NPD: Prestige Beauty, makeup drove sales in 2015

Color cosmetics drove sales in both the prestige and mass beauty sectors last year, reports Karen Grant, VP and global beauty industry analyst for the NPD Group, speaking at the Cosmetic Executive Women’s CEW/NPD Year-in-Review Event in New York City earlier this month.

NPD reported that prestige beauty in the United States grew 7% to $16 billion, while mass beauty grew 2% to $21.7 billion. Overall, beauty reached $37.7 billion in the US. Prestige online beauty sales grew 24% to $1.8 billion for the 12-months ended September 2015.

As reported by the CEW, makeup saw the biggest growth globally, with the US posting 13% increases, Canada up 18%, the UK up 14%, Italy up 3% and Spain up 8%. Overall beauty sales in France were down by 1%, with fragrance sales down 2%, skin care up 1% and makeup flat.

The NPD Group says that three out of every four dollars gained in prestige beauty was from makeup in 2015. In North America, makeup in the Prestige Beauty category was up 14 %, and in Europe, makeup in the Prestige Beauty category was up 8%.

In other trends, NPD reported that Amazon poses the biggest threat to retailers (Ed. Note: as it does in travel retail). Amazon’s online market share is 35%, and 25% of US households have an Amazon Prime subscription (30 million). Amazon offers approximately 500 million items, says the report.