The last 12 months have read like a checklist of macro political and economic hits. Lingering Covid lockdowns, the conflict in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis: any one of these could have destabilised the smooth running of a cosmetic brand.
Indeed, according to Brand Finance – the brand valuation and consultancy company which compiles an annual, pan-industry list of the 500 most valuable brands in the world – 2023’s table of the top 50 most valuable cosmetics brands reflects these blows.
Annie Brown, General Manager of Brand Finance, tells Cosmetics Business: “The only thing that hasn’t impacted the table directly is the Russian invasion, because we’ve never historically had Russian brands in the ranking.
“But the China lockdown has definitely had an impact. Although it’s easing, it has had an influence on the share of sales in person versus online – and in such a huge market, that is going to have an impact.
“And, of course, the dynamic of the world travel retail market will be impacted as well.”
Brands which also have a slight premium, but an accessible premium positioning – they’re benefitting
Also moving brands up and down the ladder this year is the continuing growth of the middle class in emerging markets.
“That’s really going to fuel growth for the heritage brands which have diversified,” says Brown. “So not just luxury brands and not just very specific hair care brands, for example, but the brands that have a bit of a presence in lots of different product segments. And which also have a slight premium, but an accessible premium positioning – they’re benefitting from that growth across the world.
“Then there’s the cost of living; one thing that’s been really interesting is to see how brand value growth year-on-year can be tied to whether or not people successfully position themselves as a premium brand or good value for money.
“There are some brands that we’ve seen losing value year-on-year, which don't really have a strength in either value for money or price premium,” Brown adds.
About Brand Finance
Brand Finance is the world’s leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy. It is a specialist consultancy dedicated to the better understanding of marketing finances, founded in 1996 with the aim of ‘bridging the gap between marketing and finance’. Brand Finance offers a highly professional approach to marketing accountability and brand evaluation. For more than 20 years Brand Finance has helped companies to connect their brands to the bottom line, building robust business cases for brand decisions, strategies and investments. The company has helped finance people to evaluate marketing programmes and marketing people to present their case in the boardroom. To find out more, visit https://brandirectory.com/rankings/cosmetics or contact enquiries@brandfinance.com.
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