Retail realities
Why relevance needs a shelf
Most retail environments are still structured around a logic that no longer fits how people shop. Whether online or offline, beauty shelves are typically organised by brand, category or gender. These formats assume the shopper already knows what they want — and how to find it. As this report demonstrates, this is increasingly not the case.
Consumers are navigating beauty through real-life usage needs. They are building routines around specific moments — getting ready for work, resetting after the gym, winding down in the evening. Yet these use cases remain invisible at shelf level. Retailers ask the shopper to do the translation: to connect a product’s technical promise with their practical need. Many don’t. They either default to what they already know, or they drop out of the journey altogether.
This friction is magnified online. In markets like Thailand, more than 48% of beauty shoppers now use multiple ecommerce platforms. In Malaysia, social commerce grew by 242% year on year, with platforms like TikTok drawing consumers in with search experiences built around discovery and curiosity, not rigid filtering. In mature ecommerce markets like Taiwan and South Korea, traditional platforms are reaching saturation. Growth is shifting toward channels that help people browse by mood, intent or scenario — not by SPF rating or format alone.
Reimagining retail
These shifts require a new kind of retail logic. The role of retail, both online and offline, is increasingly about curating demand moments. Platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and social commerce help shoppers understand when and how to use newer beauty products and where they fit within Beauty Spaces.
In the past, it was difficult to communicate this kind of contextual usage effectively. Even when brands tried, the message often got lost at shelf level because products were rarely organised around usage moments.
Now, the shopping journey is more seamless. Social media platforms guide consumers from the why and when to the how and what, often linking directly to purchase. This marks a significant shift in retail, where true omnichannel behaviour is shaped by relevance, context, and convenience. That means aligning product claims, merchandising, and messaging with when and how the product is actually used. Beauty Spaces offer a clear framework to do that. They help brands communicate what the product does, and when it matters.
For example, a deodorant framed around post-exercise recovery speaks more clearly to a “Sweat & Reset” shopper than one focused solely on dryness. A tinted moisturiser described as “Fresh Confidence for Brunch” is easier to place than one labelled only by coverage or finish.
The principle applies across formats and price tiers. Growth in discounter formats in Brazil, France and other markets reflects price sensitivity, but also shopper preference for flexibility — the ability to build a routine across categories and brands without friction. Lightweight, multi-use products like gel cleansers, mists and hybrid SPF items are gaining because they are easy to add, carry or reapply when needed. They work across moments, not only within a traditional regimen.
Channel changes
Online and offline channels continue to evolve in parallel. Ecommerce penetration is rising steadily in markets like China (55.7 %) and Thailand (47 %), where digital platforms support exploration, personalisation, and convenience. At the same time, traditional offline channels remain relevant for routine and habitual shopping, particularly in categories that still benefit from in-person selection.
Inflationary pressure is also reshaping offline behaviour. Discount chains and private label products are gaining traction in France, Brazil and South Korea, where affordability has become a stronger driver of choice. In France, discounter penetration rose from 54.3% in 2022 to 56.8% in 2024. In Brazil, the figure reached 70.5%, up from 62.8% just two years earlier.
This is where traditional, function-driven and habitual shopping, which involves minimal engagement, is likely to continue to shift. Department stores are losing ground to discounters, which cater to efficiency and price sensitivity.
In contrast, more engaging, discovery-led shopping is creating new whitespace opportunities through pop-up stores and experience-focused specialty retailers such as Sephora and Boots. That’s why more emerging brands are investing in engagement-driven retail formats, including pop-up activations and placements within beauty specialty channels.
Online penetration in the broader personal care space continues to rise in many markets, particularly across Asia, where Taiwan, Thailand, and China show steady year-on-year growth. Meanwhile, penetration in more mature or price-sensitive markets like Great Britain and France has plateaued. This variation reflects differing consumer behaviours and infrastructure maturity across regions.
These shifts highlight the need for retail strategies that reflect both price sensitivity and channel behaviour. The formats and claims that resonate online may differ from those that perform on-shelf, but both must be grounded in real usage needs.
Despite the growing ecommerce presence, many beauty and personal care categories still rely heavily on offline touchpoints to explore, discover, and connect with products. Consumers want to smell, feel, and sense alignment before committing. This is driving omnichannel behaviour in key markets such as GB, where footfall is growing both online and offline — particularly across chemists, department stores, and cosmetics retailers.
Two recent campaigns from Billie and Sure are making waves in the US and the UK — scented billboards that invite people on the street to literally stop and smell the product. It’s playful, bold, and rooted in something we see clearly in the data: fragrance is a top driver of choice in deodorant, and one of the fastest-growing personal care categories in both countries.
But as fragrance-led innovation expands, it raises questions our usage analyses now take into account: How does it fit into broader routines? Where does it complement other products, and where might it cannibalise them?
In South Korea, pop-up beauty stores are grouping products around emotional and physical needs — calm, energise, recover. In Southeast Asia, ecommerce platforms are experimenting with filters that allow users to search by feeling (“feel fresh,” “feel grounded,” “feel glamorous”) rather than format. Early data shows these journeys increase both basket size and cross-category purchasing.
The future of merchandising will be defined by contextual clarity.
