Glossier

“Skincare and beauty products inspired by real life”

Founded: 2014 in New York, USA Category: E-Commerce Primary office: New York, USA Core technical team: New York, USA Status: Private Employees: 210 Amount raised: $186.4 million  (5 rounds – March 2019)

OVERVIEW Leverages on e-commerce technology, user co-creation and intensive customer value propositions to provide a range of inclusive skincare and makeup product directly to customers. Drives sales and growth by using non-conventional yet strategic content generation and community to continuously deliver exceptional customer experience.   PERFORMANCE METRICS Valuation: $1.2 billion (2019) Annual Revenue: $100 million (2019)   ACHIEVEMENTS High profile investors – Sequoia capital, etc. Future of Beauty Awards (Elle 2019) 3 million+ customers

Sells

• Beauty and makeup products – skincare, makeup, body care and fragrance

Channels

• Omni-channel e-commerce website (Desktop, mobile apps)
• Partners with large beauty departmental stores – Nordstrom, Sephora, etc.
• Intense customer engagement through social media, “Into the Gloss” blog, flagship stores, brand influencers
• Affiliate marketing – customer referrals
• Available in 7 countries (US, Canada, France, UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark)

Competencies

• Founder-led Management team
• Big data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence & Sentiment analysis
• Strategic user co-creation in product development and value proposition
• Millennial and younger generation-focused product development and engagement

Resources

Assertions That Best Describe What the Company Did to Scale Early, Rapidly & Securely

1. Enable power users to help improve the company products and services using the internet
2. Enable users to participate in the rapid development of company products and services
3. Offer rewards that satisfy customer needs for recognition of their loyalty
4. Sell online using a variety of online and offline promotional channels to increase the number of new customers and the retention rate of existing customer
5. Increase value by arranging and directing a community comprised of groups that are external and internal to the company and connect everything needed to scale
6. Increase market share by applying digital technology to brand, market, sell, and service customers more cost-effectively than competitors
7. Increase the company’s value by continuously seeking and receiving funding to support the company’s plan to scale and improve its image in the marketplace
8. Continuously improve the user interfaces and applications that directly influence the entirety of the customer experience including personalized content, quality messaging, and the delivery and returns process to increase sales

References

• Berger, S. 2019.Glossier: how this 33-year-old turned her beauty blog into $1billion dollar brand. [online]. CNBC Make It. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/20/how-emily-weiss-took-glossier-from-beauty-blog-to-1-billion-brand.html

• Crunchbase. 2019. Glossier. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/glossier#section-funding-rounds
• Danziger, P. 2018. 5 reasons that Glossier is so successful. [online]. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2018/11/07/5-keys-to-beauty-brand-glossiers-success/#256b1c1d417d
• Glossier website. https://www.glossier.com/
• Owler. 2019. Glossier. https://www.owler.com/company/glossier
• Turk, V. 2020. How Glossier turned itself into a billion-dollar beauty brand. [online]. Wired. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-to-build-a-brand-glossier
  

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Contributors

• Yinka Olanrewaju-Olawepo