:
15. Mary Kay
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 3
Total revenue of the company in 2018 (in billions of dollars): N/A
Mary Kay is a private American company which was founded in 1963, 57 years ago. It was initially founded as Mary Kay Ash.
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14. Amore Pacific
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 4.21
Total revenue of the company in 2018 (in billions of dollars): 4.08
Amore Pacific ranks 14th on our list of the biggest cosmetics companies in the world. The South Korean cosmetics company has more than 30 brands which include Laneige and Mamonde.
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 4.59
Total revenue of the company in 2018 (in billions of dollars): 4.38
It is one of the biggest pharma companies in the world, but also has a major cosmetics portfolio, which has enabled it to lay claim in being one of the biggest cosmetics companies in the world.
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 4.61
Total revenue of the company in 2018 (in billions of dollars): 4.46
Henkel ranks 12th on our list of the biggest cosmetics companies in the world. The German company was founded 145 years ago in 1876 and has total revenues of close to 20 billion euros. Some of its most famous brands include Fa and Dial.
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11. Avon
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 4.76
Total revenue of the company in 2018 (in billions of dollars): 5.57
Avon is a major British cosmetics company, and one of the few in our list to not be listed.
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10. KAO
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 5.9
Total revenue of the company in 2018 (in billions of dollars): 5.18
KAO ranks 10th on our list of the biggest cosmetic companies in the world. Kao is a Japanese chemicals and cosmetics company, and has dozens of popular brands such as John Frieda and Molton Brown.
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 6.81
Total revenue of the company in 2018 (in billions of dollars): 7.74
While you must definitely have heard of Victoria's Secrets, you might not be aware that the company which owns it is one of the biggest cosmetics companies in the world.
Models Victorias Secret Clothing Stocks
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8. LVMH
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 8.13
Total revenue of the company in 2018 (in billions of dollars): 7.46
It is one of the biggest fashion companies in the world, and its cosmetics and fragrances business is a major earner for the company too, contributing $8 billion in 2019 alone.
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 8.65
Total revenue of the company in 2018 (in billions of dollars): 9.40
COTY ranks 7th on our list of the biggest cosmetics companies in the world. Coty is an American beauty company, which owns more than 77 brands and is among the biggest cosmetics companies in the world.
