The 2022 Top 100: A Quick Look at Beauty’s Biggest Companies
A wild ride.
Beauty’s roller-coaster ride continued in 2022, painting a picture in mixed media for the world’s leading cosmetics players, as demonstrated by the 2022 WWD Beauty Inc Top 100.
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As business rebounded in most of the world, none could have predicted the impact on the market of the extensive pandemic-related disruption in China that dinted sales for players both international and local, as well as the inflationary effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But all players were not impacted equally. Nearly two-thirds of the companies in this year’s ranking, 67 percent, saw their sales increase year-on-year, while 29 percent saw sales declines. Although most companies saw sales gains, total sales for all 100 companies actually declined slightly, to $232.74 billion, a 1 percent drop year-on-year, testament to significant variations in performance among the world’s beauty leaders. L’Oréal accounted for 17.3 percent of total sales — its share of the Top 100 inching up 1.1 percentage point, similar to its gains in the prior two years. The top 10 companies overall generated sales of $139.18 billion, or 59 percent of total Top 100 revenues, roughly stable year-on-year.
To present a snapshot of what’s been going on in beauty over the past year, we took a closer look at some of the trends that stood out among the top 100 beauty players of 2022:
Fragrance and skin health were the buzzwords for beauty in 2022, continuing trends seen since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, and players with a strong position in either or both were onto a winning ticket. Strength in the fragrance segment helped Puig to reach its 2023 sales goal a year ahead of schedule, and Inter Parfums continued to register sales gains despite supply chain difficulties. In the skin health segment, consumers’ ongoing fixation with dermocosmetics benefited world beauty leader L’Oréal’s Active Cosmetics portfolio as well as competitors like Galderma.
When it came to inflation, exacerbated by the impact of higher energy costs due to the Ukraine war, especially for European manufacturers, players weighted toward the mass-market suffered more than their high-end counterparts. While several — like Unilever and Henkel — said they managed to avoid sales declines through price increases and leaning into more premium categories, the impact on volumes was significant for many players.
China’s Zero COVID-19 policy was a major challenge for many, but not all, players, disproportionately impacting those dependent on goods transiting through Shanghai, which weighed heavily on The Estée Lauder Cos. business for example, and less on L’Oréal, which already had a broader distribution footprint. While certain local Chinese players also suffered, others continued to see exponential growth, with new Top 100 entrants this year including S’Young Group, Yunnan Botanee — better known for its Winona brand — and Joy Group, which owns the buzzy Judydoll label.
In the wake of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, several players took a stance, halting their operations in Russia. For those that had previously had a strong presence in the country, sales took a hit. Groupe Clarins, Lush, Weleda and Amway all cited sales losses as having negatively impacted business overall last year, and according to estimates, Groupe Rocher was also heavily affected, despite making the decision to continue to operate. Russia’s only homegrown player in the Top 100 for many years, Faberlic, dropped off the ranking after its sales plummeted 18.4 percent due to weak consumer sentiment at home and the loss of its European business.
Currency fluctuations weighed disproportionally on U.S.-based players with major operations in international markets. The strong dollar was cited by Revlon, for example, as having had a significant impact on its sales in the nine months to September, exacerbating the company’s woes as it sought to avoid bankruptcy.
It was another tough year for traditional direct sellers, many of which continued to struggle with modernization initiatives. Natura & Co. continues to work on turning Avon’s international business around, focusing on core categories and profitable markets and tightening its cost structure, but the business weighed on the company’s overall results. Oriflame saw its third consecutive year of sales declines and similar operating challenges, while Alcora Corp. also declined once more. Betterware de Mexico, a new Top 100 entrant, is working on implementing a turnaround at Jafra USA, which it acquired in 2021, following strong results on its home market.
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