Quarterly Commerce Marketing Benchmarks for Beauty Brands
Benchmark Overview and KPIs
Beauty brands operate in a dynamic, trend-driven category where shoppers move quickly between inspiration, research, and purchase across digital touchpoints. Understanding when, where, and how shoppers express purchase intent is critical for capturing demand, optimizing media spend, and driving conversions.
MikMak’s quarterly Beauty commerce marketing benchmarks provide a data-backed view of brand media trends, shopper intent, and retailer engagement across global markets, helping brands contextualize performance and refine commerce-enabled activations across owned and paid channels.
This Q2 benchmark analysis is based on MikMak Shopping Index* data from April 1 to June 30, 2026.
The following proprietary MikMak Commerce KPIs were used:
- Purchase Intent Clicks
Measures high-intent shopper traffic by counting the number of times a shopper clicks through to at least one retailer during a single session within MikMak Commerce-enabled brand content. - Purchase Intent Rate
Measures the percentage of shoppers who click through to at least one retailer within MikMak Commerce-enabled brand content, signaling a strong conversion likelihood.
Q2 Key Findings
- More consistent shopper engagement across H1: Across all markets, Beauty shopper traffic was more evenly distributed throughout the first half of 2026 compared to 2025. Rather than seeing demand concentrate around a single month, brands have maintained shopper engagement more consistently this year.
- Brands increased investment in search-led commerce. Organic search gained share across every market, while paid search also expanded in most regions as many Beauty brands shifted media investment away from paid social. Search increasingly became the primary path to high-intent shoppers, although the results also suggest opportunities to rebalance investment toward commerce-enabled social media earlier in the purchase journey.
- Commerce performance remained strong across channels: Brand website Purchase Intent Rates remained consistently high across markets, while media Purchase Intent Rates continued to demonstrate the value of commerce-enabled campaigns in capturing shopper intent earlier in the purchase journey. Together, they reinforce the importance of enabling commerce across both owned and paid experiences to maximize measurable retail outcomes.
United States
Beauty shopper traffic to retailers shifted significantly toward the beginning of H1 2026 compared to H1 2025. January accounted for a much larger share of shopper engagement, while traffic moderated throughout the remainder of the first half of the year. This suggests Beauty brands captured consumer interest earlier in the year.
Conversion likelihood remained strong across owned and paid channels
Brand website Purchase Intent Rates remained consistently high in Q2 2026, increasing slightly from 43.1% to 43.7% year over year. Media Purchase Intent Rates declined from 11.8% to 8.2%, but continued to reflect strong shopper intent.
The results suggest Beauty brands maintained healthy conversion performance across channels, while the lower media Purchase Intent Rate may reflect changes in media investment, campaign objectives, or the mix of commerce-enabled activations compared with the previous year.
Search gained momentum as brands shifted media investment
Organic search became the leading source of Purchase Intent Clicks in Q2 2026, increasing its share from 16.6% to 44.5% year over year. Paid search also grew from 6.7% to 38.8%, while paid social declined significantly from 73.9% to 11.7%, suggesting Beauty brands shifted more of their media investment toward search.
As search became a larger driver of shopper engagement, Google overtook Meta as the leading commerce-driving platform, increasing its share of Purchase Intent Clicks from 20.9% to 80.6%, while Meta declined from 71.2% to 9.5%. Overall, the results reinforce the growing importance of search in Beauty commerce strategies, while social platforms continued to play a complementary role in driving shopper discovery.
Leading purchase destinations remained largely unchanged
Compared to Q2 2025, Amazon continued to lead retailer-directed shopper traffic in Q2 2026 with 37.7% of Purchase Intent Clicks, followed by Walmart (18.2%) and Ulta (11.5%). The top retailer mix remained broadly consistent year over year, although Target's share declined and CVS entered the top five, replacing Macy's.
Overall, the results reinforce the continued importance of maintaining a strong commerce presence across marketplaces, mass retailers, and specialty Beauty retailers.
Canada
Beauty shopper traffic to retailers was more evenly distributed across H1 2026 compared to H1 2025. While shopper engagement in 2025 peaked sharply in April, traffic in 2026 remained more consistent across the first six months, suggesting brands maintained shopper engagement more evenly throughout the first half of the year.
Brand website conversion strengthened
Brand website Purchase Intent Rates increased significantly from 37.8% to 51.7% in Q2 2026, underscoring the strong conversion potential of owned digital experiences.
While media Purchase Intent Rates declined slightly from 7.9% to 5.9%, commerce-enabled media continued to play an important role in engaging shoppers earlier in the purchase journey and driving retailer traffic.
Because media reaches a broader audience than brand websites, it typically generates lower Purchase Intent Rates. As a result, Purchase Intent Rate should be interpreted alongside shopper traffic, as it measures conversion efficiency rather than the total volume of shopper engagement.
Search strengthened its role in driving shopper engagement
Organic search remained the largest source of Purchase Intent Clicks in Q2 2026, increasing its share from 42.9% to 61.3% year over year. Paid search also grew from 13.5% to 24.0%, while paid social declined from 42.3% to 9.2%. Overall, the results suggest that Beauty brands in Canada shifted more of their media investment toward search.
As brands increased their investment in search, Google strengthened its position as the leading commerce-driving platform, expanding its share of Purchase Intent Clicks from 55.3% to 85.3%. Meanwhile, Meta declined sharply from 42.4% to 3.8%. These shifts mirror the broader transition toward search-led commerce strategies in Canada's Beauty category.
Amazon maintained its leadership across purchase destinations
Compared to Q2 2025, Amazon remained the leading retailer destination based on Purchase Intent Clicks in Q2 2026, accounting for 29.7% of shopper traffic, followed by Walmart (22.9%) and Shoppers Drug Mart (13.8%). While Amazon's share declined slightly from 32.3% in Q2 2025, Walmart lost more share year over year (28.9% to 22.9%).
Jean Coutu strengthened its position, increasing from 3.6% to 5.6%, while London Drugs entered the top five, replacing Well.ca. Overall, the results reinforce the continued importance of balancing marketplace reach with specialist Health and Beauty retailers to capture shoppers across Canada.
France
Beauty shopper traffic to retailers was more evenly distributed across H1 2026 compared to H1 2025. While shopper engagement in 2025 built steadily toward the second quarter, traffic in 2026 remained more consistent across the first six months, suggesting brands engaged Beauty shoppers more evenly throughout H1.
Brand websites continued to generate exceptionally strong purchase intent
Brand website Purchase Intent Rates remained consistently high in Q2 2026, increasing slightly from 48.9% to 49.4% year over year. In contrast, media Purchase Intent Rate declined from 5.2% to 2.4%, widening the performance gap between owned and paid experiences.
The results highlight the continued strength of brand websites in connecting Beauty shoppers with retailers, as well as an opportunity to improve the path to purchase within commerce-enabled media.
Brands continued to prioritize search over social
Organic search strengthened its position as the leading source of Purchase Intent Clicks, increasing from 53.4% to 74.8% year over year. Paid search remained broadly stable (18.9% to 19.5%), while paid social declined sharply from 20.3% to 2.6%.
Google significantly expanded its share of Purchase Intent Clicks from 70.7% to 91.2%. Meanwhile, Meta's share declined from 18.9% to 3.4%, while Bing and ChatGPT entered the top five platforms.
The platform mix suggests that Beauty brands in France concentrated investment heavily on search, while the comparatively small role of paid social indicates additional opportunities to engage shoppers earlier in the discovery journey through commerce-enabled social media.
Marketplace leadership continued as retailer preferences evolved
Amazon remained the leading purchase destination based on a 14.8% share of Purchase Intent Clicks in Q2 2026, followed by Nocibé (10.7%) and Intermarché (6.5%). Compared with Q2 2025, Amazon and Nocibé both saw lower shares, while Intermarché and Parapharmacie Leclerc entered the top five, replacing Sephora and Carrefour.
These shifts suggest French Beauty shoppers increasingly engaged with a broader mix of Grocery and Pharmacy retailers alongside traditional Beauty specialists.
Spain
Beauty shopper traffic to retailers was more evenly distributed across H1 2026 compared to H1 2025. While shopper engagement in 2025 peaked sharply in March, activity in 2026 remained more consistent across the first six months, suggesting brands engaged Beauty shoppers more steadily throughout the first half of the year.
Brand websites continued to deliver strong conversion performance
Brand website Purchase Intent Rates remained high in Q2 2026 at 42.3%, despite a slight decline from 45.9% in Q2 2025. Media Purchase Intent Rates also remained broadly stable (3.2% to 3.0%), demonstrating that both owned and commerce-enabled media continued to play complementary roles in driving shopper purchase intent.
Search dominated commerce engagement
Organic search strengthened its position as the largest source of Purchase Intent Clicks, increasing from 44.7% to 72.4% year over year. Paid search remained stable (7.5% to 7.9%), while paid social declined from 42.5% to 16.9%. The results suggest Beauty brands in Spain continued to prioritize search investment to capture high-intent shoppers, while social media remains an opportunity to engage consumers earlier in the discovery journey.
Reflecting this shift, Google’s share of Purchase Intent Clicks increased from 57.4% to 79.1%, further strengthening its leadership as the primary commerce-driving platform. Meanwhile, Meta's share declined from 36.6% to 12.5%, while TikTok remained relatively stable (4.3% to 4.7%).
Although paid social continued to play a supporting role, its relatively small share compared with search suggests additional opportunities to broaden full-funnel commerce activation.
Specialist Beauty retailers gained ground on marketplaces
Druni became the most popular purchase destination, based on Purchase Intent Clicks in Q2 2026, increasing its share from 20.1% to 28.1% and overtaking Amazon, whose share declined from 30.4% to 19.3%.
Primor remained the third destination chosen by shoppers at 18.3%, while Carrefour maintained a place in the top five, and Perfumes Club replaced El Corte Inglés. Overall, the retailer mix highlights the continued importance of balancing marketplaces with specialist Beauty retailers to capture shopper demand across Spain.
Italy
Beauty shopper traffic to retailers was more evenly distributed across H1 2026 compared to H1 2025. While shopper engagement in 2025 built toward a March peak, activity in 2026 remained more consistent across the first six months, suggesting Beauty brands in Italy maintained shopper engagement more evenly throughout the first half of the year.
Conversion performance remained strong across channels
Brand website Purchase Intent Rate remained stable at 46.5% in Q2 2026, while media Purchase Intent Rate declined from 2.1% to 1.2% year over year. The widening gap highlights an opportunity for brands to strengthen the path from media engagement to retailer destinations.
Expanding and optimizing commerce-enabled media can help brands connect shoppers directly with retailers while gaining greater visibility into how advertising contributes to commerce outcomes.
Search became the dominant driver of shopper engagement
Organic search became the leading source of Purchase Intent Clicks in Q2 2026, increasing from 38.2% to 61.0% year over year. Paid search also grew from 14.5% to 26.0%, while paid social declined sharply from 42.0% to 11.8%. The results suggest Beauty brands in Italy shifted more of their media investment toward search to capture high-intent shoppers, while social media remains an opportunity to engage consumers earlier in the discovery journey.
Reflecting this shift, Google expanded its share of Purchase Intent Clicks from 55.2% to 85.2%, reinforcing its leadership as the primary commerce-driving platform. Meanwhile, TikTok increased from 6.2% to 10.3%, overtaking Meta (1.8%) to become the second-largest platform. This suggests that while search now dominates commerce engagement, short-form video continues to play an important role in Beauty product discovery.
Marketplace leadership remained strong as Pharmacy retailers gained share
Amazon remained the most popular retailer destination based on Purchase Intent Clicks in Q2 2026, accounting for 48.2% of shopper traffic, broadly in line with 48.9% in Q2 2025. Behind Amazon, the retailer mix shifted meaningfully as dm entered the second position, while Farmacia Loreto and eFarma remained among the top five purchase destinations. Meanwhile, Farmaè dropped out of the top five. Overall, the results highlight the growing role of Pharmacy retailers alongside marketplaces in Italy's Beauty commerce landscape.
Key Takeaways
- Enable commerce beyond brand websites: While brand website Purchase Intent Rates remained exceptionally high across markets, only a small share of shoppers visit owned sites directly. Commerce-enabled media allows brands to engage consumers who prefer to shop through retailer sites, capture additional purchase intent, and gain visibility into shopper journeys that would otherwise be lost.
- Balance search investment with full-funnel commerce activation: Search has become the dominant driver of commerce engagement across most Beauty markets, reflecting increased investment in search-led campaigns. However, social media continues to play a critical role in influencing shoppers earlier in their purchase journey. Brands that balance search with commerce-enabled social experiences are better positioned to maximize both demand generation and conversion.
- Build a diversified retailer strategy: Marketplace leaders such as Amazon remained key purchase destinations, but many markets also saw growing importance of Grocery, Pharmacy, and specialist Beauty retailers. Maintaining broad retailer coverage helps brands meet shoppers where they prefer to buy, improve resilience, and maximize commerce performance across different purchase missions.
Curious to see how MikMak helps brands connect marketing with commerce and unlock first-party shopper data? Schedule a demo today.
*The MikMak Shopping Index was developed to provide a standardized set of metrics, methodology, and benchmarks to help drive brands’ business results and strategy. It is a collection of key eCommerce KPIs collected across hundreds of brands, over 250 channels, and more than 8,000 retailer integrations worldwide to understand consumer online shopping behavior.
Ready to Grow Your Brand in Real-Time?
View All Resources
