It has become one of the great drivers of consumption among Spaniards and this has caused the cosmetics and perfume industry to grow like wildfire, encouraged by the strong demand of the new generations and also of the tourists who come to the country. In 2025, sales in the beauty market amounted to 11,819 million euros, after an increase of 5.8% over the previous year, doubling the evolution of the national GDP (2.8%) and above sectors such as tourism (4%) or restaurants (3.5%). These are figures released this Thursday by Stanpa (National Association of Perfumery and Cosmetics), which includes more than 90% of the companies in the sector.
And not only that. , the business has grown a cumulative 44%, has generated 24% more employment, to exceed 50,000 workers, and has doubled its exports. “This growth reflects the importance that society gives to personal care. Since 2020, consumers have become more concerned about their health and well-being,” said Óscar Mateo, Director of Studies at Stanpa in the presentation of the fourth X-ray of the cosmetics and perfume industry in Spain 2025this morning in Madrid.
nationally exceeds 1%. But the strength of the internal market is only one of its assets. Spain is a cosmetics exporting power and the second in the world in the case of fragrances. It sells as many products abroad as wines and olive oils together, as highlighted by the CEO of the organization and vice president of Cepyme, (and footwear, her counterpart at the ICEX, Elisa Carbonell, has added). Last year, exports exceeded 10,124 million euros despite the complex and uncertain geopolitical environment and trade tensions with the United States, its first destination outside of Europe, where sales fell by 13% (“The United States has made us lose more than 100 million euros,” Díez admitted), which caused general growth to slow down compared to 2024 to 5.6%.
Difficulties that have grown this year as a consequence of the war in Iran, which has impacted logistics and is having direct effects on the sector’s export activity, as recognized by Stanpa. In 2025, the Middle East will concentrate exports worth 480 million euros and “constitutes a strategic market for the industry,” according to the study.
“All the setbacks are coming from the supply side,” said Carbonell, “increasing production costs and making us less competitive in price.” Although the CEO of ICEX has highlighted that the beauty sector has a great capacity to absorb successive shocks global developments that are being produced thanks to their “competitiveness elements other than price”, such as innovation (the industry invests 3.4% of its turnover in R&D&I).
Everyday use
Toothpaste, soap or gel, deodorant and shampoo are the main products with which between 82% and 94% of Spaniards take care of their personal hygiene every day. But perfume is already part of the daily routine of six out of ten citizens and facial creams for half of them. Women and men. They have acquired such relevance that they use 6.2 cosmetic products daily and women 9.4.
In fact, according to Stanpa, self-care ranks among them, only behind physical exercise and relaxation. These preferences lead to per capita spending on hygiene and cosmetics rising to 234.5 euros annually, a figure that far exceeds the average expenditure of all Europeans, which stands at 184 euros.
The data reveal that in Spain they like to have a good image. Hence, all product categories showed positive evolution last year. Especially perfumes, which rose 9.5%, encouraged especially by men, “who are more branders and loyal to brands than women,” said Mateo. Creams account for 32% of the industry’s turnover, perfumes 21% (and more than half of exports), personal hygiene 20%, hair care 17% and color cosmetics the remaining 10%.
90% of sales are made in stores. Specialized and premium perfumeries are the ones that have performed the best during 2025. Mass consumption represents the bulk of the industry’s turnover: 5,800 million euros, compared to 2,683 million for perfumeries, 2,044 million for pharmacies and 521 million for hairdressers. The digital channel (with 426 million) is the only one that has fallen compared to 2024: 4.7%.
Sector challenges
“The sector is not yet well known in Spain for its industrial power,” lamented the CEO of Stanpa, Val Díez. “Exceeding 11.8 billion and growing GDP twice as much was something we did not dream of 15 years ago.” However, the cosmetics industry faces several challenges. “We have a tremendously complicated geopolitical context, a complex legislative environment, a growing tolerance for unfair competition, counterfeits, and we are facing the transformation of stores,” acknowledged the director, who nevertheless affirms that Spain is not a country “that follows trends but sets them” in the rest of the world.
