Hi, all! It’s a cold week in New York — I can’t believe I’m already wearing my puffer — now I am afraid I’ll be wearing it until March.
For my BoF Voices fans out there, I hope you have been tuning into our livestream; it’s been an incredible slate of speakers. How good were Riz Ahmed, designers Clare Waight Keller, and Maria Cornejo and Prada’s Andrea Guerra?
Some housekeeping notes: There will be no edition of Full Coverage next Thursday because of Thanksgiving. Enjoy your stuffing.
This week, I’m thinking about Glossier’s fresh start, duping, how conglomerates are reevaluating their portfolios and the role I bet every founder wishes they could grow into. Now let’s get to it.
Glossier’s Clean Slate
Since Colin Walsh arrived at Glossier in September, I hear that he is taking a page from Luca de Meo’s playbook and going for a fewer, better approach to the brand. (I wish Estée Lauder Companies’ Stephane de la Faverie and Ulta Beauty’s Kecia Steelman were doing this.) Those close to the label and to Sephora, Glossier’s largest retail partner, have told me that Walsh is cutting Glossier’s assortment next year to focus on what’s working, i.e. fragrance and key franchises like its Cloud Paint blush.
It’s a needed change of pace.
In the last few years, Glossier has done too much, from bright red pepper mills to cherry locks and Swiss Miss branded Balm Dotcoms. Yes, Glossier perfected the drop model with merch once upon a time, but these launches often end up being distractions from its core assortment. Limited edition or not, brands need to focus more on best sellers and innovations as customers are spending less.
I hear that Rare Beauty overtook Glossier in the key brow gel category, something the latter’s 10 year-old Boy Brow can’t afford to lose, and it’s obviously facing steep competition from Rhode in both lip balms and blush. But Glossier has a winner in its new Cloud Paint Plush Blush, a soft-matte compact blush that launched this year off the original liquid version. It proves that flanker products can work for strong franchises. (Look at Glossier You.) Glossier did not respond to requests for comment.
When I walk into Sephora, Glossier has too large of an assortment to pull me to its gondolas; and in its branded stores, specifically the Melrose Place location that I just visited, there isn’t enough to fill the space. (Those locations are truly a relic of the days when venture capital dollars were flowing.)
Walsh, who is a well-respected beauty executive, gets that delisting products is part of the game. It also shows humility. Kyle Leahy was instrumental in getting the brand into retail, but was known as an operator who was in the weeds, and who put the label’s strategy on overdrive. At one point, she said that newness would hit every four, six or eight weeks. I know makeup brands think they need to play in every category to prove their worth to strategics, but look at the success of One/Size and its setting spray. Rhode is using E.l.f. as a path to greater distribution and scale; couldn’t colour cosmetics lines play with fewer key products and then go broad with a partner?
Strategics aren’t buying cosmetics right now; but private equity companies are. Glossier is still working on its profitability to prove its worth. Hopefully with the right mix of products, it finally will.
Oops, I Duped It Again…
Over the weekend, Australian beauty label MCo Beauty set up shop for a two-day extravaganza in New York’s Soho neighbourhood. It’s hard to think of individual marketing activities like this as news, but MCo, known as a dupe brand, took its imitation to another level. With striped black and pink bags and loyalty cards, and a smattering of its “Next Big Thing” assortment, it was clear that the theme of its first-ever pop-up was none other than Sephora.
MCo had an over three-hour long wait for each day of its pop-up and gave out over 30,000 free samples to more than 7,000 fans, both in store and by canvassing the streets of SoHo, said Meridith Rojas, chief marketing officer for North America at VidaCorp, the parent company of MCo Beauty. Rojas told me more pop-ups are coming as the company seeks to build greater connection in the US. In the age of transparency on TikTok and softer consumer spending, it’s not a surprise that MCo is seeing so much love.
Why does this matter?
MCo has no shame in being a dupe brand. Friend of The Business of Beauty Cheryl Wischhover had a great piece in Bloomberg Businessweek about the company’s rise and rise. MCo launched in Target earlier this year, which further legitimised its strategy; it is now a top 10 brand there. From Charlotte Tilbury to Glossier, no one is immune from MCo’s strategy. Clearly not even Sephora.
But what else…
Besides its dupe of Dior Lip Glow, Sephora (and LVMH) is probably the biggest company MCo has taken on. While MCo is strategic about what they copy and what they don’t, I reached out to Sephora for comment. Does the retailer view it as flattery or a threat; will it take legal action? The retailer declined to comment.
Rojas reminded me that walking into a prestige retailer like Sephora and buying five full size products could easily cost hundreds of dollars, while at Mco’s pop-up, everything was free — even the cash registers rang up “free” at check out.
“How many of us have had a sense of being left out of a cool brand or a trend?,” Rojas said. “We aren’t doing that, we’re fostering belonging not exclusivity.”
Buy, Sell … Hold?
As beauty conglomerates strategically review (and cut) their portfolios, some companies are taking a softer touch.
Tell me more…
Insiders told me that the powers that be at both Procter & Gamble and Church & Dwight are giving lines a chance to be revived. Over at P&G, the firm is looking at its recent acquisitions like Tula, First Aid Beauty, Ouai and Farmacy, and rejiggering them for growth. It’s clear to see why. While some transactions like Ouai and Mielle continue to resonate, Tula, for one, seems to have lost its magic touch. First Aid Beauty, meanwhile, just launched on TikTok and hopes to capture its leading position in bodycare.
At Church & Dwight, which owns Touchland, Hero Cosmetics, Nair and Visival, smaller brands are going through a program called TAG to rev up growth, according to three sources. I’m told old school brands like Simply Saline, a line of nasal sprays and wound care, are in the mix.
Both companies are notoriously private about internal strategies and don’t play the press game like Unilever or ELC. P&G declined to comment and Church & Dwight disputed the description without offering additional clarity. Both have emerged as darkhouse acquirers in beauty, so I would pay special attention to this.
Church & Dwight’s New M&A Hire: Hero’s Ju Rhyu
Speaking of Church & Dwight, Hero Cosmetics founder Ju Rhyu is staying on with the parent company in a newly created M&A role. She will continue to look after her baby Hero, but advise on lead generation for acquisitions and offer insight to ad hoc projects that could use an entrepreneurial point of view.
This is great news. Founders typically have limited options after their two- to three-year commitment with strategics end. Most are launching a new line or simply going quietly into the night. (Rhyu’s commitment with C&D was three years.) She emailed me and said she was thrilled to be continuing on.
“I’m excited to be continuing on with Church & Dwight,” she said from Seoul. “It’s been terrific working with the team and I’m looking forward to collaborating further.”
Church & Dwight — and other firms — could use this type of leader as it integrates and grows its brands, and Rhyu is one of the best. Remember when she singlehandedly scaled Hero first on Amazon when literally everyone could care less? I’ll have more with her in the coming weeks.
What I’m Reading
Allure finds that “there are almost as many med spas as McDonald’s in the US.” [Allure]
After dominating its home market, K-Beauty retailer Olive Young is headed to the US. Liz Flora has the story. [The Business of Beauty]
Beige is the word that columnist Allison P. Davis uses to describe her life on GLP-1s. [The Cut]
On his quest to make America great, did Trump accidentally make it “uncool”? The changing tastes of American teenagers suggests so. [The New York Times]
After a battle with just about everyone — the FDA, investors, public opinion — Cindy Eckert’s “little pink” libido pill for women now has half a million prescriptions. “We played the long game,” Ms. Eckert said. “Culture caught up.” [The New York Times]
Happy Thanksgiving,
Priya