France: In 2024, pharmacy sales will fuel a weak beauty sector.

France's growth is modest in a worldwide beauty market that increased by 7.3% in 2024. The value of the nation's beauty and personal care product sales increased by 3% over 2023 across all distribution channels, but volume sales decreased by 2%. These aggregate numbers, however, conceal notable differences that reveal a profound shift in the market.France continues to lead the world cosmetics market in terms of exports, but its home market isn't exactly doing well! The global beauty market expanded by 7.3% in 2024 over the previous year, and by 7.7% in Western Europe, according to NielsenIQ.

On the other hand, Circana data showed that sales in France decreased 2% in volume and increased 3% in value to EUR 9 billion.Large supermarket retail chains are having trouble with their sales, as both volume and value have decreased by 4%. In the meantime, despite a minor decline in volume (-1%), selective distribution sustains value growth (+4%). Despite this, pharmacies are still doing very well; their value and volume have increased by 10% and 7%, respectively, making them the most active channel in the French market.