The US beauty market is continuing its streak of annual glow-ups—that is, year over year dollar sales boosts—and e-commerce sales may be stealing some of brick-and-mortar retailers’ sparkle.

Composed of hair, skin, cosmetics, and nail products, the market is on a five-year growth streak, with overall beauty sales rising over 6% last year to $107.5 billion, according to a new State of Beauty report from NielsenIQ. Last year, e-commerce sales increased 11.1% to $45.7 billion, while in-store sales rose 2.8% to $61.8 billion.

Online’s share of the total US beauty market has now reached 43%, up two percentage points YoY. In the next three to five years, that number is likely to blossom to 50%, Anna Mayo, VP of NIQ’s beauty vertical, told Retail Brew.

“We’re definitely seeing this transition to a digital-first industry,” she said, a move which has impacted not only where consumers shop, like Amazon and TikTok, but also how they shop, what they buy, and how loyal they are to brands.

Eye catching: Growth in e-commerce over the last five years has been driven by innovation in the channel, Mayo noted, with the advent of options like click and collect, social selling on platforms like TikTok, and the expansion of Amazon’s beauty assortment.

Keep reading here.—EC

Last week was a big week for Kroger, which announced the sudden resignation of its CEO Rodney McMullen and reported fourth quarter and full-year earnings days later.

McMullen, a Kroger vet who started as store clerk in 1978, resigned after “a board investigation of his personal conduct” found his actions didn’t align with the company’s business ethics policy, the company said. Kroger noted his actions didn’t involve other Kroger employees. McMullen lost over $11 million in unvested stock and options as a result, per the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Kroger’s would-be business partner Albertsons, too, announced its CEO’s departure on the same day as McMullen’s resignation. Vivek Sankaran, the chain’s leader since 2019, will leave on May 1 as part of a planned retirement, after which COO Susan Morris will assume his role. The executive moves come after the grocery chains’ ill-fated attempt to merge, which ended in termination, and ultimately a lawsuit, last year.

Keep reading here.—EC

With St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching, beer giant Guinness is offering 40 days of giveaway sweepstakes, including a grand prize trip to the new Open Gate Brewery in London. Then on the big day, fans can snap and share photos of the celebration for a chance to be featured in their next ad.

Here’s what else is going on in retail this week:

In data: The consumer price index for February is coming out on Tuesday. The inflation measure rose a higher-than-expected 0.5% month over month in January, up from 0.4% in December. Now economists are forecasting the gauge to slow to 0.01% this month, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, though many expect President Trump’s tariffs to raise prices in the near future.

Keep reading here.—AV