Marketplaces Surpass Specialist Beauty Retailers in Australia as Online Market Nears $2.2B
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Marketplaces outpaced Australia’s leading beauty chains online for the first time in late 2025, taking e-commerce sales past the combined total of Mecca, Sephora, Adore Beauty and Chemist Warehouse.
The shift comes as Australia’s online beauty and personal care market heads toward 47 per cent growth to reach $2.2 billion by 2030, according to Pattern’s State of Beauty & Personal Care in Australian Ecommerce report.
Amazon Expands Category Grip
Online marketplaces generated roughly $200 million in Australian beauty sales during the fourth quarter of last year. That total cleared the $199.3 million recorded by Mecca, Sephora, Adore Beauty and Chemist Warehouse combined.
Amazon drove much of the advance. Its local beauty and personal care turnover rose by $66.7 million year on year, lifting the marketplace operator to a 19.9 per cent share of Australia’s total online beauty spend.
Shopper intent points to further gains. Pattern found 71 per cent of Australian digital beauty shoppers plan to purchase products on Amazon over the next twelve months, while 43 per cent say they will switch to an alternative brand if their first choice is out of stock.
Consumers aren’t thinking about a brand’s distribution strategy. They simply expect beauty products to be available through the channels they use, and they’re willing to switch brands for that convenience.
Fragmented Social Discovery Funnels
Discovery patterns are pulling shoppers away from traditional storefront browsing. Nearly half of surveyed beauty shoppers reported buying items based on creator recommendations, compared to just 15 per cent across non-beauty retail sectors.
“Online marketplaces generated roughly $200 million in Australian beauty sales during the fourth quarter of last year.”
Instagram and Facebook each shaped purchase intent for 47 per cent of beauty shoppers, followed closely by YouTube and TikTok. Yet discovering an item on social networks rarely results in a direct in-app checkout.
Instead, 39 per cent of buyers who spot products on social feeds complete their transactions on standalone retailer or brand websites. Another 32 per cent head directly to Amazon to finish the order.
Algorithmic Search and AI Assistants
Artificial intelligence assistants are now actively routing consumer purchase paths. The data shows 38 per cent of Australian beauty shoppers use AI tools more frequently than they did last year to search for products online.
Roughly 27 per cent of consumers have relied on ChatGPT or comparable conversational tools to research or buy cosmetics, and 55 per cent express confidence in AI-generated product advice. Global beauty conglomerates are taking notice: Estée Lauder Companies recently partnered with marketing startup Profound to optimize brand visibility across generative platforms including ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
What the Shift Means for Specialty Retail
For dedicated beauty retailers, the loss of market share to general merchandise marketplaces threatens the high-margin basket sizes that have long supported domestic store networks. Department stores and specialty chains can no longer rely on exclusive supplier arrangements to protect digital footfall when marketplace logistics offer faster shipping and lower barriers to checkout.
Brand owners face an equally sharp operational trade-off. Direct-to-consumer storefronts carry heavier customer-acquisition costs as search engines and social platforms shift toward algorithmic discovery, forcing brands to list on Amazon or risk losing sales to competing formulations.
The critical metric for retailers heading into 2027 will be whether specialist chains can defend their remaining 80 per cent market share as marketplace volume accelerates toward the $2.2 billion category ceiling.