Thailand: Lip Makeup Sees High Growth, with Hydration and Sun Protection as Core Functionalities
By Jessie Wang
2 min read
In 2023, the sales of beauty and personal care products on Shopee and Lazada in Thailand saw a significant surge, with particular attention on the growth of lip cosmetics, where hydration and sun protection emerged as core functionalities.#
According to overseas data from Magic Mirror, Thailand ranks second in the Southeast Asian online beauty and skincare market.
1.The combined annual sales value of beauty and personal care products on both Shopee and Lazada platforms in Thailand reached nearly $1.4 billion in 2023, marking a 45% year-on-year increase.
2.The beauty and personal care market on the Shopee platform in Thailand gained momentum starting from August 2023, with the fourth quarter accounting for over 40% of the annual sales revenue. Lip cosmetics emerged as a rapidly growing subcategory worthy of particular attention.
3.In 2023, the sales value of lip cosmetics on the platform amounted to 36 million USD, marking a 110% year-on-year increase. Within the lipstick category, matte lipstick, lip balm, and lip gloss emerged as the most popular products in the Thai market, with matte lipstick being the preferred choice among Thai consumers. Additionally, given Thailand's hot weather and the prolonged exposure to air-conditioned environments, dry lips are a common issue. Consequently, lip balms with sun protection and moisturizing properties became the top choice for consumers.
Additionally, due to the hot weather in Thailand and the common occurrence of people spending long hours in air-conditioned spaces, lip dryness and chapping are common, making lip balms with sun protection and moisturizing effects a top choice for consumers.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Thailand ranks second in Southeast Asia's online beauty and skincare market. Combined annual sales of beauty and personal care products across the country's two leading marketplaces reached nearly $1.4 billion in 2023, a 45% year-on-year increase. The year is heavily back-loaded: momentum built from August 2023 onward and the fourth quarter alone accounted for over 40% of annual revenue. For a brand planning entry that concentration means the launch calendar matters as much as the assortment — arriving after August leaves most of the year's demand already spent.
Lip cosmetics. Sales reached 36 million USD in 2023, up 110% year on year — a rate no other sub-category in the market approaches. Within it, matte lipstick, lip balm and lip gloss are the most popular formats, with matte the clear preference among Thai consumers. The growth is not a fashion cycle so much as a functional one, which is what makes it durable: the products winning are the ones that solve a climate problem as well as a cosmetic one.
Because the climate creates the problem the product solves. Thailand's heat, combined with long hours spent in air-conditioned spaces, makes dry and chapped lips a common everyday complaint — so lip balms carrying both sun protection and moisturising properties became consumers' top choice rather than a niche variant. This is the recurring pattern across tropical Southeast Asian beauty: functional protection is not a benefit layered onto a cosmetic product, it is the reason for purchase, and copy that leads with colour rather than function under-sells to this buyer.
Function-led lip products, timed to the back half of the year. Three specifics follow from the data. Lead the range with matte lipstick, since it is the stated preference, but make the hero claim functional — sun protection and hydration together, because that is what converts. Build inventory and marketing weight for the August-onward window, given the fourth quarter alone carries over 40% of annual revenue. And treat Thailand as a distinct market rather than a regional add-on: it is the second-largest in Southeast Asia and its buyers behave differently from the volume markets around it.
