You gotta hand it to L'Oréal for sheer transparency. In the wake of its mid-July announcement that it was pulling the plug on Clarisonic, it immediately began a digital fire sale, offloading all the iterations of the once-untouchable sonic cleansing brush on its website at a deep discount, along with the replacement heads and companion skincare. By August, the cyber shelves were wiped clean. "We are completely sold out on Clarisonic.com and the sale has now ended," reads a notice on the brand's home page. "Our sale continues in stores, so …
Will Beauty’s Recent Support of Racial Justice Actually Stick?
When I decided to write about the explosive topic of racial justice and equality in America, and how that plays out within the beauty category, I came face-to-face with a four-letter word: fear. Dead Silence First, an analytics firm that measures consumer confidence - and that had originally approached The Robin Report offering its insights - declined to answer any questions regarding brand authenticity and racial justice. Next, a digital marketing platform, used by a huge number of DTC beauty brands to send promo emails and newsletters to …
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Beauty Gets Ugly
Admittedly it was a very "Barbie In Her Beauty Bubble" stance to take, but this was my first thought when Forbes dropped its "Kylie Jenner fooled us about her billionaire status" bombshell: Wait -- by Forbes's calculations she's worth $900M? That's so close! But then I remembered that old saw about horseshoes and hand grenades - and this little thing called shareholders - and I knew I had to do some serious digging and reading to understand the ramifications for all parties involved. If Coty overpaid for its 51 percent stake of Kylie …
Really Great Advice for Helping the Beauty Industry Survive the Pandemic
Like the rest of us, I've been extremely busy this past few weeks trying to make sense of the New (Coronavirus) World Order. I've had days that have been rendered virtually useless because of anxiety, but then I've had others that have been much, much better. Those are the days when I've gotten out of my own muddled head, plunked myself in front of my computer monitor and attended one of the many excellent free webinars the beauty industry has recently been doling out like perfume samples. I've watched the founders of Glow Recipe, a …
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Real Money, Real Help: Beauty Steps Up to the Plate
In the dark, murky sea of literally 62,377 emails in my inbox, I almost skipped over one because it had the words "Hand Sanitizer" in the subject line. I'm not hardened and cynical. I'm just busy. And like so many other beauty journalists, I'm not exactly hurting for emails about hand sanitizer right now. Many, many companies - up and down the annual turnover ladder - have followed LVMH's lead in shifting production-line capabilities from creating miracle creams, blush and lipstick to the life-saving liquid gold that is hand sanitizer. This …
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Beauty to the Rescue
"In this corner, we have industry goliath LVMH, pledging to donate 12 metric tons of hand sanitizer to 39 Paris hospitals in under a week. And in this corner, we have tiny, farm-based indie Beekman 1802, flipping the switch on its "live baby goat cam" for the world to see. You know, to alleviate stress? To transport you, at least temporarily, to a world in which Covid-19 doesn't exist? And in another corner, AP reports that "Germany-based Beiersdorf, whose brands include Nivea and Coppertone, says it is launching production of medical …
The Apothecary Pivot: Macy’s Starts Thinking Small
"Flexible retail store format." Is that Macy's-speak for "We're gonna try something new, and by some act of God, if it actually works, we'll shift from 'flexible' to 'inflexible'"? Or is it the trending new business strategy of "try often, fail fast and go bold?" In a roll of the dice that sounds not just brave but pretty smart, the department store announced earlier this month that it would debut a riff on its Market @ Macy's in-store concept with a lone freestanding unit in the Lone Star State. Southlake, Texas, to be more …
Big Beauty Is in Serious Trouble
I don't make too many brilliant decisions in my life but opting to record this year's Golden Globes while I nipped out to watch "Little Women" at my local multiplex proved to be genuine goodie. Not only could I enjoy the feast-for-the eyes scenery and fine acting in Greta Gerwig's bracing take on the Louisa May Alcott classic (Saoirse! Timothée Chalamet!), I could also later watch - and rewind, multiple times - the jaw-dropping, scorched-earth Ricky Gervais opening monologue that had woke Hollywood squirming in its seats. Yikes. But because …