Latest / Divine Skintervention / Business & Beauty: New Launches, Closes, & Tea

Transcript

Business & Beauty: New Launches, Closes, & Tea · Divine Skintervention

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hi Angela.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Ramon.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, I feel like there's so much going on recently.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like In beauty.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: In beauty.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, like so much going on in general, but definitely in beauty.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: We are officially in Q no, we're still in Q3.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how the fiscal year works because it's different for every company.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't the beginning of the fiscal year?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: We're at the end of the fiscal year.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: We're at the well, no, when you're watching this, we're at the beginning.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: When does it start?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: October?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: October 1st.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: And if any fiscally responsible people want to correct me on that, please let us know.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Please.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, 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.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because while we make content about skincare, we do so because we love the beauty industry.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: We love cosmetics, we love everything that happens.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And when you make content, you consume content.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So what's new?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: What's new?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there is a lot of movement, I feel like, with brand financials.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like we've talked about when we were talking about flop eras, Estee Lauder as a conglomerate, and them trying to restructure.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think the last that I heard, that's kind of working for them.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they um, yeah, they said they were gonna sell three of their brands, and then they said, never mind, just kidding.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And there was that potential merger with Pooj that didn't happen.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think um 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 Pooch's stock price went up.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, yeah, like 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.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: That you then need to babysit and make sure that they're all, you know, financially healthy as well.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, focus on your kids first.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: To that end, so like Glossier, uh closing a bunch of stores.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's been a very uh what's the word?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Slow progression or gradual progression, consistent progression?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think that I saw like their they had a store in Williamsburg here in Brooklyn that closed.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: The one in Seattle still open.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we don't know.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: That was random.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think they were only keeping uh stores in like Manhattan and LA.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: But when you have a a brick and mortar network like you're in a Sephora, do you really need all that?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then uh I don't know, this is totally off topic, but they're building an Hermes in Williamsburg.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: I live near Williamsburg, so that area is just really weird.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: They're really trying to make Williamsburg into a new Soho, and we call my husband calls it like the Disney Vacation of Brooklyn.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: 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.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's across the street from uh 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 Byreto.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a weird little plaza area, these like mid to high-end stores.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which is interesting for brick and mortar.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like you even had an Everlane there, which like they were supposed to be an online retailer.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: They got acquired too by like Sheehan or something.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, there is a Sephora there.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: What are they called?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Sephora.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sephora Studio.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Which I've bought many a thing there.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: We just went for the first time.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's very cramped, but I make I've seen regular Sephora's that are just as cramped.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So why is it a studio?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Don't know.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Smaller selection, but that is true.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: I do love to go to Williamsburg and just play with beauty sometimes.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people are getting more back to that retail environment, wanting to play.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think especially color cosmetics is hard to just sell online or DTC.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see colors, I want to see swatches, I want to feel textures.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: I want to know if I'm gonna 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.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: No, you gotta you gotta actually try it.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's the best way.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: 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?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: How do you know?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: How do you know?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: How do you know?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta you don't know until you try and play.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and speaking of Sephora, very new brand launch there.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, all I'm gonna 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?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, for every brand that comes in, somebody's gotta go out, right?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, and I'm like trying to remember again.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: When I worked at Sephora, I was 2017, a very different uh landscape in the beauty industry.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: That was an era they were really big on hair.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a lot of hair brands.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do you don't see anymore?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't think Verb is in Sephora anymore, is it?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Not sure.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's at Ulta, great hair brand, by the way.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they make good stuff.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um keep talking.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: But let's see what's on sale.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: A few years back, they transitioned.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: They had there was obviously after 2020, there was a big push to do um POC, but specifically black-owned brand at Sephora.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then now it's the wave of Korean brands.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Olive Young is officially in store.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was just in Miami this week and I got to see the Olive Young uh section, a lot bigger than I thought it was gonna be.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, you know, the section on the wall, um, they had two sections of that.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And what we were initially told it was gonna be like a selection of like the best sellers, it was actually a handful of brands, and each brand had about four products, four to five.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it was interesting seeing they had um a beeb, they had Toradin, they had Rageron, um and others that I can't remember right now.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so looking at what's on sale at Sephora, because sometimes this is a good indicator of what they're getting rid of.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm seeing a lot of nude sticks, a lot of Ilia products, not and say, not to say that those brands are leaving, but they may be changing their gondolas or switching out products.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think say is one of the high top sellers at Sephora.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's probably just they're switching a few things out.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of Tarte stuff is on sale right now.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Tarte still being at Sephora.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Tart still existing is a little bit gaggy to me.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: She's too tape.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um A lot of Origins and Freck has been on sale a lot lately.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Freck, what does Freck have?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they have a cactus toner.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they like they did a Freckle thing.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: I guess that's why they were called Freck.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I got that that toner's really good.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Ajoa Beauty, which is like hair.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Looks like they're going out.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: So just like a little sampling.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: I really think oh my god, they're they're clearing out all of the nude sticks.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Buy nude sticks.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Buy nude sticks and a lot of freck.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: So just to show you, for you only have so much space.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, and also that on the back end of things, either going into Sephora, you have to have a lot of hype around you so that it justifies you being present in the store and thus you can sustain yourself in that space, or you have to have a lot of capital to really push, promote, and market yourself in that retail environment.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's a big reason a lot of these Korean brands are launching straight into Sephora because they have capital.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: They can market themselves.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the other situations of recent launches at Sephora are obviously Road.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Road had so much uh traction and so much momentum that they launched and so many of their SKUs just sold out.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't keep stock and they're doing really well.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: They just launched little their bronzers and blushes and all that.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh god.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Can I just say something?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: I tried the pocket blush and the pocket bronzer.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: I did not like them, and also I did not like the packaging.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was too big, too bulky, too much plastic, and now they're making them actual like keychain size.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, why is it a pocket blush if it can't fit in your pocket?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like the little Cody design.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think I mean Milk just did their new generation of the little sticks.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, those to me are a lot more compact, they're a lot better product.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, I just felt like they were patchy for me.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: But then again, I'm not the type of person that could do my makeup by just like putting the lines all over my face and then blending.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: I have to pick the product up with a brush, yeah.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then like shear out my brush, and then you know.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for me, it's like whenever I see people like draw on their face, I'm like, isn't that moving product?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to the acne days, I'm like, anytime you're dragging something on your face, I'm like, you're taking away coverage.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: I put that there for a reason.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Also, I'm like, I think people do it mostly for the content when we see it online because it looks cool, but I wouldn't apply like that.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, so to the point about Rode, when they went in, I think they got like an entire gondola.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: On launch.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: On launch, and it was not full.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: And now POV Beauty has gone in.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Fresh.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, when I was at the Sephora studio in Williamsburg, that was my first.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know they were launching a Sephora.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I turned around and I saw Michaela.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um go on a Sephora.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting because I mean they're a fresh brand, but Michaela, a huge creator.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm gonna be so honest.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know a lot of people that actively use the I've never really heard any of our creator friends talk about POV necessarily.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like one or two, I've heard, yeah.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: But it has to be like the TikTok crowd that really is sustaining the brand.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna say they're not successful, and that I've never used a product, so I can't speak to any of that.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's interesting that they're like the new brand at Sephora.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Probably what I think about their, you know, yeah, maybe a lot of our creator friends haven't used it, but most likely I think that we are not the target for them.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: When you have a huge creator as your founder who's gonna talk about it, you don't need the same creator strategy that other brands need because they already have enough reach from Michaela herself.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: So why are you gonna waste your money on that?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then in addition, if it's selling, it's selling.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need to convince us, you just need to convince the people who buy it.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: The I think that the T with them getting the entire gondola, and uh Julian Sass made a video about this uh the other day, and he was saying, Oh, it probably means they're expecting to give to produce more product and have an expansion of the line that's going to go in that space.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting to me that they would do that without having those launches like on hand already.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we don't we don't know what's in the pipeline and the timeline for things.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but also it's like you had to create all of the fixtures to fill that space out.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look at it now, there's a lot of empty space where obviously more packs gonna go.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, okay, they are anticipating something soon.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, they're betting on it, and I guess we shall see.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: I know we talk about Sephora a lot, but like what's going on at Ulta?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, I just went to Ulta not for the first time, but um, I really walked around and perused specifically a lot of the hair and body care.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much variety there, that's what I would say.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Especially uh across a wide price range.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I just found out a brand about a brand called Being, B-E-I-N-G.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Large fill size, it's hair.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Large fill sizes, everything's like eight, nine dollars.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I feel like at Ulta you could get everything from like Cera V to Chanel.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's that's their their strength.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like anything that you want, well, not anything, not every single brand, but like nowadays, every category, it's there, whether it's prestige, mass, mastige.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you got a whole salon up in there too.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Get your hair done.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, actually.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I need to walk around in Ulta again soon.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: The one in Union Square is really cute.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, maybe we should go together.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: We should we should.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And play in the product.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Meet and greet at Ulta.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, could you imagine?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody would come.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Literally.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Except us.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, Nunes at Sephora.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the Korean brands I think went straight to Ulta.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Nunes at Ulta.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the Korean brands went straight to Ulta.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like what?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Skin 1004, Dr.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Malaxon.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um who else?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Anua's there.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I forgot who else.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: But basically, I'm like, I don't know how many of those are actually doing well.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of them are making big pushes right now in the US.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like Skin 1004, a little bit more than, you know, in years past, but also it's like they got big on TikTok shop.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Anua, I think, is doing a huge push.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: So at the AAD annual meeting, this is like the biggest convention of Derms every year.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: We usually do not get K beauty brands coming and exhibiting.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Anua did a huge activation.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: So did Dr.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Regwal.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know what's so funny is um my mom went to the derm this week, this last week, and I actually flew in the day after, and she was like, Oh, here's what the doctor prescribed me.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: She was dealing with like a little melasma mustache situation.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: One of them, one of the products was the Anua acyllic acid.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, So yeah, they're a little bit more ubiquitous than they used to be.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's the thing.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean it's easy to find at Ulta.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, these K Beauty brands I think are continuing to make the play for the US audience.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: There's still new launches from Beauty of Joseph 2.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: They came out with a new sunscreen.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, that's the new push.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then speaking of TikTok shop, more like retailers are getting on there.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: So we now have Sephora and Olive Young getting onto TikTok Shop, which is interesting to me.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: I tend to think of TikTok shop as a uh brand channel for going directly to the consumer, but there are some retailers that have been there for a long time.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when TikTok shop launched in the US, Revolve was on there.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, like they do mostly clothing, but they also sell beauty.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: And like that was one of the main retailers in the beginning that you could go on TikTok shop, which was subsidizing coupons a lot, and you could save money on a lot of these beauty products if they carried them because they were there.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: But what do we think that says now that you know these retailers that you know they have an online presence, they have brick and mortar, but now they feel that they need to be on TikTok shop.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's the thing is there's a whole culture of people who impulsively buy things on TikTok shop because it's convenient.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Bing, bing, boom.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: I did my first TikTok shop purchase like a few weeks ago.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was like a little uh what do you call that monitor for my phone?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: But to your point, TikTok shop to me incentivizes usage because you get discounts and coupons.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sephora's not known for that.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: So how does that model directly how yeah?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Except for the sale.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's coming up.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the thing is on TikTok shop, they'll be like, oh, it's randomly discounted an extra 20% for you right now.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: And here's another coupon to get 15% off that.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sephora doesn't do that.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, I think I believe TikTok is subsidizing a lot of these coupons and discounts.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And what's gonna happen when they stop doing that?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Not gonna be pretty for them, but yeah, I wonder how the retail space will do in that.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think brands and retailers are just trying to put themselves wherever people are.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing that we've talked about here many times with brands needing to put themselves on uh Amazon to be found because there are people who legitimately only shop there.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Prime, get it next day, get a same day.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I don't know.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: I guess if you're not everywhere, you're nowhere, right?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And on the other end of that too is Amazon, TikTok shop, it's direct to consumer.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's, I mean, you can probably speak to this better, but like the fulfillment for those, it's easier, and brands don't necessarily have to invest as much money as they do, or they're not losing as much of a margin as they do when they're at a retailer like a Sephora.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: So for a lot of brands, it's a lot more of a profitable um distribution stream than going into retail and bringing order.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it depends with that.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um the shoe.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: If it was a tabby, that'd be very on brand.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um it depends because like when you're a smaller brand, like my brand, Soleil, we sell on TikTok shop, but we're receiving the order and fulfilling it ourselves.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Versus other brands, like larger brands, TikTok does have fulfillment centers where they will offer to hold product and fulfill it for you.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Just depends on how much business you're doing.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: But that being said, you're not losing massive margins from being in a retail space.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: So as an indie brand, it's affordable or it's not affordable.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're not taking as much of a hit.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: You don't require as much investment.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: What am I trying to say here?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: As being in a retailer?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: For an indie brand?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, of course not.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like another um channel through which we could get orders, but they take a cut.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So for the exposure.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love being exposed.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: What's interesting is recently I was at Sephora and I was doing market research.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I noticed that there's a lot of like brands, again, especially here, focused towards like Gen Z, or at least they're very Gen Z-centric, like this brand called Maine, I think.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: M-A-N-E, um, a new brand called Ebb.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: But part of it is like it's marketed towards that, but I'm like, it's it's not cheap.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's not affordable.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't make sense to me.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I wonder how these brands are doing in that space.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: So the name's gotta be monosyllabic.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Big word.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um what else?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: What what's making you think that these are marketed toward Gen C specifically?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're very, not to say childlike design, packaging designs, but they're very um Claire's esque.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Claire's.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, like colorful and wacky.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, main hair.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like that Gen Z aesthetic.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: The funny thing that's like changing right now is like Gen Z is not necessarily like all super young anymore.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think like the oldest Gen Z are like It's by Jen Atkin.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Who did Way?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh she has another brand too.
• 19:49
  unknown: Okay.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Good for her diversifying her portfolio.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if targeting younger consumers is always the thing.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's like so upset.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: First it was, oh, millennials, millennials, millennials.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I think within Beauty, people were inspired by Glossier because that was really the Millennial Beauty brand.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and now it's it's still this obsession with youth.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I think about this a lot because of fashion.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: There are certain designers that are known for like being inspired by youth culture, and then I'm like, what happens when those people get old?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: That they're out of touch, you know.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking specifically about um Raf Simmons.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: So he uh had his own label, which he closed, famously was creative director at um Calvin Klein at Dior, at Jill Sander, but like a lot of the collections that he was known for doing have to do with youth culture and being um kind of uh influenced by art that had to do with like teens, including uh this one movie, Christian F, which is about like 14-year-olds that were like addicted to drugs in Berlin and were sex workers, which I'm like, okay.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: At a certain point, I feel like you age out of being able to speak to that coherently because you are no longer young.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think that there's anything wrong with that because the primary consumers that have a lot of money to spend are not 20 years old.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: I get trying to target different portions of the market, but everything being so obsessed with getting acquiring that younger customer, I think is like nothing.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at the the spectrum of Jen Akin brands, um Whei.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very simple, minimalistic design.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's very timeless.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And Whei is known because the product is good, period.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And also smells delicious.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: This main brand, it's giving, it's trying very hard to try to appeal.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: To the younger Gen Z demographic, what's the price point on these?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Dry shampoo,$26, heat protector,$26.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not horribly expensive.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: I also think when you know the back end of these things, that some of these prices, the people are saying, like, oh my god, that's so expensive.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not a huge brand, like if this is an early launch of this brand and there's not a ton of ton of money behind it and they're not putting out numbers.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's been in store for like three years at least.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, really?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, like$26 for a product is kind of reasonable.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: But in the context of this, where it's expensive, and it's a very it's very specific packaging design and aesthetic and branding.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: To your point, when this group gets older, that design concept's not timeless compared to Way itself for main.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore you gotta rebrand.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody does a rebrand every now and again.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know, but then that's like, how do you rebrand this to make it more mature?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: So then I think of other brands that are a lot more timeless.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: They've stood the test of time.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe the packaging design is a little bit more simple.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think of another brand that's doing really well at Sephora, and it's not known necessarily because of the packaging.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: People like it because their product is really good.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Chris McMillan.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: I love the branding for them though.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: But no, every- I just hear the product is phenomenal.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: He himself is a celebrity hairstylist or like fashion week hairstylist.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I tried some of the products.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: They were not my favorite, but.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's got an opinion, and I've got a head of hair.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: So still.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: For now.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: For now.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then it's interesting going back to the price point things too, is Jen has years in the industry, and I think she has enough of a network and pool where I think the price, the prices could have been cheaper.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you have a lot of investment, you could make them cheaper, I think.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: But interesting.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then last point to bring up Kiko Milano launching in the US again.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was just in Europe and I saw their stores everywhere, like especially in in Italy.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like Yeah, everywhere.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the thing is they are renowned for amazing quality at a super affordable price point.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: And D'Angelo's point, those stores are everywhere.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Train stations, town centers.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Your grandma's house.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Inside your grandma's house.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of grandma's, uh, they did a big launch campaign with Madonna.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: She's not grandmother, but I love Madonna.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: I love Madonna.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: We know.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, they're putting a lot of money into this US relaunch with like their own brick and mortar locations.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: So they're opening the first one here in New York.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the thing, is they're not in a retailer like a Sephora or anything.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: They are known in Europe because they are standalone stores, like Mac stores basically.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, they opened their first store again in New York.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know where in New York.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I wonder what the plan is for expansion, how well it's gonna do.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very renowned brand.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: I remember years ago, like 2015 era, watching Tati, Glam Life Guru, she always raved about raved about their products.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, the esteem and acclaim has been present in the US, but we haven't had access to the products in a long time.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Tati of time and place.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you did it on my birthday.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Birthday.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna recite the rest.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I guess with that.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let us know what you found really interesting in the beauty landscape nowadays in current events.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any new brand you're loving?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, let us know what's up, what you've been finding cool and interesting.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: What didn't we mention?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's a big news story.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure there's some sort of by the time this goes live, some brand's gonna close, another one's gonna get acquired.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody's gonna close, somebody's gonna open.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Open.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's not even on.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: And we're open for business.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure you're subscribed.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Five stars, girl.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Five stars, five stars, do the affirmative thing.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: Thumbs up, hype, love, share us, share, share it with a friend, please.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Please and thank you.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.