Online sales of beauty products in India sees growth in first half of 2023

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The global beauty industry continues to gain momentum every year - and more and more sales are made online. The Admitad partner network estimates that global sales of the beauty and self-care industry grew by more than 15 per cent in the first half of the year, while the number of online orders in India jumped by 13 per cent YoY. GMV of local beauty orders also jumped by more than 20 per cent.

To prepare this report, Admitad analyzed the sales of 450 brands worldwide and 155 brands in India, including such well-known companies and marketplaces as Sephora, Alibaba, Apollo 24X7, Forest Essentials, Plum Goodness, Beardo, BABOR, Loccitane, Clarins, Calvin Klein, Kiehl's and many others. Calculations are based on more than 6.5 million orders worldwide and more than 1.3 million orders in India, that were generated by network partners for beauty brands and retail sites.

India is back on beauty track
The growth of online sales of beauty products in the world is strong but moderate. Admitad calculates that the number of global online sales grew by 11 percent in 2022, and in the first half of 2023 the growth has already hit the mark of 15 percent.

According to Neha Kulwal, Managing Director, APAC and India, Mitgo, "In 2022, Indian buying activity in the beauty industry hardly experienced any growth, but in the first half of 2023, it caught up with and even began to slightly outpace the pace of global customer activity. The number of beauty orders grew by 13 percent and the amount Indian shoppers are willing to spend on cosmetics and self care rose by 2 0percent."

The average order value of online sales of beauty products in India has increased by a few percent and is now around 15 USD. Local customers prefer to make smaller orders and actively take advantage of discount periods and bundles.

The top 10 countries by the size of the average order value of beauty orders currently look like this:

The source of beauty hunters
In 2023, the keywords in online shopping for beauty products are "benefit" and "smart shopping". Therefore, Admitad calculates that coupon and cashback purchases rank high worldwide. However, the recommendations of influencers and content creators still faithfully generate orders for beauty brands - their share in the total number of orders is also significant:

Interestingly, on average, global orders for beauty products from Google contextual ads grew by more than 30 per cent in 2023. Messengers, in particular Telegram, also became record-breakers in terms of sales growth in this segment - the number of orders through them more than doubled. Sales from Affiliate stores increased by 45 per cent.

Admitad estimates that coupon platforms in India have had a greater impact on shoppers' decisions than the global average, accounting for more than 22.5 per cent of all orders. The positive attitude towards them in the country continues to grow - in 2023, the number of purchases in which Indian shoppers applied a coupon increased by 14 per cent.

Content sites and cashback services, on the other hand, attracted a few percent fewer shoppers in the beauty industry. The share of purchases through contextual advertising and affiliate stores was at the global level.

A unique trend for India has been the explosion of beauty purchases through the messenger Telegram. Their number more than quadrupled in 2023 and their share in total orders exceeded 10 percent. Brands should definitely take Messenger seriously, including Telegram channels and buying ads there in their marketing strategy.

It is also important to note the rapid growth in the number of beauty purchases through contextual advertising on Google - this year it was this advertising network that accounted for more than half of all orders from advertising networks (including Yahoo, Facebook, and other networks).

The mobile frenzy
The share of mobile sales in the global beauty industry in 2023 already stands at a staggering 46 per cent and continues to grow (in 2022, the share of mobile sales was 44 per cent).

Indian users are overtaking global trends again - in 2022, more than 60 per cent of orders in the beauty industry were made from phones. And in 2023, this figure has already exceeded 70 per cent. Every brand that doesn't yet have a mobile-friendly website or mobile app should devote resources to developing one right now so that they don't miss out on the majority of customers.

Forecasts are positive
Both global and Indian figures clearly indicate that the growth of online sales in the beauty industry will continue. According to Admitad experts, 2023 may end even more positively for Indian beauty brands than the successful 2022. It is highly likely that the increase in the number of their sales for the whole year will reach up to 20 per cent.

Businesses should pay attention to the most effective traffic sources and those customer acquisition channels that show growth or have the highest average order value. This approach will help them not to miss trends and increase not only the number of orders but also improve other important business indicators.

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