Online and international sales were the main growth drivers that led to these record results. Cosnova Beauty’s e-commerce business has grown by more than 50% in 2021 compared to last year, and by more than 130% compared to 2019. According to the family-owned company, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, online sales now account for approximately one tenth of global net sales.

In addition, Cosnova Beauty performed very well on international markets. Sales grew by 40% in the United States and by 22% in China. “In the USA and China in particular, the strategy of focusing more on online trade and B2C business with e-commerce partners has been very successful,” said the company in a statement.

The company also achieved very good results in Western Europe where sales increased by 25%, but the most impressive results were recorded in the Middle East and North Africa region with growth exceeding 50%.

Cosnova remains fully on track for success, despite the tense global situation in another challenging year - which is why we are very pleased with this result,” commented Mathias Delor, Managing Director and COO of Cosnova GmbH. “The global supply bottlenecks also presented us with a major hurdle and we are aware that we could not keep our customers fully satisfied here. Nevertheless, we are proud that the internationalization and digitalization we have been driving forward have contributed to this impressive result, as has our consistent fulfilment of our promise to offer the highest quality at a top price. In the jubilee year 2022, we will continue to expand our position on the market even further.

Increased digital presence

Last year, the global beauty player focused on expanding its e-commerce business. The aim was to implement a collaborative platform dubbed ’Connected Beauty’ to connect retail, brands and consumers in a new way.

We are very proud that we have completely revamped our online infrastructure in 2021 and have created an innovative brand experience platform with ’Connected Beauty’, which includes engagement, commerce, service, marketing and the brand websites,” said Dirk Lauber, Cosnova’s Chief Digital Officer.

Cosnova also invested a lot in digital marketing with the expansion of its social media presence on channels such as Instagram and TikTok.

Social commerce, live shopping events and augmented reality tools are on the digital agenda for 2022, with a strong focus on influencer marketing and content production. “These are important strategic topics for us because our marketing distribution channels are almost exclusively digital and we want to take the requirements of the platforms, trends and developments into account,” said Thorsten Mühl, who, as Director Digital Marketing, has been instrumental in shaping the digital transformation at Cosnova since April 2021.

Portfolio diversification

Another key element of the company’s growth strategy is the expansion and diversification of its portfolio. In addition to the Essence and Catrice core businesses, Cosnova will continue to focus on the steady growth of its youngest brands such as L.O.V. or LaManufacture under the umbrella of NextGen Beauty GmbH, a sister company of Cosnova GmbH.

The incubator is also working to establish the new Zeena brand in emerging markets this year. The aim is to provide consumers in these markets with decorative cosmetics that meet Cosnova’s quality standards outside the traditional distribution channels.