Faced with inflation, a Spanish beauty brand at cut prices is panicking the Web and seducing French women, even without a store in France.
For several months, the same obsession has been recurring among French beauty fans: how to continue to buy desirable beauty products without seeing your budget explode? In a context of lasting inflation, the quest for luxury at reduced prices has intensified. Result: Google searches related to beauty deals and alternatives to traditional brands have exploded. And in the middle of this saturated landscape, a Spanish brand, still physically absent in France, is capturing more and more attention.
The growth indicators are formal. Between 2021 and 2025, its name increased from 5,400 to more than 301,000 annual searches in France, according to Google Trends data analyzed by Yourban. A dazzling growth for a player who does not have any store in the country. This phenomenon which seduces beauty fans in France has a name: Primor. Founded in 1953 in Malaga, this former family perfumery has become a European beauty giant, with more than 250 points of sale in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Andorra. Its strategy is based on a simple model: offering a very broad catalog, combining luxury brands, trendy treatments and mass-market references, at prices significantly lower than those charged by traditional networks. Dior, Clinique, Estée Lauder and The Ordinary are among the most consulted brands, in direct line with the beauty trends observed in France in 2025 according to Yourban.
Certain categories particularly crystallize this craze, such as body mists. Those of Victoria’s Secret will total more than 1,181,000 Google searches in 2025, a success driven by social networks and a younger clientele. In France, these products generally cost between 18 and 25 euros, compared to around 15.95 euros on Primor. A moderate difference on the unit but significant on a complete basket. This logic also applies to facial care or perfumes, where the differences can exceed several tens of euros.
Unlike a traditional marketplace, Primor functions as a direct distributor, focusing on volume and optimized logistics. The site delivers easily to France from Spain and constitutes the main entry point for French consumers, who also discover the brand during stays in Madrid or Barcelona.
Will Primor establish itself in France? The signals are converging: more than $200 million in online sales in 2024, 3.6 million annual customers in Spain, and the opening of a new emblematic store in Madrid last summer. French players like Sephora, Marionnaud or Nocibé may have to adapt their pricing strategies. Because if Primor does not yet have a store in France, in the minds and baskets of consumers, the brand is already well established.
