Expert's View

Why DTC Brands Are Succeeding with Beauty Aficionados

Direct-to-consumer beauty brands continue category disruption and share growth

Beauty consumers have a voracious appetite for all things new and innovative in the category.

Prior to the rise of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, consumers would hear whispers that a new product launch was on the horizon, and anticipate the rush of that something new at our favorite retailer – the “bright and shiny” complex.

Sadly, that now seems to be a thing of the past. Brands no longer rely on retail to get to their audiences.

DTC brands bring new, relevant and sought-after offerings to consumers without relying on the traditional instore experience. DTC’s now leverage channels outside of in-store retail like TV, (infomercials, HSN, QVC, etc.); online via websites and social platforms Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

No middle-man. No retailer making demands. The brand communicates and markets directly to its tribe.

It’s a fascinating model and it’s shattered the traditional interaction with beauty brands.

All the Rage Among Beauty Aficionados

It’s no wonder DTC brands, which often offer innovative products without relying on the in-store experience, are all the rage among beauty aficionados.

Passion for DTC brands online has been transformative for the beauty industry; in an assessment of 2018’s top 100 cosmetics brands by Earned Media Value (EMV), DTC brands averaged an 11% year-over-year EMV growth from 2017 to 2018, compared to an 8% year-over-year decline for traditional brands.

DTC has truly struck gold with beauty consumers.

In beauty DTC, there are a range of models; some of the industry’s biggest players are now sharing the ‘DTC’ description with fledgling companies, while many that originally launched as true DTC brands now offer brick-and-mortar availability, or have partial retail partnerships with Sephora and Ulta.

With more and more DTC beauty brands seeming to spring up overnight, it can be difficult to tell what “DTC” means, or, more importantly, which brands are succeeding in this burgeoning market. Let’s look at a couple of the movers and shakers in the beauty DTC world.

Glossier & Drunk Elephant

You can’t discuss beauty DTC without acknowledging two of the category pioneers and their rapid ascent in the category; Glossier and Drunk Elephant. Their success demonstrates that despite a diminutive early impression, DTC brands can rapidly achieve incredible prominence.

These brands have led the way for other online Indie brands with humble beginnings to transform to being full-fledged DTC prodigies. While they share star status in the DTC industry, each brand took different paths to success.

Glossier, which now has a cult following amongst Millennials and older Gen Z’s, has remained staunchly DTC. In addition to online availability, Glossier has fueled growth by creating experiential brick-and-mortar stores throughout the U.S. that more closely resembles an art exhibition than a beauty store (think pop-up shops with a huge artistic flair; they draw consumers in with the YOU MUST SEE THIS TO BE RELEVANT IN OUR CULTURE vibe).

Drunk Elephant was similarly DTC when it launched in 2013; the Indie skincare brand has a different growth strategy which includes the DTC model, but also targeting a new sector of consumers when it launched in Sephora in 2015.

Key to Drunk Elephant’s success was Sephora’s Instagram account; within a 10-month period in 2019 (January through October), the Sephora Instagram account was Drunk Elephant’s top EMV, with Sephora driving $1.1M EMV for the brand across 71 posts.

While their strategies were different, Glossier and Drunk Elephant have both found seen phenomenal success, enjoying cult status in the industry. It should be noted that Drunk Elephant was acquired by Shiseido for a reported $845 million in October 2019. Not bad for a 6-year-old brand!

These are just two examples of beauty industry DTC forerunners, but the category includes notables ColourPop, Kylie Cosmetics, KKW Beauty, Kosas and Stowaway just to name a few.

DTC Beauty is here to stay and as we become more and more integrated with technology, we can look for the platform to evolve.

Photos via Drunk Elephant and Glossier