After a dip in 2022, online purchases have increased again in 2024. Despite the growth in online shopping, almost everyone in Germany continues to buy products in brick-and-mortar stores.
Online Beauty Market Germany – Current Landscape
Mintel’s Germany online beauty market report shows that brands need to bridge the gap between physical and online shopping and can double down on an omnichannel approach. Although consumers enjoy exploring new products online, they often prefer to first experience them in person before making a purchase.
Men generally buy fewer beauty products than women overall but are equally active in purchasing them online. However, men are more inclined to agree that shopping online offers the best choice of products and brands. This indicates that men feel underserved by the in-store variety, leading them to seek options online. This offers online retailers a distinct advantage over in-store ones.
Beauty Market Online Germany – Market Statistics
- Consumer Behaviour in the Beauty Online Market Germany: 51% of German consumers have purchased a beauty and/or grooming product online so far in 2024.
- Trends in the Online Beauty Market Germany: Despite general scepticism around sharing personal information with brands/retailers in Germany, 53% of online BPC buyers are willing to share any health data, including hair/skin information or diet/water intake to get personalised product recommendations.
Germany Online Beauty Market Report – What’s Inside?
Key Topics Analysed in this Report
- Overview of the current market performance and a five-year-outlook.
- The types of information consumers are willing to share with beauty/grooming retailers and brands to get personalised products, with a focus on gender, age, and health information.
- Consumer behaviours when shopping online for beauty and grooming products, with impulse purchases at the front, followed by price-sensitive actions, and the use of chat features.
- Reasons for impulse purchases in the online beauty and personal care market Germany, led by discounts, free shipping thresholds, and limited editions.
- Consumer attitudes towards shopping online for beauty and grooming products, with a propensity to omnichannel shopping.
Report Scope
This Report examines the online beauty and personal care market Germany. It combines analyses of the German market, including market sizes and forecasts for consumer spending on beauty and personal care and online beauty retailers’ sales, with our in-depth consumer data.
The following segments are covered in Mintel’s Germany online beauty market report:
- Beauty: Makeup, colour cosmetics, nailcare, fragrances, and skincare
- Personal Care: Haircare, bodycare, hair removal, and everyday toiletries (oral hygiene, bathing, and deodorants)
- BPC Accessories & Electricals: Hair and makeup brushes, hair styling tools, and beauty and dental tools
Meet the Expert Behind the Analysis
This report was written by Henrike Philipp, Research Analyst at Mintel. Henrike joined Mintel Germany as an Associate Analyst in 2022 and was promoted to Research Analyst in beauty and personal care in February 2024. Prior to that, she worked in the Translation Team covering German Reports. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Classics from Durham University.
The slowdown in online beauty and personal care purchases is set to reverse. Retailers can engage buyers via omnichannel offerings, target men with tech, and use personal data for hyper-personalised products.
Henrike Philipp
Research Analyst
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Opportunities
- Market size and forecast
- Outlook
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Opportunities
- Double down on omnichannel
- Bridge the gap between in-store and online shopping…
- …and double down on omnichannel retail
- Offer support to consumers buying online through tutorials and virtual groups
- Focus on parents as omnichannel lovers through an emphasis on cost savings
- Use tech to cater to men online who feel underserved in physical retail
- Men feel underserved by in-store retail
- Increase the appeal of online shopping for tech-savvy men
- Nudge men towards online impulse buys
- Use health information for hyper-personalisation
- Create personalised products based on consumers’ provided health data
- Graph 1: health information willing to share with beauty/grooming retailers/brands, by age, 2024
- Dispel worries about the risk of data privacy breaches
- Follow Mintel Trends Make it Mine and (My) Knowledge is Power
- Leverage AI and personal information to create customised products
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Consumer
- Purchase of BPC products
- Online purchases have been fluctuating over the past few years
- Graph 2: online purchase of beauty and grooming products in the last 12 months, by product type, 2021, 2022 and 2024
- Overall, it’s looking up for the category
- Younger consumers’ confidence has returned when it comes to online purchases
- Graph 3: online purchase of beauty/grooming products in the last 12 months, by age, 2021, 2022 and 2024
- Younger consumers own the biggest repertoires of beauty products purchased online
- Graph 4: repertoire of online beauty/grooming purchases, by age, 2024
- City dwellers show greater online propensity
- Graph 5: purchase of beauty/grooming products online, by area, 2024
- Purchase methods
- Demographics differ in the devices they use to purchase products…
- Graph 6: way of purchasing beauty/grooming products online, by age group, 2024
- …with younger consumers favouring smartphones and older consumers laptop or desktop computers
- Information willing to share with a retailer
- Among Europeans, Germans are the most hesitant to give information
- Of those who are willing, consumers are comfortable sharing a variety of information
- Graph 7: types of information willing to share with beauty/grooming retailers/brands, 2024
- Gender and age are pretty common asks from brands, which consumers are used to
- When it comes to health information, most are willing to share about their hair and skin
- Graph 8: health information willing to share with beauty/grooming retailers/brands, by age, 2024
- Around a fifth of consumers are willing to share information around their routines
- Brands are already using personalised product offers to entice consumers
- Behaviour when online shopping for beauty/grooming products
- Impulse purchasing and using loyalty programmes are the most common behaviours
- Graph 9: behaviour when online shopping for beauty/grooming products, 2024
- Men value convenience and technology
- Graph 10: select purchases of beauty/grooming products, by gender, 2024
- Engaging with help features is more important for some categories than others
- Loyalty programmes are popular among higher earners and parents
- Consumers exhibit price-sensitive behaviours
- Impulse purchases
- Who are the impulse buyers?
- Motivations for impulse purchasing
- Graph 11: reasons for impulse purchases of beauty/grooming products online, 2024
- Discounts are the biggest motivators for consumers, followed by free shipping thresholds
- Limited editions are mainly purchased on tablets
- App push notifications and ads have been influential on men
- Attitudes and behaviours
- Consumers are informed about online beauty shopping
- Online buyers of beauty like to research
- Graph 12: attitudes towards shopping online for beauty/grooming products, 2024
- Researchers are more likely to share data with brands
- Online offers more product choices and new products compared to brick-and-mortar stores
- German consumers go online to discover new products/brands
- Consumers seek out value
- Consumers are cost conscious and turn online for help
- Graph 13: attitudes towards shopping online for beauty/grooming products, 2024
- Free delivery is more popular among younger consumers and urban dwellers
- Consumers are sustainably minded
- A significant proportion of German consumers is eco-friendly
- Graph 14: attitudes towards shopping online for beauty/grooming products, 2024
- Take the opportunity to make delivery options more eco-friendly
- Consumers are sceptical when it comes to online shopping
- Convince consumers of the benefits of online shopping
- Graph 15: attitudes towards shopping online for beauty/grooming products, 2024
- Consumers look for reassurance and evidence
- Concerns about data privacy
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Retailer Activity and Innovation
- Social media claims peak in 2022 but are stagnating now
- Graph 16: launches with social media claims, 2018-24
- Retailer activity
- Engage consumers with targeted deals
- Chatbots are a big thing, with Douglas offering an AI assistant
- Drugstores are expanding their click-and-collect offers
- Amazon has started a new live shopping format in the US
- ALDI promotes purchases of drugstore articles online
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market
- Market drivers
- The EU AI Act aims to regulate AI models
- Adapt websites to make them more accessible
- A growing demand for inclusivity and diversity in the beauty industry
- Consumers embrace searching on social media and highly trust them
- Market size
- A sluggish start to 2024 after a tricky 2023, but the market is set to increase further
- Graph 17: value sales of health and beauty ecommerce, 2014-24
- Market forecast
- After declining over the past years, Mintel predicts slow growth
- Mintel expects slow but steady growth
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APPENDIX
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Abbreviations and terms
- Abbreviations
- Generations
- Methodology – consumer research
- Consumer research methodology
- CHAID analysis
- CHAID – tree output
- A note on language
- Methodology – market size and forecast
- Forecast methodology
- Forecast methodology – fan chart
- Market size – value
- Market forecast and prediction intervals – value
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