Marketing Strategies of Beauty Brands The U.S.-based management consulting firm McKinsey & Company recently addressed the changing landscape of the beauty industry in its report titled “State of Beauty 2025: Solving a Shifting Growth Puzzle.”According to the report, beauty brands are undergoing a significant transformation in their marketing strategies. “In the past, influencer partnerships and paid advertising were the dominant strategies for gaining exposure, but their effectiveness is steadily diminishing,” the report noted. In fact, the percentage of consumers in Europe, the U.S., and China who reported discovering beauty brands through influencers dropped sharply from 16% in 2023 to just 7% in 2025. Instead, 51% of consumers cited "actual user reviews" as the most trustworthy source of information. The influence of professionals such as dermatologists also ranked highly. The report advised that instead of imitating the success stories of other brands, beauty companies should invest in developing high-quality storytelling and distinctive creativity from within as a core growth strategy. A notable shift is also occurring in distribution channels. While offline stores remain important touchpoints for building brand experience and consumer trust, the report highlighted that online channels are fundamentally reshaping the structure of the beauty market. In 2022, e-commerce accounted for 20% of total beauty sales, and this figure is expected to rise to 31% by 2030, making it the largest distribution channel in the beauty industry.
The report concluded that “as the influence of online channels grows, brands must overhaul their entire channel strategies.” It recommended that brands define clear purposes and roles for each channel—including brand-owned websites, multi-brand platforms, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) models—and respond by diversifying their consumer touchpoints (State of Beauty, 2025). |
