Beauty in department stores offers quite a uniform picture: the first thing shoppers smell and see, sitting on the ground floor to drive traffic and conversion. Despite this long-standing model, the category is challenged as department stores are no longer the primary channel for beauty discovery. Competition from speciality retailers, e-commerce, and social media has eroded their historical leadership. For example, only 24% of US shoppers now visit a department store to learn about new products, with 71% turning to Sephora or Ulta Beauty, showing that consumers want more than traditional brand-counter organisations. The proliferation of discounts[1] and new brands also brings additional challenges.

However, despite that bleak situation, many department stores recently invested in their beauty floors, from John Lewis to Macy’s, to benefit from the current category momentum. Indeed, in 2023, global beauty market retail sales grew to $446 billion, up 10% from 2022. In 2025, McKinsey expected beauty to continue growing at 5% over the next five years. The outlook is still positive in 2026, and the category should reach $590 billion by 2030. In that picture, department stores have the weakest outlook, having already declined by approximately 2% annually since 2019 and facing a similar outlook in the coming years. So, is beauty still worth it for department stores, or could it go extinct? If so, what could replace it and drive similar traffic and conversion?

IADS Exclusive: Is department store beauty as we know it dead?        

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