Australia boasts high spending and savvy consumers, setting a high bar for homegrown beauty brands and new entrants alike.
A wave of brands from the region have spread their wings beyond home shores to achieve international success, such as giants Aēsop and Bondi Sands, with more now following in their footsteps, like MCoBeauty.
Meanwhile, a number of UK and US names are heading down under to try their luck with discerning health and beauty buffs, known for their outdoor lifestyles.
The Australian beauty and personal care market is worth an estimated €5.9bn, according to analysis by L.E.K Consulting of Euromonitor data. --ABSTRACTEND-
While it is modest in size compared to global leaders, Australia represents a high-value market on a per capita basis, says Philippe Gorge, Partner and Head of European Health and Beauty Practice at L.E.K. Consulting.
Australian consumers spend approximately €230 per person per year across skin care, colour cosmetics, hair care, fragrances and sun care, making the country among the top spenders globally.
“Despite its smaller aggregate size, the Australian market is highly developed, with consumer behaviours aligned with premium markets,” Gorge tells Cosmetics Business.
“Its elevated per capita spend reflects strong consumer engagement, willingness to invest in quality and efficacy, and high awareness of skin health and environmental factors.
“Moreover, Australia's climate, dermatological culture and regulatory standard, especially around SPF and ingredient safety, make it a benchmark market for innovation, especially in sun care, skin care and hybrid wellness-beauty formats.”
The likes of Aussie brands Ultra Violette and Naked Sundays, which have both recently launched in the US, demonstrate the country’s expertise in the area of premium sun and skin care – especially 'skinscreens' and hybrid SPF formats, such as glow drops, mineral sticks and daily moisturisers with SPF 50-plus.
“These products have gone global, leveraging Australia’s dermatological credibility,” adds Gorge.
Mecca Cosmetica, the own-brand of Australia’s biggest beauty retailer Mecca, has also ”dipped its toes” internationally, launching direct to consumers in the UK with its SPF lines and has since expanded to Ireland, Italy, France, Germany and Spain.
“We saw that premium SPF was starting to build momentum globally, and we wanted to understand the demand for our brand and Australian SPF,” said Lea Cranfield, Chief Brands and Buying Officer at Mecca.
“Since bringing our SPF expertise to the UK, we are seeing great success, with double-digit growth year-on-year.
Beyond sun care
Beyond sun care, growth drivers include skin care, sustained by daily-use routines, increasing adoption of active ingredients, and demand for clinical-grade and sensitive-skin solutions, says Gorge.
However, fragrance is the fastest-growing segment, “fuelled by premiumisation, giftable formats, niche scent discovery and rising cross-gender usage,” he adds.
Goldfield & Banks, which claims to be Australia's first luxury fragrance house, is one such brand that has tapped into the region's unique geography and climate, using native ingredients such as Australian sandalwood, boronia and coastal tea tree in its scents.
Founder Dimitri Weber, who boasts a 30-year career in the fragrance industry including at YSL and Shiseido, started the brand in 2016 and it is now sold in 67 countries.
He credits the brand’s focus on celebrating Australia’s beauty and botanical culture for its success and ability to stand out in an increasingly crowded global indie fragrance market.
“When you know the country, [it has] so much to offer, [it has] a variety of ingredients,” says Weber.
“Aēsop has tapped into it in skin care, but never in fragrances, and that is what makes the brand today very relevant, and a very different experience.
“I wanted to tell that story of those botanicals. No one was doing anything with [native ingredients in fragrance].”
The brand is now planning to expand into body care and candles, remaining inspired by its home territory.
“Ingredients are the heroes of my fragrances,” adds Weber.
Uniquely shaped
Cranfield observes that the way customers in Australia engage with beauty is “uniquely shaped” by geography, lifestyle and retail structure.
“For instance, unlike Europe, where beauty retail is often clustered in dense cities with legacy department stores, Australia’s beauty scene is decentralised.
“Affluence is dispersed across many suburbs rather than centralised in a few postcodes, so distribution needs to be more considered.”
The country’s large landmass and relatively low population density outside major cities can raise fulfillment and last-mile delivery costs, requiring robust logistics or omnichannel partnerships to reach regional and rural consumers, which remains complex, explains Gorge.
“Similarly, high import and freight costs impact international brands, with shipping into Australia adding time and cost due to long supply routes,” he says.
“Import duties, border regulation and currency volatility can further impact price positioning.
“The Australian market presents a distinct set of structural dynamics, regulatory frameworks, and channel realities that shape both challenges and growth opportunities for beauty brands.”
Weber also highlights access to skills and expertise in fragrance as a challenge in the country, as well as physical distance to the industry’s hub in Europe.
He moved the Goldfield & Banks’ manufacturing from Melbourne to Paris, France, in order to expand, and also opened offices in Dubai and Paris to manage multiple markets and time zones.
However, a strength of the market is its diversity, he says, and brands aware of their isolation start out with an international mindset early on.
“If you can make it in Australia, you can make it everywhere,” Weber explains.
“We have such diverse demographics, hundreds of different nationalities. It is very multicultural.”
Cranfield echoes this sentiment, explaining that there is an “openness to trying new things”.
She says: “Australian consumers are highly educated and adventurous, making them early adopters of global brands that might take longer to take off elsewhere.
“That said, our customers are digitally connected and globally minded, so expectations around innovation, transparency and experience are on par with, if not ahead of, other leading markets.
“Another key difference is the climate and lifestyle.
“Australia’s sun exposure, outdoor culture, and wellness mindset make skin care a dominant category.”
Wellness and value
Gorge also notes the country is a “testbed” for wellness and beauty with its consumer profile, making it “a compelling innovation lab for wellness-beauty hybrids, clean formulations and efficacy-led marketing”.
Viral Australian nutrition brand Selfish by the Hembrow Sisters has entered the UK market in recent months, as has wellness brand Swiish.
Several Australia-born beauty brands selling direct-to-consumer (DTC) have captured viral attention and used it as a launchpad for international expansion.
Sand & Sky, known for its pink clay mask; Frank Body, famous for its coffee-based scrubs; and hair mask experts Coco & Eve are among them.
MCoBeauty, meanwhile, famous for its dupes of top brands such as Charlotte Tilbury and Glow Recipe, entered the US last year at Kroger and the UK this summer at Superdrug.
It has capitalised on its viral success as well as Aussie consumers’ growing desire for value for money amid cost-of-living pressures.
According to a recent report by Euromonitor, while consumers are not reducing their spending on beauty products, they are actively seeking out more affordable alternatives.
An estimated 41% of Australian consumers consistently prioritise value for money as the top feature in skin care in 2023, the data firm said, naming “pursuit of value” as a megatrend shaping the country’s beauty and personal care market.
The region leads in per capita spending in this area from 2022 to 2027, according to Euromonitor’s Megatrends Quantification Model.
The trend is driving greater demand for brands such as MCoBeauty, which has a “lux for less” approach.
MCoBeauty was fully acquired by DBG Group, an Australian health care and pharma firm, this year, valuing the business at a reported US$1bn.
It is not the only high value deal in the market, with luxury body care company Aēsop snapped up by L’Oréal for $2.5bn in 2023 and self-tan brand Bondi Sands acquired by Kao Corporation the same year for $450m.
Despite ongoing global economic challenges, Australia’s beauty market is forecast to grow steadily through 2029, L.E.K. estimates, with category-level CAGRs ranging from 3.4% to 8.4%.
International opportunities
A number of brands are looking to take advantage of the growing market and its potential.
Glossier, Bubble and Tower 28 are among the US names to launch there since last year, and UK brands are following suit.
Hair care brand Josh Wood, luxury foot care brand Margaret Dabbs and high-end skin care brand Reome have all debuted in the country this year at Mecca.
Joanna Ellner, founder of Reome, told Cosmetics Business the brand has landed “right as demand for biotech-led, barrier-supportive skin care is surging.
She adds: “This is the case not least in Australia, where the consumer is exposed to a particular set of skin stressors.
“High UV and longer periods of heat have a direct impact on skin health and longevity, while pollution, like elsewhere in the world, is a persistent foe of modern skin.”
The brand’s products, like Active Recovery Broth, focus on addressing these types of issues, and incorporate sustainable packaging, such as glass and premium paper made from upcycled coffee cups.
The Australian consumer is “hyper-educated”, she adds, and known to be “an early adopter of advanced skin science and new actives – and is now looking for post-retinol, post-aggression, longevity-focused solutions, as well as conscious brands.”
Ellner also notes this also comes against a backdrop of rapidly growing demand with both luxury beauty and overall skin care in Australia, forecasted to grow at around 4% per year into 2030, according to a number of market forecasts.
Gorge explains that for international brands, Australia offers a compact but valuable proving ground for product performance and consumer resonance.
To succeed in the country according to Cranfield, a brand must lead with authenticity, education and a commitment to long-term brand building.
“It is not enough to launch with hype,” she says.
“The brands that truly resonate here are those that take the time to build meaningful relationships with customers.
“Australians are savvy, curious and value-driven.
“They look for quality, integrity, and a point of view that stands for something.
“For international brands, success lies in localising without losing the essence of what makes them unique.
“It is about getting to know the Australian lifestyle, the climate and what makes our customers tick.
“Even though we are all the way over here on a remote island, our customers are connected, switched on and know exactly what they want.
“It is not about copy-pasting what works elsewhere – it is about making it feel personal and thoughtful.
“The brands that really cut through are the ones that invest in education, tell great stories, and create immersive experiences.
“Especially in skin care and clinical beauty, where people are looking for real results and real expertise.”