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European shoppers more prone to shop health and beauty care online, research reveals

Online shopping

European shoppers are more likely to shop for health and beauty care items online compared to customers in the Middle East and Africa, new data has revealed.

According to the 2023 RetailX Health and Beauty Marketplaces report, 25% of European customers said they are more prone to buying their beauty products online, compared to 15% of customers in the Middle East.

However, only 8% of shoppers in Africa are more likely to buy health and beauty products from an ecommerce website compared to a bricks-and-mortar store.

This comes as during the Covid-19 pandemic, customers went online for order shopping, forcing retailers to accelerate their digital plans and fulfilment capabilities.


Click here to download the 2023 RetailX Health and Beauty Marketplaces report


In this period personal care sales online in Europe rose by 26% in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, which saw sales rise by 11%. In Africa, the same category increased to 46% in 2020, compared with 26% in 2019.

According to the data: “Online growth returned to lower levels in 2022 with sales in some categories declining online as consumers returned to more pre-pandemic behaviour.

“What has remained consistent is the higher level of spend from health and beauty customers in Europe across all areas of online retail.”

It added that customers typically spend more over $120 (£97) a month online, with 13% spending as much as $600 (£490) each month across all categories.

This follows research by the British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ reported revealing how health and beauty prices are increasing at their fastest rate in a decade. It claims over the last year, the cost of shampoo and shower gel has increased by 8% and 11%, respectively.

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