The cosmetics industry comprises products that cater to skincare, haircare, makeup, perfumes, toiletries, deodorants, and oral cosmetics, among other things. Companies in this industry typically manufacture and distribute their cosmetic products through various channels, including online and retail stores.
The beauty industry saw growth from $483B in 2019 to $511B in 2020. If these numbers indicate its projected growth, the cosmetics industry is predicted to exceed $716B by 2025 and $784.6B by 2027. Currently, the Asia Pacific and North American regions dominate this market, holding over 60% of the total market combined.
Below, we break down the top 10 cosmetic companies in the world, ranked by revenue.
DETAILED LIST OF THE 10 LARGEST COSMETIC COMPANIES IN THE WORLD
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Johnson Johnson. New Jersey, USA
2020 Annual Revenue: $82.06 billion
Founded in 1886, this American multinational corporation is the largest cosmetic manufacturer globally and one of the most valuable companies in the world. It is also one of the only two companies based in the United States with a prime credit rating of AAA, higher than even the United States government.
This organization focuses on consumer health, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals, with the latter being its largest market. Their consumer health franchise includes baby care, oral care, over-the-counter medications, skin health, women’s health, and wound care.
These products include household names such as Band-Aids, Tylenol medications, Johnson’s Baby products, Neutrogena skin and beauty products, Aveeno skin cream, Clean Clear facial wash, and more. On our list, Johnson Johnson makes up over 27% of the total revenue as the top cosmetic manufacturer in the world.
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Procter Gamble. Ohio, USA
2020 Annual Revenue: $67.7 billion
This American multinational consumer good corporation was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble.
The organization focuses on personal health, consumer health, personal care, and hygiene products, all organized in several different segments. These segments include baby care, fabric care, family care, feminine care, grooming, hair care, home care, oral care, personal health, and skin personal care.
Currently, Procter Gamble has operations in several different countries, including the USA, Canada, Hungary, Brazil, United Kingdom, Australia, and others. Until 2012, the organization also owned and operated food, snacks, and beverage products, including notable names like Pringles and Folgers Coffee.
However, in 2014, the company dropped around 100 of their brands to focus on their remaining 65, which produced 95% of their overall revenue. Some well-known cosmetic product lines include Gillette, Head Shoulders, Old Spice, Pantene, Braun, Oral-B, and more.
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Unilever. London, England and Rotterdam, Netherlands
2020 Annual Revenue: $58.03 billion
This Anglo-Dutch multinational consumer goods company owned over 400 brands, thirteen of which have over one billion euros.
The company’s comprehensive products include food, confections, energy drinks, pet food, bottled water, toothpaste, chewing gum, beauty products, personal care, and pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare products. It is also the largest producer of soap in the world.
The three divisions of the organization include Foods and Refreshments, Home Care, and Beauty and Personal Care. Their most well-known products include Axe/Lynx and Dove Soap brands, two of their top-performing products across all divisions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Unilever announced a plan to contribute over €100m through soap, hand sanitizer, bleach, and food donations. Unilever is also environmentally friendly, with a plan to half its environmental footprint from all products by 2030.
In 2019, the company announced that their sites on all five continents are powered by 100% renewable grid electricity.
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L’Oréal USA. Clichy, France
2020 Annual Revenue: $33.34 billion
This international personal care company is headquartered in Clichy, Hauts De-Seine, France, with a registered office in Paris.
L’Oréal is a global household name and has developed products that cater to hair color, skincare, sun protection, make-up, perfume, and hair care. They are officially considered the largest cosmetics company globally in that they don’t focus on any products outside of that industry.
Some of L’Oréal’s most notable brands include L’Oréal Paris, Color Co, Ombrelle, Garnier, Maybelline, NYX Cosmetics, Essie, and others. L’Oréal is one of the biggest innovators in the market. They created Episkin, a reconstructed skin model developed by L’Oréal France engineers to provide an alternative to animal testing.
Additionally, they partnered with bioprinting startup Organovo to 3D print living, breathing derma that can be used for testing purposes. The company also partnered with Modiface, a beauty tech company using augmented reality to show users what different makeup might look like with different hairstyles.
On the horizon for 2021, they also have a Perso smart device app that creates custom formulas for lipstick, foundation, and skincare. End-users can use this AI-enabled app to meet their needs.
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Kao Brands. Tokyo, Japan
2020 Annual Revenue: $14.7 billion
This Japanese chemical and cosmetics company was established in 1887 as a manufacturer of domestic toiletry soap. In the 1960s and 70s, the company expanded to Taiwan and ASEAN countries while simultaneously launching household products, laundry products, and industrial products to expand revenue.
Kao owns familiar brands such as Biore, Curel, Goldwell, Jergens, Attack, Ban, Laurier, Molton Brown, and John Frieda.
In 2020, Kao Corporation was recognized as $4 on a list of 42 companies in the Corporate Knights Industry Group’s Personal Care and Cleaning Products category.
The company was recognized for its innovation, employee retention, and clean revenue from goods and services with clear environmental benefits. They were named “Environmental Heroes of the Year” in that same year.
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Estée Lauder. New York, New York
2020 Annual Revenue: $13.68 billion
This American multinational manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products are based in Manhattan. Estée Lauder distributes their brands in high-quality retail channels as well as digital commerce.
Founded in 1946 by Estée Lauder and her husband Joseph Lauder, the business only carried four products at first: cleansing oil, skin lotion, all-purpose creme, and creme pack.
Over the coming decades, the business expanded rapidly, some by organic growth and others by acquisitions and partnerships, finally going public on the New York Stock Exchange on November 16, 1995.
Estée Lauder’s most notable brands include Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Estée Lauder, MAC Cosmetics, Origins, Smashbox, Too Faced, Aveda, DKNY Fragrances, Donna Karan Cosmetics, Michael Kors Beauty, Tommy Hilfiger Toiletries, and Tory Burch Beauty, among many others.
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Shiseido Americas. Tokyo, Japan
2020 Annual Revenue: $9.9 billion
This Japanese multinational cosmetic and personal care company features skincare, makeup, body care, hair care, personal care, and fragrances. Founded in 1872, Shiseido is one of the oldest cosmetics companies globally and is featured on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Founder Arinobu Fukuhara was a former head pharmacist in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He established the Shiseido Pharmacy in 1872, adding a soda fountain to the store in the same year. This ultimately led to growing into a partner restaurant business, introducing ice cream to Japan.
Shiseido offers a line of cosmetics called “The Makeup” with a full range of products such as lip products, eye shadows, eyeliners, mascara, foundations, concealers, and blushes. They also invest heavily in excellent packaging for all of its products, making their product lines visually appealing.
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Coty. New York, New York
2020 Annual Revenue: $9.4 billion
This American multinational beauty company was founded in 1904 and is currently headquartered in New York City on Fifth Avenue. The company owns 77 products as of 2018, including fragrances, cosmetics, skincare, nail care, and hair care products.
It is one of the world’s largest beauty companies and the largest fragrance companies. After acquiring 41 beauty brands from competitor Procter Gamble, Coty became the leader in fragrance, the second-largest company for hair color and styling products, and the third-largest for color cosmetics.
Coty’s most notable brands include Kylie Cosmetics, Bourjois, Clairol, CoverGirl, Ghd, Max Factor, OPI, Rimmel, Sally Hansen, and Wella.
In 2019, the company made headlines by purchasing $600 million in Kylie Cosmetics and again in June 2020 by buying a 20% stake for $200 million in KKW, a company owned by Kim Kardashian West.
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Beiersdorf. Hamburg, Germany
2020 Annual Revenue: $8.9 billion
This German multinational company manufactures and sells a variety of personal-care products and pressure-sensitive adhesives. Its most well-known brands include Elastoplast, Eucerin, Labello, La Prarie, Nivea, tesa, and Coppertone.
The two segments of the business are consumer business, which focuses on skincare, and tesa business, which focuses on self-adhesive products.
Since December 2008, Beiersdorf has been traded on the Deutschen Aktienindex (DAX). The organization has over 160 affiliates worldwide. Nivea and Labello are the company’s strongest two brands and helped them reach international success.
Although Europe is still their key market, the company has regional research centers in China and Mexico so that scientists can understand and respond to the needs of local markets.
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AmorePacific. Yongsan-gu, South Korea
2020 Annual Revenue: $5.5 billion
This South Korean beauty and cosmetics conglomerate operates over 30 beauty, personal care, and health brands.
AmorePacific was founded in the 1930s when Madame Yin Dok-Jeong began selling camellia oil as a hair treatment to her local village. In 1945, she handed ownership over to her son Suh Sung-Whan. By 2016, Suh was the second-richest man in Korea.
Some of the company’s most well-known brands include Aestura, Dantrol, Espoir, Etude House, Fresh Pop, ILLIYOON, Laneige, Makeon, Mamonde, MIRAEPA, Odyssey, Primera, Vital Beautie, and more.
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Author
Caitlin Mazur is a freelance writer at Zippia. Caitlin is passionate about helping Zippia’s readers land the jobs of their dreams by offering content that discusses job-seeking advice based on experience and extensive research. Caitlin holds a degree in English from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA.
