We‘re getting a very strong impression about the role e-Commerce is starting to play post-pandemic. This is especially true regarding the beauty industry, as we now see new numbers that confirm a significant growth trend – even more apparently when predicting what’ll happen in the near future.
A survey from Edge by Ascential, which focuses on the future of Health and Beauty retail sales, indicates that e-Commerce companies have reported the fastest growing global performance during the pandemic. And the future seems even more promising: between 2021 and 2026 sales are projected to total $305 billion, of which more than 50% of growth will come from e-Commerce.
A big change in the retail scenario is expected to occur in the next 5 years: according to analysts’ predictions, online shopping share will increase from 20% in 2021 to nearly 26.8% of global category sales by 2026. More significantly e-Commerce platforms like Amazon, Alibaba and JD.com will grow four to five times faster than retailers Walgreens Boots Alliance and CVS Health, putting the total sales of these online platforms ahead of the more traditional retail chains.
In Asia the situation will become even more extreme: China’s Pinduoduo and Southeast Asia’s Shopee will experience the fastest compound annual growth rate between 2021 and 2026 in the health, beauty and personal care category, which will grow more than three times faster than store-based retail. This is a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis, lengthy lockdowns and shuttered high street shops and shopping centres have reset shopping habits.
Over the next five years, shoppers will buy an additional $156.1 billion of health and beauty products online, with e-Commerce sales reaching $358.4 billion by 2026.
According to the report, altogether, the health, beauty and personal care retail category are expected to be worth $1.34 trillion in chain retail sales worldwide by 2026.
Over this period, the shift to online in this category is embodied in figures showing Walmart’s store network adding just 3% growth, compared to 13.6% growth in Walmart’s e-Commerce sales.
Deren Baker, CEO at Edge by Ascential, summarised the forecast result saying: “The health, beauty and personal care category is particularly interesting to follow with entrenched consumer habits having to change overnight as a result of the pandemic. Items that were once bought in-store are not only becoming available online, but in an increasingly mobile-first age, brands have been rapidly experimenting with innovative digital technologies to engage customers remotely, such as using augmented reality to allow customers to try on lipstick virtually and getting involved with seasonal events and shoppable live streaming opportunities increasingly offered by digital marketplace giants like Alibaba, Amazon, JD.com as well as China’s fast-growing group-buying platform Pinduoduo.”
