NEW YORK — As a slowdown impacts even the industry’s biggest conglomerates and key product categories, a new market reality for beauty is underway. This month, one of the three biggest beauty conglomerates, Shiseido, reported an 8.5 percent decrease in sales — with particularly steep losses at the prestige skincare brand Drunk Elephant. Meanwhile, e.l.f Beauty shares lost more than 20 percent of their value at the start of this year.
Nonetheless, amid these headwinds lies immense opportunity for growth and transformation. According to research from investment bank TD Cowen, by 2030, Amazon’s market share in beauty is expected to reach 15 percent, up from 10 percent in 2024 — second only to Walmart — while TikTok Shop continues to drive discovery and conversion.
The shifting landscape presents new avenues for expansion: US retailers like Ulta Beauty are expanding their K-beauty offerings, and the body care market is enjoying a period of growth. Indeed, the global beauty and personal care market more broadly still remains a key spend priority for customers. Globally, it is projected to generate a revenue of more than $677 billion in 2025, according to Euromonitor.
To explore these critical dynamics and emerging opportunities, BoF and Front Row gathered marketing leaders from Clinique, Chantecaille, Nars, Peter Thomas Roth, Victoria Beckham Beauty, Coty, Tom Ford Beauty and Mammoth Brands for an intimate breakfast roundtable at Spring Studio in New York.
Hosted by e-commerce and marketing agency Front Row’s chief revenue officer, Christopher Skinner, its executive vice president Katie Martin, and moderated by BoF’s director of content strategy Alice Gividen, the discussion was conducted under the Chatham House Rule, allowing attendees to share freely and openly with their peers.
“At Front Row, we embrace the philosophy of connected commerce. The idea of omnichannel as separate, siloed strategies is falling apart. Today’s consumer is simultaneously searching, scrolling, shopping, and converting across multiple platforms. We support this reality in everything we do to build brand equity and drive demand,” said Front Row’s Skinner in his opening remarks. “Brands must successfully connect across every channel to win. This new reality requires building teams in fundamentally different ways.”
Below, BoF shares anonymised insights from the discussion.
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Lean on your brand’s DNA for strategic decision-making
“Getting back to basics in terms of what our brand truly means has been fundamental for our growth. Not everyone completely understands the brand, and that’s okay,” said one guest in their opening remarks. “We‘ve been focused on defining where and how consumers can immediately recognise what is and isn’t authentically us. That clarity guides everything from our social media, our creative and our product development, ensuring we‘re always in the right space to tell our story effectively, and with a strong point of view.
“Sometimes you must be comfortable not always following retailer directives. When something truly feels authentic to our brand identity and our internal team responds positively, that’s meaningful validation,” another guest added. “You have to gut-check decisions and assess if they truly feel right for both your brand and your partners. Taking a leap of faith can prove successful, and newer brands need support in learning how to maintain their vision.”
As a closing comment, one guest shared business advice that she received once from former president and creative director of J.Crew, Jenna Lyons: “She advised, ‘Build an inner tube around what you do best and cherish it.’ I found this so compelling — I immediately wrote it down and shared it with my entire team.”
Define your company’s role within the broader beauty community
“Building community and achieving growth isn’t about reinventing or repositioning the brand, but rather sharpening what already works and defining your role within the community,” said one guest. “We owe it to our consumers to be crisp and clear in our messaging, effectively telling our legacy stories — getting back to the basics. This focused approach has proven quite successful for us over the past several months.”
Another added, “There are numerous roles you can play – are you the facilitator? The educator? The voice? Whichever you choose, the role must be genuinely connected to your brand’s identity and remain authentic. While there‘s plenty of talk about best practices, what matters is determining what best practice means specifically for your brand. It takes considerable courage to be brave and maintain that conviction.”
Front Row’s Skinner agreed, “What we‘re discovering across the board is that you must deeply understand each brand’s unique challenges, history, customer base, segmentation, and sub-segmentations. From there, you can develop a distinct strategy tailored to that brand.”
Consider a multi-channel retail strategy as table stakes
“When it comes to newer platforms like Amazon and TikTok Shop, our growth hasn’t been explosive, but we‘re pleased with our decision to establish presence early. Someone had to take that first step,” one guest said.
Another guest noted that “traditional retail is building higher walls, while Amazon casts a wider net. Many brands hesitate to launch on Amazon, yet it’s often already their number one channel through resellers — they’re simply not capitalising on it. If you’re not connecting across every channel, you aren’t winning.”
When resources are scarce, I’ve always believed in reserving a portion of our budget to enable these test-and-learn initiatives. Sometimes they scale successfully, sometimes they go sideways, but gaining these insights is crucial.
Another guest agreed. “Understanding this dynamic is key, and we believe in a test-and-learn philosophy. Should we enter TikTok Shop? Do we maintain a Facebook presence? Do we choose Amazon or partner with an established beauty retailer? These are all opportunities for controlled experimentation. When resources are scarce, I’ve always believed in reserving a portion of our budget to enable these test-and-learn initiatives. Sometimes they scale successfully, sometimes they go sideways, but gaining these insights is crucial.”
Prioritise product efficacy for sustainable growth
“The reality is, few brands have the budget to create a category or establish an entirely new concept single-handedly. As such, building a product that may already exist but making sure it is done right is where you can stand out,” said one guest.
Another added, “We believe that our loyal customers look to us for efficacy. Our commitment is to deliver results consistently with every product launch. We also carefully time these innovations, so they are not so early that consumers won’t understand them.”
“Our deep understanding of our customer guides our approach to product innovation. As we look at the long-term horizon for our brand, we‘re specifically addressing the evolving needs of this consumer in relation to longevity,” one attendee noted.
“We will see significant evolution in how we talk about longevity over the next five years,” said another guest. “We might not even use the term ‘longevity’ then — it could be called something entirely different. But fundamentally, consumers are seeking a better, healthier, longer life, concerning not just internal well-being but also how they present aesthetically to family, loved ones, and their community.”
Understand the challenges of viral success and plan for strategic conversion
“One of our products unexpectedly went viral, and transparently, it is not the product we would have strategically chosen as our primary customer acquisition vehicle for long-term brand growth,” noted one guest. “While the viral product drives excellent acquisition, its replenishment rate isn’t as strong as our core offerings. Our challenge is converting these new customers into loyal brand enthusiasts.”
“We spend considerable time strategising how to bring consumers into the brand through these viral moments, and then mapping what their next purchase should be. Where we want to guide them next, whether they discovered us through a major retailer or an online marketplace, is constantly being discussed,” said another guest.
“Of course our goal is for every product launch to become a massive global success. However, we won’t continue investing in concepts that aren’t resonating with consumers. Despite our size, we still embrace that ‘fail early’ mindset when needed,” said one guest in their closing remarks.
This is a sponsored feature paid for by Front Row as part of a BoF partnership.
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