Business & Beauty: New Launches, Closes, & Tea

Divine Skintervention

Hosts Ramón and Angelo analyze recent shifts in the beauty industry, focusing on retail dynamics at Sephora and Ulta, the strategic expansion of Korean

Key takeaways

• Glossier is gradually closing brick-and-mortar locations, retaining only stores in Manhattan and LA while leaning into Sephora partnerships.
• Estée Lauder abandoned a potential merger with Pooja, illustrating the financial risks of acquiring multiple brands during a corporate turnaround.

Main topics

• Retail store closures & expansions
• Sephora vs. Ulta brand strategies

Notable quotes

"When you have a brick-and-mortar network like you're in a Sephora, do you really need all that?"

Conclusion

The episode offers a grounded look at how beauty brands must balance physical retail

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) you Speaker 2 (0:04) Hi, Angela. Speaker 1 (0:05) Hi, Ramon. Oh my God, I feel like there's so much going on recently. In beauty. In beauty. Well, like so much going on in general, but definitely in beauty. We are officially in Q3. No, we're still in Q3. Speaker 2 (0:22) I Speaker 1 (0:22) don't know how the fiscal year works because it's different for every company. Isn't the beginning of the fiscal year? We're at the end of the fiscal year. Speaker 1 (0:29) We're at the- well no, when you're watching this, we're at the beginning. Speaker 2 (0:34) When does it start, October? Speaker 1 (0:35) October 1st. And if any fiscally responsible people want to correct me on that, please let us know. Please. So there are a lot of things going on with the business, with new launches, with commentary, and we just wanted to catch up with y'all. Correct. Speaker 2 (0:54) Because while we make content... about skincare. We do so because we love the beauty industry. We love cosmetics. We love everything that happens. And when you make content, you consume content. Speaker 1 (1:06) Yeah. So what's Speaker 2 (1:09) new? What's Speaker 1 (1:10) new? I mean, there is a lot of movement, I feel like, with brand financials. So it's like we've talked about when we were talking about flop eras, Estee Lauder as a conglomerate and them trying to I think the last that I heard, that's kind of working for Speaker 2 (1:27) them. Well, yeah, they said they were going to sell three of their brands, and then they said, never mind, just kidding. There Speaker 1 (1:34) was that potential merger with Pooj that didn't happen. I think some of the commentary that I heard about that was very interesting, because they were saying after that merger exploration was... floated that their stock price went down but Pooja's stock price went up. And I think, yeah, if you're trying to do a turnaround that doesn't mean necessarily turning it into a whole different conglomerate and picking up all these new brands. By doing that, you then need to babysit and make sure that they're all financially healthy as well. Speaker 2 (2:12) Yeah, focus on your kids first. Speaker 1 (2:16) To that end, so like Glossier closing a bunch of stores. Speaker 2 (2:21) Yeah, that's been a very, what's the word? Slow progression, gradual progression, consistent progression. Speaker 1 (2:28) I think that I saw like they had a store in Williamsburg here in Brooklyn that closed. The one in Seattle still open? Speaker 1 (2:37) Yeah, we don't know. That Speaker 2 (2:38) was random. I Speaker 1 (2:39) think they were only keeping stores in Manhattan and LA. But when you have a brick-and-mortar network like you're in a Sephora, do you really need all that? And then... Speaker 1 (2:54) I don't know. This is totally off topic, but they're building an Hermes in Williamsburg. Speaker 2 (3:00) I live near Williamsburg. So that area is just really weird. They're really trying to make Williamsburg into a new Soho. And my husband calls it like the Disneyfication of Brooklyn. Speaker 1 (3:12) I used to work over there. So they already have kind of what they call an Hermes pop-up that has been there for several years that sells like some products, but now they're opening a real store. It's across the street from a Chanel Beauty, which I love going in there and trying stuff out, which is next to the DS and Durga, which is next to the Byredo. Speaker 2 (3:33) Yeah. It's like a weird little plaza area, these like mid to high-end stores. Speaker 1 (3:38) Yeah, which is interesting for brick and mortar. Like you even had an Everlane there, which like they were supposed to be an online retailer. They got acquired too by like Shein or something. Speaker 2 (3:52) Interestingly, there is a Sephora there, but it's called Sephora Studio. I've bought Speaker 1 (3:56) many a thing there. Speaker 2 (3:57) We just went for the first time. Speaker 1 (3:59) It's very cramped. But I've Speaker 2 (4:01) seen regular Sephoras that are just as cramped. So why is Speaker 1 (4:05) it Speaker 2 (4:05) a studio? Speaker 1 (4:06) Don't know. Smaller selection. That is true. I do love to go to Williamsburg and just play with beauty. Sometimes I think a lot of people are getting more back to that. retail environment wanting to play i think especially color cosmetics is hard to just sell online or dtc i Speaker 2 (4:25) want to see colors i want to see swatches i want to feel textures i Speaker 1 (4:29) want to know if i'm going to color match right because let me just tell you i got color matched in a sephora once and they put it in my profile and it will tell me what the best match is when i buy online but it isn't always no Speaker 2 (4:42) you Speaker 1 (4:43) gotta you gotta actually try it that's the best way It's either that or I'm going off of the description. And I'm like, how do I know if I'm peachy cool or cool? Speaker 2 (4:52) How do you know? How Speaker 1 (4:53) do you know? How do Speaker 2 (4:54) you Speaker 1 (4:54) know? You don't know until you try and play. And speaking of Sephora. Very new brand launch there. First Speaker 2 (5:02) of all, all I'm going to say is so much happening at Sephora. So many brands going into Sephora right now where I'm actually just like, how is that sustainable for? The retailer and the brands. Well, Speaker 1 (5:14) for every brand that comes in, somebody's got to go out, right? I know, Speaker 2 (5:17) and I'm trying to remember. Again, when I worked at Sephora, it was 2017, a very different landscape in the beauty industry. That was an era they were really big on hair. Speaker 1 (5:26) And Speaker 2 (5:26) there was a lot of hair brands you don't see anymore. I don't think Verve is in Sephora anymore, is it? Speaker 1 (5:33) Not sure. Speaker 2 (5:34) It's at Ulta. Great hair brand, by the way. Speaker 1 (5:36) Yeah, they make good stuff. Keep talking. But to see what's on sale. A Speaker 2 (5:41) few years back, they transitioned. Obviously, after 2020, there was a big push to do POC, but specifically black-owned brands at Sephora. And then now it's the wave of Korean brands. Olive Young is officially in store. I was just in Miami this week, and I got to see the Olive Young section. A lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. Basically, you know the section on the wall? They had two sections of that. And while we were initially told it was going to be like a selection of like the best sellers, it was actually a handful of brands and each brand had about four products, four or five. So it was interesting seeing they had, um, a bead, they had toward in, they had Reggie one Reggie Ron, um, and others that I can't remember right now. Speaker 1 (6:26) Okay. So looking at. what's on sale at Sephora because sometimes this