In the Italian pharmacy cosmetics basket, cleansing is the second-largest category by value, at 364 million euros, immediately after facial skincare. It is also the category offered least often at the counter, almost always only when the customer asks for it.
In summary
- Pharmacies are the second-largest cosmetics purchasing channel in Italy, with over 2.2 billion euros and 2.5% growth over the previous year.
- Of that total, cleansing accounts for 364 million euros: more than haircare and far more than categories that receive greater attention in displays.
- Cleanser is the product with the lowest barrier to entry, the most predictable repurchase cycle and the lowest risk of dissatisfaction.
- But the reason to recommend it is not commercial: very often, the cleanser the customer is using is the cause of the problem that brought her to the counter.
Cover image generated with the support of artificial intelligence.
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The starting point, and why it needs to be examined carefully
The figures released by Cosmetica Italia's Pharmacy Cosmetics Group place pharmacies second for cosmetics consumption in Italy, after mass retail, with a value exceeding 2.2 billion euros and 2.5% growth. Within the basket, facial skincare is close to 1.5 billion euros, cleansing stands at 364 million, and haircare at 179 million.
The interesting comparison is not between cleansing and skincare, which will always win. It is between cleansing's 364 million euros and the space that category occupies in conversations at the counter. In our experience with partner pharmacies, cleansers enter the recommendation in a minority of cases, and almost always at the customer's initiative.
Why it is recommended so rarely
The reasons we hear are recurring and understandable.
- It seems like a basic product. A serum has a story to tell; a cleanser apparently does not.
- It has a lower price than a treatment, so in a brief conversation the preference is to focus on the more profitable product.
- It is taken for granted that the customer already has one, which is true: but that is also why it is worth asking which one.
- Recommending it seems like upselling. And this is where the most important point gets lost.
The shift in perspective: it is not an additional sale, it is diagnosis
Consider the most common situation. A customer asks for something for skin that feels tight, redness that has appeared over the past few weeks, or flaking that will not go away. The instinctive response is a soothing treatment or a repairing cream.
But the question that opens up the case is different: what does she use to wash her face. In a significant proportion of these cases, the cause is not what is missing from the routine, but a surfactant that is too harsh and has been used twice a day for months. A solid soap, a supermarket cleanser chosen because it "degreases well", or a product for oily skin used on skin that is not oily.
In these cases, selling only the repairing cream means selling a solution that will have to be repurchased indefinitely, because the cause continues to act every morning and every evening. Correcting the cleanser is the intervention that makes everything else effective - and it is also what brings the customer back to tell you that it worked.
We have published a consumer guide on this topic that can also be used as support at the counter: how to choose a facial cleanser.
The three questions that are enough
A full medical history is not necessary. In the pharmacies we work with, three questions work, in this order.
- "What do you use to wash your face, morning and evening?" Distinguishing between the two times of day immediately reveals who uses the same product twice a day.
- "Does your skin feel tight after rinsing?" It is the most reliable sign of a cleansing-impaired skin barrier, and the customer recognizes it immediately.
- "Do you use hot water?" It may seem marginal, but it is not, especially during the colder months and on reactive skin.
Three answers in less than a minute, and in most cases the picture is clear. It is the most concrete form of the hyper-personalization of advice that the IQVIA analysis presented at the Cosmetic Summit identifies as the main lever for making pharmacies a point of reference for dermocosmetics.
The economic advantage, which exists but comes later
Having said all that, the numbers still need to be calculated, because anyone who runs a pharmacy has to do so.
- Predictable repurchase frequency. A cleanser gets used up, and it gets used up at a steady rate: it is one of the few cosmetics with an estimable repurchase cycle.
- Low risk of dissatisfaction. A cleanser that is not right can be changed; a treatment that does not work undermines trust in the entire brand.
- It is an entry product. Someone who tries a brand through its cleanser is much more likely to try its serum afterward than someone approached directly with the most expensive product.
- It is not sold at a discount. This is significant in a category, dermocosmetics, that records some of the highest average discounts in Consumer Health, around 13%, with the facial segment at around 11%: we wrote about it in discounts and margins in dermocosmetics.
How we approach it
In our line, cleansing is built around three formulas rather than just one, precisely because the choice changes according to skin type and time of day: a purifying mousse for combination and acne-prone skin, a detoxifying mousse for daily use and makeup removal, and an oil-gel for the evening oil phase and for dry, reactive skin.
It is a choice that complicates the display and simplifies the recommendation: at the counter, there is no need to adapt one product to every customer; you choose from three answers.
Pharmacies that distribute our products can find the complete list and training sheets in the dedicated area: LeLang partner pharmacies. If your pharmacy does not work with us yet and you would like to evaluate the line, the first step is here: become a pharmacy partner.
A note on product placement
One final practical observation from the channel. Cleansers are almost always placed on the lowest or farthest side of the dermocosmetics display, as service products. Moving them next to the treatments they support - the purifying cleanser next to serums for blemishes, the cleansing oil next to creams for sensitive skin - makes the logic of the routine visible and turns a service product into a step in the journey.
It costs nothing, and those who have done it have told us it is one of the most immediate interventions in terms of results.
Sources for this article
01 Cosmetica Italia, Pharmacy Cosmetics Group: data on cosmetics consumption through the pharmacy channel, presented at the Cosmofarma Exhibition press conference, Milan, March 31, 2026
02 Breakdown by category of the 2025 cosmetics consumption basket in pharmacies: skincare, cleansing, haircare
03 Cosmetic Summit 2026, Cosmofarma Exhibition, Bologna: data on average discounts in Consumer Health and margins in the facial segment
04 IQVIA, presentation on the personalization of dermocosmetics advice in pharmacies
05 Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009 on cosmetic products
On the website: how to choose a facial cleanser · discounts and margins · double cleansing · partner pharmacies
