The makeup category is experiencing explosive growth. In the U.S., Euromonitor predicts premium color cosmetics will continue to drive growth over the five-year period ending in 2020 for a total increase of $2 billion. To help its members uncover what’s driving this boom and what to expect next, Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) brought together a panel of experts from today’s fastest-growing makeup brands for the final Beauty Insider Series event of the year.
Photo credit: JF Productions
During the 60-minute discussion, Robert DeBaker, President and CEO, BECCA Cosmetics; Jamie Kern Lima, Co-Founder and CEO, IT Cosmetics; and Susanne Langmuir, Founder and CCO, Bite Beauty; discussed the strategy that has catapulted the makeup category to success, factors that contributed to each brand’s growth in color, the major trends impacting the category this year and opportunities to leverage those trends for future growth.
The panelists shed light on the effectiveness of various channels in engaging the consumer, the importance of influencer collaborations and social media, and strategies for keeping up with consumers’ demand for continuous, relevant content. The discussion was moderated by Jenny Fine, Editor of WWD Beauty Inc.
“The enormous year over year growth in the makeup category is truly impressive given the increasingly competitive landscape. The key is how to sustain this growth.” says Carlotta Jacobson, CEW President. “When we approached each of our experts, we knew they were brands to watch. Since then, IT Cosmetics was acquired by L’Oréal USA and BECCA Cosmetics was acquired by The Estée Lauder Companies.”
Photo credit: JF Productions
The conversation also focused on advice for leaders on how to navigate accelerated growth while maintaining a positive internal culture and the potential shifts necessary when working with a parent company.
According to Ron Robinson, cosmetic chemist and Founder of BeautyStat.com:
The cosmetics/makeup category is $16B. At the CEW event, 3 brands who were featured on the panel were acquired by large strategic companies but all plan to retain their indie brand mentality.
What is the DNA of each brand?
It cosmetics – Problem solution.
Becca cosmetics – Product focused; not brand focused.
Bite Beauty – Focused on lip natural, organic, food grade ingredients.
What big trends do these brands see coming?
Bite beauty – Gold gloss; all about the gold.
It cosmetics – It’s all about skincare. Skincare is key. (ex: Confidence in a Cream.)
Becca Cosmetics – Not trend chasing. But rather focused on “Where does the consumer want us?”; that’s where they go.
The event was sponsored by SHAPE, Givaudan, 24 Seven, GLOSSYBOX, Identipak, Albéa, Beauty Inc, WWD, Kaplow Communications and Pixafy.
CEW is a global, nonprofit professional organization with 8,000 executives, both women and men, in the beauty, cosmetics, fragrance and related industries. For information about CEW membership, visit cew.org.
You can purchase all reviewed and mentioned items using BeautyStat.com.
What are some makeup trends that you see happening for the future?
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– Allycia Wilson, Editor in Chief
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