Discover the most recent and relevant industry news and insights for beauty professionals, to help you excel in your job interviews, promotion conversations or simply to perform better in the workplace by increasing your market awareness and emulating market leaders.
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Key articles and need-to-know insights for marketing professionals today:
1. Estée Lauder Grows Sales, But Still Hasn’t Solved Its China Problem
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After a year of declines, Estée Lauder is looking up. Last month, the Estée Lauder Companies reported a five percent net sales increase to $3.94 billion during the third quarter, its first uptick since the end of 2022. It also upgraded its profit forecast for the full year. But even as the company showed signs of reversing its year of steady declines, the markets weren’t convinced of a turnaround. It downgraded its annual organic sales forecast from a 1 percent decline to 1 percent increase to a 1 to 2 percent decrease. Its stock price slid around 10 percent after the announcement.
Investor trepidation is centred around Estée Lauder’s recovery in mainland China, which has been slow-moving and will potentially remain so into next year. During the third quarter, sales in the region grew in the low single digits, which chief executive officer Fabrizio Freda characterised as “a slower pace than expected” at a call with analysts.
2. Can Anyone Conquer the Big Business of Sleep?
Every night, millions of people tape their mouths shut before dozing off, hoping they’ve discovered the secret to deeper, uninterrupted sleep — and potentially a more defined jawline. As bizarre as this may sound — and despite scepticism from many scientists who study sleep — #mouthtape has over 200 million views on TikTok.
A bad night’s sleep can lead to more than grogginess, dull skin and dark under-eye circles. Chronic poor sleep can lead to increased signs of skin ageing and life-threatening diseases, including Type-2 diabetes, heart disease, depression and Alzheimer’s. For decades, prescription drugs like Ambien and over-the-counter melatonin have been the most common sleep aids. But with little regulatory oversight, new supplement formulations have been flooding the market, from Momentous’s performance-driven products to Moon Juice’s adaptogen-infused magnesium powders and Barbara Strum’s Good Night ingestibles.
3. L’Occitane Is Going Private. Here’s Why.
A new era of L’Occitane is upon us. The company — which has been listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange since 2010 — announced a privatisation offer on April 29, with Blackstone and Goldman Sachs providing funding for a $1.8 billion take-private transaction that values the company at $6.4 billion.
Often, companies spend years preparing for an initial public offering, as becoming a public company means punching in a heavier weight class. But L’Occitane’s hands have become tied with limited growth opportunities. In a statement, Reinold Geiger, the company’s chair and majority shareholder, said: “The transaction we are launching today will enable us to focus on rebuilding the foundation for the long-term sustainable growth of our company.” Privatising now is indicative of a different kind of growing pains.
4. What Ban? Brands Double Down on TikTok Shop
Last month, inside a prime Melrose Avenue storefront, Rare Beauty unveiled a bright pink, weekend-long pop-up in collaboration with TikTok Shop. At an opening party, influencers tested blushes and filmed short video content, with colourful gumball machines, a photo booth and a wall-sized video screen serving as backdrops. The pop-up opened to the public the next day, with young fans lining up outside the door for the chance to receive a free Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush. National security policy was not on the agenda.
Just two days before, President Joe Biden signed legislation requiring TikTok owner ByteDance to either sell the platform or shut it down by Jan. 19; the company has vowed to challenge the legislation in court but has reportedly said if it fails, it would prefer to pull the plug. But brands like Rare Beauty aren’t slowing down when it comes to investment on the app. That’s partly down to complacency: US politicians have been threatening to shut down TikTok since the tail end of the Trump administration. Nine months is a long time, and legal challenges could delay a reckoning further.
5. Beauty E-Commerce Is Broken
As the beauty industry grew both in value and number of super users, fashion e-tailers rushed to add skincare, cosmetics and fragrances to their assortments, jostling against pure players for more market share. But now, many seem to have bitten off more than they chew. “Digital commerce is much less profitable than people originally expected it to be five years ago,” said Benjamin Bond, vice president of strategy and business development at store intelligence platform Simbe.
Net-a-Porter has cut down its selection from over 200 beauty brands in 2022 to just over 70 today, with a further slimming down expected for brands — many of the lines already removed from the site were generating less than $150,000 a year in sales, according to emails seen by The Business of Beauty. […] To beat the odds, e-tailers need to either offer a truly unique proposition, or consider a more phygital approach. “If you want to sell beauty online, you need to offer samples, you need to do events, you need to create content … you must make the consumer experience unique,” said Joël Palix, founder of beauty consultancy Palix Unlimited.
6. Why Beyoncé’s Cécred Hair Tutorial Matters
Beyoncé gave her naysayers something to talk about in April when she posted an elaborate hair tutorial, complete with voice over, using her newly launched Cécred products. In the video, Beyoncé is seen getting her hair washed and styled by her longtime hairdresser Neal Farinah, while offering tips to onlookers, like how she dries her hair on medium heat to avoid damage. She also directly addresses questions of the authenticity of her hair.
When Cécred debuted in March, many wondered why Beyoncé was starting a hair care line at all; others asked for a wig or weave line from the singer, given her use of them at performances and appearances. But while the social chatter doesn’t necessarily reflect what the target Cécred customer is thinking… it can influence it. While Cécred isn’t only for Black consumers — it prominently features women and men of multiple ethnicities on its website and social platforms — it does include products for coily textured hair. However, it appears that it is these Black shoppers who are the most sceptical of the brand.
7. Why Weight-Loss Drugs Wegovy, Zepbound Are in Short Supply
Patients can’t get enough of the weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Zepbound. Demand for the drugs has proven insatiable. Shortages have left patients already on the medications searching for their next dose and stymied new starters. Demand is only expected to grow as the drugmakers Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co. move to expand the number of diseases the products are approved to treat. […] But both drugmakers are facing manufacturing challenges that threaten to keep the weight loss medications in short supply for months to come.
Making the injector devices for Zepbound requires “some of the most complex” production systems “on the planet,” Eli Lilly chief executive officer David Ricks said in an interview last August. As a result, it’s not easy to bring on new contractors to increase output of the pens. The odds of being able to use an existing injector assembly line to make Eli Lilly’s devices are “probably slim,” according to Dave Powell, vice president of business development at Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing, a contract manufacturer.
8. This Week, Puig Tries to Break the IPO Curse; Adidas Takes a Victory Lap
Puig, the Spanish, family-owned conglomerate that counts Charlotte Tilbury, Paco Rabanne, Byredo and other brands in its portfolio, went public scheduled in Spain on May 3. The company is angling to raise €2.6 billion ($2.8 billion) at a €13.9 billion valuation, Bloomberg reports. While anything can happen, most signs point to the Puig family, which will retain a controlling stake, getting what they want.
Fashion and beauty don’t have a great track record when it comes to IPOs lately. Birkenstock and Amer Sports had bumpy receptions in the market but the consensus forming around Puig is that it may fare better than either of those companies. The conglomerate’s focus on prestige beauty and its diversification […] bode well for a warm reception from investors. […] The biggest question facing Puig is whether it’s large enough to compete with the big conglomerates that dominate luxury fashion and beauty. A $15 billion market capitalisation only sounds big until you consider that L’Oreal is nearly 17 times bigger.
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