Marketing Glow Up: How Beauty and Personal Care Brands Can Shine This Holiday

From self-care stocking stuffers to luxury gift sets, Beauty and Personal Care products are a holiday staple for both gifting and personal indulgence. Consumers in this category are driven by inspiration, trends, and emotional connection, making brand storytelling and product presentation especially important. At the same time, shoppers expect convenience, availability, and seamless checkout across every channel. In this section, we explore the commerce trends shaping Beauty and Personal Care in 2025 and how your brand can stand out and shine this holiday season.

Consumers Are Demanding Ingredient Transparency and Purpose-Driven Products

• According to Mintel, beauty shoppers are placing greater importance on ingredient transparency and brand values. Consumers are gravitating toward products that align with their personal beliefs, including sustainability, ethical sourcing, and clean formulations.

Multifunctional Products Are On the Rise

• According to Glossy, there is increasing demand for hybrid products that combine skincare and makeup or address multiple needs in one formula. Shoppers are seeking convenience without sacrificing efficacy, especially in daily routines.

Social Media and Micro-Influencers Are Driving Product Discovery

• According to BeautyMatter, micro-influencers are proving more effective than celebrity endorsements in driving product discovery and consumer trust. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram remain central to shaping beauty trends and fueling viral product launches.

Beauty Commerce Trends Your Brand Needs To Know

*Measured by Purchase Intent Rate: The percentage of shoppers who opened a MikMak Commerce experience and then clicked through to at least one retailer

According to the MikMak Shopping Index, Beauty shoppers are showing slightly lower Purchase Intent this year than last. This could mean that consumers need to be reached at multiple touchpoints before they are ultimately inspired to make a purchase. Embracing an omnichannel approach to your marketing strategy can help you reach consumers when they’re ready to buy.

Likewise, adopting a strong Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) strategy focused on optimizing content for visibility in AI-driven shopping experiences and generative models like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, could be the deciding factor for your consumer on their search for the perfect gift this holiday season.

Beauty Brands Invest Mostly In Social; Video and Search Have Grown in 2025

Beauty Media Mix by Commerce Loads

Commerce Load: The number of times a MikMak Commerce Experience is opened

According to the MikMak Shopping Index, Paid Social remains the top channel that brands are investing in, driving 59.7 percent of traffic (measured by Commerce Loads). However, this is 29.4 percent less than in 2024. 

What channels is this traffic shifting to? The MikMak Shopping Index revealed that Paid Video (+13.8 percent), Paid Search (+16.2 percent), and Paid Display (+0.3 percent) have all seen traffic increases compared to last year.

US Beauty Shoppers are Most Likely to Come From Media Displayed on Meta

Top Beauty Social Channel: Meta

US Share of Purchase Intent Clicks 

Purchase Intent Click: The number of times a shopper has clicked through to a retailer from a MikMak Commerce experience

According to the MikMak Shopping Index Meta has not only been consistently the top social platform for Beauty brands this year, it has also shown growth between Q1 and Q2.

To ensure your brand invests in the right channels to reach your target consumers, keeping a close eye on real-time data can help your brand adjust its advertising spend to the channels that are most likely to convert.

US Beauty Shoppers are Most Likely to Check Out at Amazon

Top Retailer: Amazon

For more insights like these, check out our Quarterly European Benchmarks, which explore top social channels and retailers across various countries.

*Measured by Purchase Intent Rate: The percentage of shoppers who opened a MikMak Commerce experience and then clicked through to at least one retailer

According to the MikMak Shopping Index, Personal Care shoppers are showing higher Purchase Intent this year than last, meaning they are more likely to click through to a retailer from MikMak media. This could mean that your ads and media will be more powerful with consumers in 2025. Keeping a close eye on your commerce data can help you better understand the effectiveness of your ads.

Personal Care Brands Invest Mostly In Social; Paid Video Ads Have Risen in 2025

Personal Care Media Mix by Commerce Loads

Commerce Load: The number of times a MikMak Commerce Experience is opened

According to the MikMak Shopping Index, Paid Social remains the top channel that brands are investing in, driving 69.2 percent of traffic (measured by Commerce Loads). However, this is -13.3 percent less than in 2024.

What channels is this traffic shifting to? The MikMak Shopping Index revealed that Paid Video (+19.2 percent) and Organic Social (+0.4 percent) have all seen traffic increases compared to last year.

US Personal Care Shoppers are Most Likely to Come From Media Displayed on Meta 

Top Personal Care Social Channel: Meta

Purchase Intent Click: The number of times a shopper has clicked through to a retailer from a MikMak Commerce experience

When it comes to what social channels are driving the most traffic to Beauty brands, Meta dominates, driving more than 73.6 percent of Purchase Intent Clicks in Q2 of 2025.

To ensure your Personal Care brand invests in the right channels to reach your target consumers, keeping a close eye on real-time data can help your brand adjust its advertising spend to the channels that are most likely to convert.

To succeed this holiday season and set your brand up for long-term growth, build for agility, intelligence, and scale. That means not only responding to today’s commerce trends but actively preparing for what’s next.

AI disruption, evolving consumer behavior, and media fragmentation are not short-term challenges. They are structural shifts that will define the next era of brand marketing.

So, what does it take to future-proof your brand?

1. Build an Always-On, Full-Funnel Marketing Strategy

Relying on bottom-funnel performance media is no longer enough. Brands must invest in upper-funnel efforts that bring new consumers into the pipeline while ensuring every moment of inspiration is instantly shoppable. This approach unlocks growth, even when lower-funnel conversions plateau.

2. Prioritize First-Party Data and Real-Time Optimization

Brands that win will act on real-time signals, not quarterly reports. Whether it's shifting shopper demand, a sudden platform change, or a geopolitical event like new tariffs, you need infrastructure that can detect and adapt in the moment. That’s why future-proof brands drive profitability and reduce costs by leveraging first-party data and analytics to improve marketing effectiveness throughout the holiday season.

3. Prepare for Agentic Shopping and AI-Led Media Planning

The rise of AI shopping agents means consumers may never even see your brand if your data isn’t structured, accessible, and relevant. Generative search will prioritize brands with strong product availability, rich metadata, and trusted presence. Ensure your product feeds, retailer integrations, and brand content are optimized now, because agentic commerce is here to stay.

4. Be Platform-Agnostic and Commerce-First

The media landscape will continue to fragment. From Meta and Google to Reddit, ChatGPT, and future platforms not yet on the radar, your brand must show up wherever consumers discover, consider, or convert. MikMak helps brands accelerate sales and grow market share by making every consumer touchpoint shoppable and equipping teams with the right consumer, channel, and retailer insights.

The path to success in 2025 and beyond will not be linear. But brands that embed flexibility, data-driven decision-making, and channel-agnostic commerce into their core strategies will be the ones that thrive this holiday season, in 2026, and far into the future.

For more information on what your brand can expect, and how your brand can plan for the rest of 2025 and beyond, check out our recent State of the Union video, where MikMak Founder and CEO, Rachel Tipograph further explains these trends.