The latest Beauty Industry Analysis shows a sector that’s leaner, faster and more consumer‑centric than ever.
I’ve dug through 100+ brands, three data‑rich press releases and our full 69‑page Beauty Retailers report to pull out the numbers that matter and, more importantly, why they matter for your marketing plan.
TL;DR: Superdrug still rules the roost for traffic, QVC wins brand recall, and Revolution Beauty is the rocket ship you’ll want to watch.
Download our free Beauty Market report here. 100+ brands ranked across Search & Brand performance. Or read on for our beauty industry analysis.
Which beauty retailers are the most trusted?
Customer reviews remain the strongest trust signal in 2025. Our study blended Trustpilot star ratings with sheer review volume to crown the UK’s best‑rated beauty retailers:
| Rank | Brand | Avg. ⭐ | Review volume |
| 1 | Allbeauty | 4.7 | 422,232 |
| 2 | Look Fantastic | 4.5 | 320,807 |
| 3 | QVC UK | 4.5 | 238,399 |
| 4 | Superdrug | 4.8 | 83,348 |
| 5 | Beauty Bay | 4.2 | 167,495 |
| 6 | Cult Beauty | 4.5 | 67,481 |
| 7 | Fragrance Direct | 4.7 | 38,035 |
| 8 | JustMyLook | 4.2 | 62,801 |
| 9 | Beauty Pie | 4.6 | 24,423 |
| 10 | Charlotte Tilbury | 4.6 | 13,688 |
Why you care: Review volume feeds straight into review‑snippet SERP stars, boosts click‑through rate and helps Google’s review sentiment analysis decide whether your brand is YMYL‑safe. If you’re under 4.5 stars or sub‑10k reviews, bake automated review prompts into post‑purchase flows.
Which beauty brand is the most prominant?
Prominence blends branded search demand with raw social reach—your share of voice across Google, Instagram, Facebook & X:
- QVC UK – 823k monthly searches | 6,871 owned‑social score
- Huda Beauty – 74k searches | 70,558 social (yes, 62 million followers)
- Avon – 110k | 42,323
- Charlotte Tilbury – 450k | 9,581
- Superdrug – 1.5 m | 2,452
- The Body Shop – 165k | 22,232
- Mac Cosmetics – 40.5k | 66,350
- Clinique – 110k | 22,404
- La Roche‑Posay – 110k | 20,607
- L’Occitane – 110k | 12,933
Key takeaway: High social followings don’t always translate into Google mind‑share. Superdrug’s 1.5 million branded searches show what happens when paid, organic and social teams align around consistent campaigns and Core Web Vitals‑friendly content.
Beauty organic visibility analysis
Top five beauty YOY traffic‑score climbers
- Superdrug +7% → 3.75 m sessions
- QVC UK +6% → 1.20 m
- Elf Cosmetics +44% → 223k
- Notino +38% → 193k
- Revolution Beauty +54% → 148k
Biggest beauty traffic declines
- Look Fantastic –31%
- Cult Beauty –20%
- Clinique –18%
- Feel Unique –51%
- Urban Decay –86%
The broader market shrank by 3%. A reminder that aggressive growth is still possible in a down‑cycle if your technical SEO, page speed and keyword‑gap strategy are tight.
Revolution Beauty Growth
TikTok trends + lightning‑fast product launches = organic gold. Revolution Beauty spotted the viral buzz around Charlotte Tilbury’s Magic Cream, released a budget “dupe”, built a 13k wait‑list and watched branded keyword demand jump 2,015%. Their Jelly Blush now leads #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt searches.
See the full Revolution Beauty case study ↗️
Traffic score vs. authority: sleeping giants & over‑achievers in the beauty sector
Our report maps Ahrefs Domain Rating against organic traffic.
- Sleeping giants (high DR, low traffic): Benefit Cosmetics, L’Occitane, Glossier, The Inkey List, and Huda Beauty. Fix thin content, internal linking, and page experience, and you’ll punch above your weight.
- Over‑achievers (low DR, high traffic): Superdrug, Lush, Revolution Beauty, Beauty Bay, Fragrance Direct. Double down on digital PR to secure high‑authority links and future‑proof rankings. Click here to see how our Digital PR campaign for Just My Look achieved a combined reach of 894 million in just 1 month!
| Site | Visibility Order | Authority Order | Domain Authority | Organic Visibility | Rank |
| superdrug.com | 1 | 1 | 74 | 3751901 | 1 |
| qvcuk.com | 2 | 11 | 59 | 1197698 | 2 |
| lookfantastic.com | 3 | 6 | 61 | 722648 | 3 |
| charlottetilbury.com | 5 | 4 | 65 | 473072 | 4 |
| spacenk.com | 4 | 13 | 56 | 711176 | 5 |
| lush.com | 7 | 2 | 68 | 315141 | 6 |
| cultbeauty.co.uk | 6 | 16 | 53 | 458617 | 7 |
| harveynichols.com | 8 | 15 | 54 | 306421 | 8 |
| beautybay.com | 9 | 14 | 56 | 272825 | 9 |
| maccosmetics.co.uk | 13 | 10 | 60 | 221551 | 10 |
| uk.loccitane.com | 27 | 3 | 68 | 135999 | 11 |
| ghdhair.com | 19 | 7 | 61 | 176583 | 12 |
| thebodyshop.com | 26 | 5 | 63 | 137551 | 13 |
| elfcosmetics.co.uk | 12 | 19 | 51 | 223395 | 14 |
| jomalone.co.uk | 16 | 17 | 53 | 190667 | 15 |
| benefitcosmetics.com | 28 | 8 | 61 | 122018 | 16 |
| avon.uk.com | 11 | 25 | 49 | 227814 | 17 |
| allbeauty.com | 14 | 26 | 49 | 218081 | 18 |
| fragrancedirect.co.uk | 10 | 29 | 48 | 229723 | 19 |
| uk.elemis.com | 17 | 20 | 51 | 184653 | 20 |
| revolutionbeauty.com | 24 | 18 | 53 | 147781 | 21 |
| laroche-posay.co.uk | 18 | 27 | 49 | 181181 | 22 |
| clinique.co.uk | 21 | 22 | 50 | 156647 | 23 |
| glossier.com | 38 | 9 | 61 | 81700 | 24 |
| sallybeauty.co.uk | 20 | 31 | 48 | 160058 | 25 |
| notino.co.uk | 15 | 37 | 45 | 193417 | 26 |
| feelunique.com | 25 | 30 | 48 | 144809 | 27 |
| yslbeauty.co.uk | 22 | 39 | 45 | 154259 | 28 |
| Esteelauder.co.uk | 29 | 28 | 49 | 118964 | 29 |
| narscosmetics.co.uk | 23 | 38 | 45 | 148125 | 30 |
Page speed in the beauty industry
Shaving just one second off load time can have a tremendous impact on conversion rates, critical in a category where users bounce from site to site in less time than it takes to watch an instagram reel. Learn more about page speed here.
Here’s how the sector stacks up in our beauty industry analysis:
Beauty Search demand analysis: products on the rise (and fall)
- 📈 lip stain +177% (consider content on long‑wear formulas)
- 📈 skin‑renewing night cream +164%
- 📈 korean skincare +95%
- 📉 clear lip gloss –39%
- 📉 retinol serums –29%
Map these spikes against seasonal trends to craft long‑tail query-targeting content hubs. Our keyword‑gap audit surfaced “lipstick balm” and “salicylic acid cleanser” as low‑competition, high search volume, beauty SEO opportunities, along with:
| Keyword | Order | Competitiveness Score | Local Monthly Searches |
| mascara | 1 | 10 | 21000 |
| lipstick | 2 | 5 | 11000 |
| salicylic acid cleanser | 3 | 9 | 7400 |
| face cream | 4 | 5 | 6000 |
| eye makeup | 5 | 6 | 4200 |
| vitamin c serum for face | 6 | 6 | 3800 |
| oat cleansing balm | 7 | 6 | 3400 |
| spf moisturiser | 8 | 8 | 3200 |
| waterproof mascara | 9 | 5 | 2900 |
| translucent powder | 10 | 7 | 2700 |
| non comedogenic moisturizer | 11 | 5 | 2500 |
| spf face cream | 12 | 7 | 2500 |
| loose powder | 13 | 6 | 2400 |
| eye serum | 14 | 7 | 2300 |
| lipstick set | 15 | 6 | 1900 |
Where should you focus next?
- Close keyword gaps. Aim for sub‑10 keyword difficulty phrases like “vitamin C serum for face” and “waterproof mascara”— both carry >2.5k UK searches with low competition.
- Boost review volume. Anything under 10k recent reviews screams low trust. Automate post‑purchase email nudges and consider on‑site incentives.
- Audit backlink profile. Domain authority still underpins competitive beauty terms. A targeted digital PR push can secure placements on beauty publishers and lifestyle press.
- Improve mobile performance. Prioritise image compression and critical‑CSS inlining to meet Google’s Page Experience audit benchmarks.
Get the full data & next steps
- Our beauty industry analysis is a summary write up of over 72 hours of data analysis. If you want every table, chart and keyword list, grab the free 69‑page report here — no spam, no strings.
- Need help turning numbers into revenue? Explore our eCommerce SEO services
- Want more content like this delivered daily? Connect with Michael or myself on LinkedIn, where we share regular insights, practical tips, and industry analysis to help you stay ahead of the curve.