Click through to learn what articles will be in the "Retail and DTC" hot topic section.
The Honest Company announced it will move into the Chinese market with SuperOrdinary and it's a good time to learn more about the companies and the move the new market.
The announcement was made at the end of August that the beauty brand founded by actress Jessica Alba had partnered with accelerator SuperOrdinary to launch into the Chinese market with an exclusive store in Alibaba Group's Tmall Global e-commerce platform.
According to the release The Honest Company has been working on entering the Chinese market since 2019.
“Launching in China is a key component of our international strategy,” said Nick Vlahos, Chief Executive Officer of The Honest Company, in the release. “As one of the fastest growing beauty markets in the world, there is an incredibly high demand for clean and highly effective skincare and color innovation and we are thrilled to partner with SuperOrdinary to bring our products to consumers across this market.”
Q&A
As economies around the world are struggling, a finance expert believes cosmetics companies will have a harder time securing funds.
CosmeticsDesign spoke with Jennifer Palmer, CEO of eCapital Assets Based Lending about what cosmetics and personal care financing may look like going into a tumultuous economic climate.
The interview originally focused on the natural personal care market but branched out to the industry more broadly.
To start out, can you give me a rundown on what the cosmetics personal care financing market looks like in 2022?
We certainly should talk about the trends that are affecting the market first. This industry is obviously not immune to all of the challenges that so many companies are facing. The industry is facing inflation, higher cost to produce and ship goods, labor shortages, supply chain issues and the ongoing pandemic, which all effects the world of financing.
Beauty companies should update how they approach both their own employees and the new generation of customers after the pandemic, according to FIT.
The Fashion Institute of Technology’s “Beauty Think Tank” recently released its capstone research, “Beauty After Covid-19: Beauty's Reformation and Renaissance.” The study synthesized how people have changed since the pandemic and how the industry can respond.
The research was conducted by FIT’s graduating class and includes over 900 respondents, global fieldwork, and interviews with top beauty executives and market experts across the globe.
“Beauty After Covid-19: Beauty's Reformation and Renaissance … examines the paradigm shift within the beauty industry since the pandemic, with the need to adapt to both consumer and employee expectations,” the press release said.
Q&A
Walmart launched BEAUTYSPACENK with Space NK to bring prestige personal care to the retail giant's online and instore sales spaces . CosmeticsDesign spoke with Laurie Tessier, merchandising director for prestige beauty at Walmart, about the launch.
Tell me a bit about what the BEAUTYSPACENK retail space is and where the concept came from.
This unique collaboration, called BEAUTYSPACENK, leverages Walmart’s size and scale with the iconic British personal care and beauty company’s assortment of high-quality beauty brands and products. Customers will now have a convenient way to shop both beauty staples and prestige specialty items during their weekly Walmart shopping trip.
Space NK’s ability to curate an assortment of highly sought-after products will help us continue making beauty more accessible and allow our shoppers to find prestige specialty items all in one place. Working only with Space NK versus 15 brands separately is a huge benefit to the business model.
What is the value of bringing prestige beauty into Walmart?
Through our omnipresence, we’re able to provide our customers with both mass and prestige products in one simple and convenient destination. Our focus remains on offering a strong, exciting beauty selection that drives traffic and sales, as well as evolving the experience to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers.
The DTC personal care market has evolved rapidly and the recent layoffs by Glossier can teach the industry how a brand can misstep and what to know going forward, says One Rockwell.
Early in 2022, well-known beauty brand Glossier announced it would be laying off around one-third of its employees, and CEO of e-commerce consulting company One Rockwell Shelly Socol told CosmeticsDesign this might be an example of a well-intentioned company pursuing growth and acquisition too aggressively.
Socol said it’s important to remember Glossier’s story of success, having been founded as a DTC brand in 2014 by current CEO Emily Weiss after transitioning from a blog. At the time, Glossier was effective in developing a brand around what its customers needed and efficiently used Instagram, Socol said.
As the DTC market grew and investors and multinationals became more interested in “the next big thing” brands like Glossier, Socol said the brand likely felt more pressure to create acquisition and growth.
