The rules of beauty shopping just got rewritten. The beauty industry is seeing a dramatic shift toward digital channels, with e-commerce positioned to capture nearly one-third of global beauty retail sales by 2030 .
This transformation marks the most significant change in beauty retail distribution since the era of department stores and is fundamentally changing how consumers discover, experience, and purchase beauty products. E-Commerce Emerges as the Clear Winner According to McKinsey’s latest State of Beauty
2025 report , online channels are expected to account for 31% of global beauty retail sales by 2030, up from only 10% in 2015. This remarkable growth positions e-commerce as the fastest-growing channel for beauty brands worldwide, with significant momentum over the last decade.
Kristi Weaver, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, and colleagues explain in their analysis that the projected growth for e-commerce is higher than all other global beauty sales channels. This leap signals more than just a change in shopping behaviors; it’s a complete reimagining of beauty retail.
The numbers clearly show the scale of this change: e-commerce beauty sales have tripled, rising from 15% in 2019 to 26% in 2024 . Conversely, department stores have seen their share fall from 11% in 2015 to 8% in 2024, with further decline projected by 2030 .
Traditional Retail Faces Increasing Pressure Traditional retail channels are under significant pressure as e-commerce rises. Drugstores and pharmacies are forecasted to lose market share, dropping from 16% in 2015 to around 12% by 2030…
