Beauty and marketplaces: what Marketplace To Be 8 revealed about a market that was finding its rhythm

The beauty sector is arriving on marketplaces ten years late

For years, the beauty industry has maintained a cautious relationship with marketplaces. Perfume houses feared damage to their image. Skincare brands were wary of discount pricing. Selective distributors protected their distribution channels. The platforms, for their part, lacked the tools to guarantee the experience that premium beauty demands.

This pattern began to unravel around 2022 and accelerated in 2024 and 2025. Amazon launched its Premium Beauty category in Europe and opened its first physical beauty store in Milan in February 2025. TikTok Shop, present in 12 European markets since June 2026, captured shoppers that traditional channels were not reaching: approximately 30% of beauty shoppers on TikTok Shop had not purchased any cosmetics online in the previous 12 months (NielsenIQ, Online Beauty Report 2025). Galeries Lafayette transformed its marketplace into a premium channel. Veepee and Showroomprivé integrated beauty products into their promotional highlights.

The figures confirm the shift. Amazon now accounts for 47% of online beauty sales in France and ranks first in 8 of the 10 European markets measured (NielsenIQ, 2025). Global beauty market growth reached +7.3% in value in 2024, with Western Europe at +7.7%. Beauty products represent 41% of FMCG sales on TikTok Shop Europe (Lengow, 2026).

For a beauty brand, the question is no longer whether marketplaces are a legitimate channel. It's about determining which ones to activate, with which model, and in what order.

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📌 Key points to remember‍

Amazon concentrates 47% of the online beauty value in France and dominates 8 out of 10 European markets (NielsenIQ, 2025).

TikTok Shop has captured 30% of beauty shoppers who did not previously buy cosmetics online (NielsenIQ, 2025).

The beauty vertical is no longer looking for whether marketplaces are legitimate: it is looking for which ones, in what order and with what model.

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What a morning at Marketplace To Be changed in reading this market

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Marketplace To Be #8, on October 13, 2026 at La Maison de la Recherche in Paris, brought together around thirty beauty brands and 11 marketplaces in a single morning: Bol, Amazon (Seller Central and Vendor Central), TikTok Shop, Veepee, Showroomprivé, Cdiscount, Kaufland, Yves Rocher, Galeries Lafayette, The Bradery and Vertbaudet.

The speed-meeting format is not just for show. With ten-minute slots, each brand chooses its contacts; there are no booths or passive conferences. In two hours, more than 70 business meetings took place. The measurable result: qualified leads, concrete answers regarding product listing, logistics, and assortment, and potential collaborations already underway by the end of the morning.

What a morning like Marketplace To Be 8 reveals above all is the platforms' appetite. Nowhere else does a beauty brand encounter so many marketplaces within the same vertical in such a short time, as was the case at the previous edition of Marketplace To Be. And the platforms present on October 13th were actively seeking new beauty brands to list: the timing corresponds to a real window of opportunity.

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📌 Key points to remember

11 marketplaces brought together on a single beauty vertical, including Amazon, TikTok Shop and Galeries Lafayette.

More than 70 business meetings in two hours in speed-meeting format.

The platforms present were actively seeking new beauty brands to list.

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Five steps to understand how L'Occitane tamed the marketplaces

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Dorian Candavoine, EMEA e-commerce director of L'Occitane en Provence, shared the journey of a French cosmetics brand on online platforms for 45 minutes, in a conversation with Martin Gentil, Co-Managing Director of eTAIL. The format was conversational, without slides: a sharing of experience, not theory.

From fear to action. L'Occitane didn't jump on the marketplace bandwagon right away. There was real apprehension: the risk of image devaluation, fear of discounts, and uncertainty about controlling distribution. The turning point was a simple question: who better than the brand itself to sell its own products? The answer to that question changed everything.

Bringing things in-house without cutting yourself off from external expertise. L'Occitane started by largely delegating the management of its marketplaces before bringing some of that expertise back in-house. Dorian Candavoine detailed what this move changes in concrete terms: what you gain, what you lose, and why bringing things in-house doesn't mean doing without a partner. The relationship with eTAIL was described more as a collaborative effort than a traditional service.

The real conundrum of luxury: creating desirability without promotional leverage. A premium brand cannot rely on discounts. L'Occitane must generate volume and appeal through other means. Dorian Candavoine discussed the method for selecting platforms: not all are created equal, and choosing which ones to avoid is sometimes just as important as choosing which ones to use.

E-commerce vs. marketplaces, AI, and TikTok Shop: the topics that enlivened the room. The most lively part of the interview focused on three open questions. The tension between the brand's own e-commerce and distribution via platforms: real cannibalization or complementarity? AI in the operational management of marketplaces: where do we really stand? And TikTok Shop: credible or still too early in the French market? These were firm positions, which the dialogue format allowed to be expressed frankly.

The two- or three-year vision. Dorian Candavoine concluded by outlining the major trends reshaping beauty strategy: evolving purchasing behaviors, the platforms that will matter, and the advice he would give to a brand launching this year. An inspiring note for the brands in attendance.

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📌 Key points to remember

L'Occitane initially delegated, then internalized part of the marketplace management: the two movements coexist.

For a premium home, selecting which platforms to avoid is just as important as choosing which ones to use.

The eTAIL–L'Occitane relationship has been described as a side-by-side effort, not an outsourced service.

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What beauty brands need to look at now

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The signals sent by Marketplace To Be 8 point in the same direction: the window is open, but it won't stay that way indefinitely. Three projects deserve to be undertaken.

Beauty retail media, and in particular Amazon DSP Europe. Daily advertising spending in the beauty category on Amazon increased by 7.8% year-over-year (Pacvue, Q1 2026). To understand how Amazon DSP works : the platform targets beauty shoppers beyond search, using third-party inventory and first-party data that is unavailable elsewhere. For a brand in Vendor Central or Seller Central that hasn't yet activated the DSP, it's the most underutilized growth lever in the channel.

Clarifying the Vendor Central/Seller Central model. Many beauty brands are present on Amazon without having decided on their model. Maintaining a default configuration creates friction regarding margins, inventory, and content. To manage your Vendor or Seller account, an audit of your Amazon configuration is often the first step toward customized support.

Managing complementary marketplaces. Beyond Amazon, the platforms featured at Marketplace To Be 8 represent distribution channels that most beauty brands haven't yet activated. TikTok Shop, The Bradery, Galeries Lafayette, Vertbaudet: each caters to a different buyer profile. Delegating the management of these channels to a specialized team allows for testing them without committing internal resources.

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📌 Key points to remember

Three priorities for beauty brands: activate or optimize Amazon DSP Europe, clarify the Vendor Central / Seller Central trade-off, evaluate complementary marketplaces identified in Marketplace To Be 8.

These are operational decisions, not long-term projects.

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About eTAIL agency

eTAIL agency supports brands in their growth on Amazon and marketplaces in Europe. From defining the model (1P, 3P, hybrid) to the daily management of operations, including our Amazon Ads and DSP services and distribution, a single team manages the entire process. eTAIL has been an organizer of Marketplace To Be since its inception.

Get support from a marketplace agency:

👉 Contact the eTAIL agency team

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Sources

NielsenIQ, Online Beauty Report 2025, via ecommerce-nation.fr

Lengow, Amazon vs TikTok Shop: two models fighting for Europe's online beauty market, 2026, blog.lengow.com

Pacvue, Beauty advertising benchmarks Q1 2026

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