The International Top 30

For more than 25 years, Happi has been putting together our International Top 30 list. When we started way back in 1991, AmorePacific leaders told us that their goal was to become one of the top 10 beauty companies in the world. At the time, it seemed far-fetched; after all, Pacific Chemical (as it was known back then) had cosmetic sales of less than $1 billion and the company was considered a small player on the Asian beauty scene let alone the global stage.

Fast-forward to 2016 and Korea is in the center of the beauty world. Innovations born on the Peninsula, such as BB and CC creams, have led consumers around the world to rethink their cosmetic collections and have had competitors scrambling to create multi-tasking color formulas of their own. More recently, AmorePacific presented its “cushion technology” to the beauty world and consumers, and competitors too, have been lining up to buy into it.

AmorePacific may be leading the way in beauty these days, but it’s getting pushed along by LG—AmorePacific’s chief Korean competitor. Together, the duo continues to post sales gains at a faster clip than other members of our International Top 30.

But of course, Unilever remains the biggest player on our list and by a comfortable margin. Unilever should hold the top spot for years to come for a couple of reasons. First, company executives made the tough decisions years ago to jettison brands that it deemed weren’t worth the resources to prop up in an increasingly complex FMCG world.

Secondly, it took the bold steps necessary to purchase not one, but three key players in the fast-growing anti-aging space. Most recently, Unilever tweaked its US rival, Procter & Gamble, by acquiring Dollar Shave Club, which gives it a good position in the men’s grooming space, along with a wealth of data on how guys are willing to spend their money.

L’Oréal continues as the No. 2 company on our list, well ahead of Henkel at No. 3. But Henkel has made the most noise in the global household and personal care segment in recent weeks due to its acquisition of Sun Products. That move made it the No. 2 player in the US laundry detergent category behind, you guessed it, Procter & Gamble.

We hope you enjoy reading The International Top 30. To see how the companies on our list stack up to The Top 50, our ranking of the biggest US companies in the household and personal products space, visit Happi.com.