2025
9
UK Online Beauty and Personal Care Retailing Market Report 2025
2025-11-28T16:02:51+00:00
REP1A74DADE_E74D_48D2_A8BB_F8E26D4D527B
2195
189145
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Report
en_GB
The online BPC retail market has seen strong growth in recent years, rising by 7% in 2025. Boots is the market leader, while Amazon is the largest non-specialist. The market…
UK
eCommerce
Health and Beauty Retail
simple

UK Online Beauty and Personal Care Retailing Market Report 2025

The online BPC retail market has seen strong growth in recent years, rising by 7% in 2025.

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  1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    • What you need to know
    • Outlook for online beauty and personal care retailing
    • Opportunities
    • Personalisation to become a new metric of convenience
    • Win in social commerce by standing out and building trust
    • Imperfect products perfectly positioned to attract more shoppers
  2. THE MARKET

    • Snapshot – market size and forecast
    • Social media a growth driver, but misinformation demands attention
    • Counterfeits are a growing concern
    • Balance the excitement of online AI innovation with transparency
    • Small-size samples offer big opportunities, but also challenges
    • Online BPC sales  forecast to grow 39% between 2025 and 2030
    • Graph 1: online BPC retail sales (incl VAT), 2019-30
    • Online BPC growth will be underpinned by innovation
  3. THE CONSUMER

    • Online purchasing of BPC products
    • Over three-quarters of UK consumers buy BPC products online
    • Younger shoppers drive the online BPC market
    • Graph 2: any online BPC purchase in the last 12 months, by age, 2025
    • Fragrance has universal appeal
    • Consumers are keen to explore imperfect BPC items
    • Imperfect items lower the barrier to entry for experimentation
    • Retailer and fulfilment use
    • Grocery retailers are the most popular location for online BPC purchases
    • Grocery rapid delivery will disrupt the market
    • Sephora’s shopper profile stands apart from other specialists
    • Graph 3: top retailers used to buy BPC products online in the last 12 months, by age and houeshold income, 2025
    • Department stores over-index in high-value categories
    • Collection and rapid delivery use set to grow
    • Graph 4: methods used to receive online BPC purchases in the last 12 months – NET, by age, 2025
    • Perceived benefits of buying BPC products online versus in-store
    • Convenience is the key perceived benefit of buying BPC online
    • Online shopping needs to go beyond the ‘buy’ button
    • Online shopping facilitates savvy behaviours
    • The influence of social media on BPC purchasing
    • Social media trends dictate BPC purchases
    • TikTok leads the charge in social commerce
    • Livestream shopping will fuel growth in social commerce
    • Tackle scepticism around social media shopping to ensure further growth
    • Motivations to look beyond price when buying online
    • Service is key to trading shoppers up
    • Graph 5: motivations to look beyond price when buying BPC, by age, 2025
    • AI transforms online tools and consumer expectations
    • Younger shoppers embrace data exchange for personalised experiences
    • Shoppers will increasingly demand high-quality personalisation
  4. RETAILER ACTIVITY

    • Leading retailers
    • Boots consolidates its leading position
    • Graph 6: estimated market share of retail sales of leading retailers selling BPC products online, 2024-25
    • Physical expansion drives online growth for Space NK and Sephora
    • Rapid growth among online-only fragrance retailers puts pressure on specialists
    • Graph 7: leading fragrance specialists, year-on-year change within the SpendMapper cohort, 2025
    • Differing fortunes of discount BPC specialists
    • Graph 8: leading beauty discounters, year-on-year change within the SpendMapper cohort, 2025
    • Amazon leads online BPC purchases among non-specialist retailers
    • Grocers and department stores look to bolster BPC offering
    • Launch activity and innovation
    • Rapid delivery at the forefront of investment
    • Enhance the experiential elements of online shopping
    • Leverage AI for personalised recommendations
    • Pushing innovations in product samples
    • Bring beauty and wellness closer together
    • Specialists embrace the K-beauty hype
    • Dispel misinformation prevalent within BPC
  5. APPENDIX

    • Market definition
    • The market
    • Forecast methodology
    • Forecast methodology – fan chart
    • Market size and forecast: underlying data – Online BPC retail sales
    • Market forecast and prediction intervals (value) – Online BPC retail sales
    • Market size and forecast of online BPC consumer spending
    • Graph 9: Online BPC consumer spending (including VAT), 2019-30
    • Market size and forecast: underlying data – Online BPC consumer spending
    • Market forecast and prediction intervals (value) – Online BPC consumer spending
    • The consumer
    • Consumer research questions
    • Consumer research methodology
    • Repertoire analysis methodology
    • Leading retailers
    • Leading retailers selling BPC products online: revenues
    • Leading retailers selling BPC products online: market shares
    • Other data source methodologies
    • Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
    • Snoop SpendMapper methodology
    • Abbreviations and terms
Download Report Summary

"Online demand for BPC products will continue to grow, driven by social commerce, fulfilment evolution, and AI-powered tools elevating the shopping experience."

Sam Nguyen, Senior Retail Analyst

Sam Nguyen, Senior Retail Analyst

UK Online Beauty and Personal Care Retail Market – Trends and Insights

  • The UK online beauty retail market has seen strong growth in recent years, rising by 7% in 2025. Boots is the UK market leader, while Amazon is the largest non-specialist.
  • The UK online BPC retail market is becoming increasingly fragmented, with rising competition from smaller online-only players, and continued high investment from established retailers, both specialists and non-specialists.
  • Social media plays a pivotal role in product discovery and turning inspiration into sales. Advances in social commerce capabilities, particularly on TikTok, have made the channel an increasing competitor to traditional online sites.
  • AI is also disrupting the online market, becoming increasingly used for personalisation with consumers willing to share detailed personal information in exchange for tailored experiences and recommendations.
  • To build trust, clear communications about product ingredients and suitability should be a key part of brands’ social media content. Meanwhile, when implementing AI tools, it is essential to be transparent about information sources and data protection.

Key Issues Covered in the Report:

  • The current size and five-year forecast of the online UK BPC retailing market
  • Key players in the market and how they are performing and innovating
  • The perceived benefits of buying BPC products online over in-store
  • What BPC products are bought online, along with how and where they are bought
  • The influence of social media on BPC buying behaviours
  • Drivers that motivate consumers to look beyond price, including the role of personalisation
Report AttributesDetails
Published DateNovember 2025
Data Range2019-2030
Measurement MetricsRevenue in £
Country FocusUnited Kingdom (UK)
Consumer Data2,000 internet users aged 16+, August 2025
Number of Pages54
Market SegmentationBeauty, Makeup and Colour Cosmetics, Nail Care, Fragrances, Skincare, Personal Care, Haircare, Bodycare, Hair Removal, Everyday Toiletries (such as Oral Hygiene, Bathing, and Deodorants), BPC Accessories, Hair and Makeup Brushes, Hair Styling Tools, Beauty and Dental Tools.
Leading CompaniesBoots, Amazon, THG Beauty, Tesco, Superdrug, John Lewis, Sephora UK, J. Sainsbury, Space NK, Asda, LookFantastic, Shein, Viktor&Rolf, La Roche-Posay, Dermalogica, Caudalie, L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline, Essie, Sol de Janeiro, No7, P.Louise, Made by Mitchell, SheGlam, Kiehl’s, Dove, The Ordinary, Cerave, and indu.
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