CONSUMER PRODUCTS
Beauty and Cosmetics
World's Most Productive Companies
Resilience and Transformation in the Global Beauty Sector
These companies in the Beauty and Cosmetics peer group are all leading multinational corporations that design, manufacture, market, and distribute a wide range of products, including skincare, makeup, fragrances, and hair care. Members of this peer group share a common focus on managing an extensive and diverse portfolio of multiple brands that cater to different price points and consumer demographics, and are driven by innovation, extensive supply chains, and significant digital marketing efforts.
Over the last six years, these companies have managed COVID-19 shocks and reopenings, China’s boom and subsequent slowdown, the collapse and prolonged normalization of travel retail, and elevated inflation. Simultaneously, they faced rapid shifts in digital and social commerce, rising ESG and regulatory expectations, and a consumer shift toward dermocosmetics, wellness, and premium fragrance. The sector is marked by resilient, above-GDP market growth.
Top 100 World's Most Productive Companies - Beauty and Cosmetics
Productivity Snapshot
The Beauty and Cosmetics peer group experienced a similar productivity trend to many other industries and peer groups: a surge in productivity from 2020 to 2023, followed by a regression to declining productivity in 2023 and 2024.
- Productivity for the sector declined overall by 2% over the last six years. This segment, like Consumer Products generally, performed well below the average for manufacturers represented in the IPI, had less volatility in its productivity performance, and has returned to stagnation and regression over the last two years. The margins in the beauty and cosmetics industry overall tend to mask this poor productivity performance.
- Every company in this peer group had negative productivity growth in 2023 and 2024.
- 2024 Productivity declined an average of 6.5% across these companies.
- Coty earned its position within the LNS 2025 World’s Most Productive Companies by growing productivity 16.3% over the last six years, compared with a 2% decline realized on average by their peers/competitors. Coty's performance suggests it achieved a higher relative increase in productivity by effectively executing its multi-year "All-in to Win" transformation program, which involved divestitures, significant cost reductions, supply chain simplification, brand premiumization, and the integration of digital and AI systems across its operations.
- L’Oreal earned its position on the LNS 2025 World’s Most Productive Companies by growing productivity faster than its regional/category peers over the last six years.
