Estee Lauder predicts Chinese demand for cosmetics will trump tariffs

By James Langford

Published October 31, 2018 11:18pm ET

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Estee Lauder predicts Chinese demand for cosmetics will trump tariffs — Lipsticks sit on display at an Estee Lauder Companies Inc. store in the Raffles City shopping mall in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, May 31, 2017. RetailÂ cosmetics sales for all companies will total $7.4 billion in China in 2021 fromÂ $4.3 billion last year, forecasts Euromonitor. Fueling growth are social media websites, such as Weibo, Youku, iQiyi and Tudou, that women are increasingly turning to for tutorials on everything from shading eyes to highlighting cheekbones.

Beauty may be only skin deep, as the murdered British poet Sir Thomas Overbury wrote in the early 1600s, but the desire for it is far more pervasive.

That, combined with the relative affordability of luxury cosmetics, should insulate Estee Lauder from economic challenges like those faced by consumers in China, a significant source of the New York-based company’s growth, Chief Executive Officer Fabrizio Freda told investors Wednesday.

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