A decade ago, while L’Oréal stood as the clear global leader in beauty, a new set of independent brands was beginning to gain traction. Despite their at first comparatively microscopic scale, digital natives Glossier and e.l.f. Beauty, celebrity challengers such as Fenty (Rihanna) and Kylie Cosmetics (Kylie Jenner), and the jostling ranks of Korean beauty brands all had a key advantage. While L’Oréal and the other big players had marketing models based on traditional media and sales models based on brick-and-mortar retail, these competitors were perfectly adapted for the new age of social media, influencers, and e-commerce.
It sounds like the preamble to a business-school case study on disruption, the kind that doesn’t end well for the disrupted. Yet L’Oréal didn’t have its Kodak moment. Instead, despite the intensifying competition, it has consistently outperformed the €290 billion global beauty market, which itself continues to grow at an estimated +4.5% in 2024.
