Cosmetic Brands Case Studies Part 3

Delivered March 16th, 2018. Contributors: Megan L., Jacob L., Abigail A., Emmanuel A., ChristineD and

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Cosmetics Case Study - Anastasia Beverly Hills: The Business

Anastasia Beverly Hills Cosmetics was created in 1998 by a mother and daughter duo, Anastasia and Claudia Soare. This duo created the company after Anastasia saw massive success in California as an aesthetician and eyebrow artist. Through their success with celebrities and an extremely large Instagram following, Anastasia has maintained success since 1998 as a leader in the beauty industry. Their utilization of high-quality photos and makeup artists on social media has been a large contributor to their success. The company faced a trademark infringement lawsuit in 2016, but the case was ruled in their favor and they were found not guilty of trademark infringement in January 2018. Below is an overview of the history and business strategy of the company, followed by their marketing strategy and success drivers, as the two are heavily linked. Further, an overview of the lawsuit is included. 

OWNERSHIPAnastasia Beverly Hills was created in 1998 by Anastasia and Claudia Soare, a mother-daughter team that began the business in a rented room in Los Angeles, California. Claudia and her mother have retained ownership of the company in its entirety; Anastasia is the CEO and Claudia, her daughter, is the President. The company started and remains a privately held company. 

HISTORY AND BUSINESS STRATEGYPrior to beginning her own salon, Anastasia worked as an aesthetician at Giovanna-Jutta salon on Melrose Place in California. In the early 1990s, she began to offer eyebrow services in a room at Juan Juan Salon in Beverley Hills, quickly gaining celebrity clients, including Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, and Naomi Campbell. An article was written in Vogue in 1994 about Anastasia’s eyebrow services, and the same issue of Vogue also included an article about a new book from Kevyn Aucoin called “Making Faces”. Kevin discussed the importance of eyebrows in his interview, stating that they can really change the expression your face is making, and from there, Anastasia’s business grew exponentially. 

Anastasia Beverley Hills was formed with Anastasia's daughter, Claudia, in 1997, and soon they found themselves doing eyebrows for models in photo shoots, on top of previous and new celebrity clients, e.g. Kim Kardashian. 

Anastasia Beverly Hills estimates $340 million in net sales, with an estimated revenue after taxes, depreciation, and amortization of $5.8 million. Please note, Anastasia Beverly Hill’s is a privately held company, so all mentions in the media of their net sales, earnings prior to taxes, revenue, etc. are estimates. 

MARKETING STRATEGY + success drivers In 2012, Claudia encouraged her mother to begin utilizing social media for their advertising. Rather than focusing on influencers with large followings, Anastasia Beverly Hills focuses on Instagram users who utilize high-quality photos and makeup techniques, to show off their products in the best light. In Q2 2015, Anastasia Beverly Hills earned an estimated media value of $46.5 million via social media. For comparison, MAC cosmetics earned $26.4 million during that same time, with Too Faced estimating $17.2 million.  

Rather than utilizing social media to sell, Claudia (President of Anastasia Beverly Hills) states that they instead focus on “promoting [on social media] to inspire and to establish what we are all about.” By utilizing over 600 influencers on social media, with followers of each ranging from 50,000 to a few million, Anastasia Beverly Hills ranked as the 14th brand in “prestige color cosmetics…and 6th brand in the eye category” of the NDP Group. 

 In 2014, their success on social media expanded further, when Kim Kardashian began promoting Anastasia’s products and services, as she and the entire Kardashian family have been long-time customers. With such a large following, especially as it relates to makeup, Kim helped further the reach and recognition of the Anastasia Beverly Hills brand. 

 Anastasia Beverly Hills is now the second most followed Instagram beauty account, with over 16.4 million followers, right behind MAC Cosmetics (17.1 million). Please note, in December of 2015 Anastasia Beverly Hills held the title of most followed Instagram beauty account, but has since been surpassed by MAC. In December 2015, they reported 7.5 million followers, and in just over two years, their Instagram followers have grown by 8.9 million followers, which is a 119% increase. 

As they began as a brow company, their eyebrow products, both brushes and makeup enhancers for eyebrows, are among their best-sellers. Further, they tend to be thought of as the company who “put eyebrows on the beauty map”, and utilize it as their claim to fame, so to speak. 

CHALLENGES In 2016, Anastasia Beverly Hills was sued by Hard Candy, a cosmetic company based in Hollywood, Florida, that claims Anastasia Beverly Hills unlawfully used Hard Candy’s trademark “display, marketing, advertising, and sale of its product”, without authorization from Hard Candy. Hard Candy stated that Anastasia Beverly Hills unlawfully took the name Hard Candy as their own, as Anastasia Beverly Hills named one of their eyeshadow colors “hard candy” (other names in the kit were mimosa, crushed pearl, and starburst). In the petition papers, Hard Candy noted that Anastasia Beverly Hills is liable to them for trademark infringement “under 15 U.S.C. 1114(1), and that Hard Candy is entitled to receive any and all profits the Defendant [Anastasia Beverly Hills] has made because of its wrongful conduct.”

The lawsuit concluded in January 2018, with Anastasia Beverly Hills successfully receiving a defense verdict, through a non-jury trial. The court ruled in favor of Anastasia Beverly Hills, “finding no evidence of trademark infringement”, and it was noted that while the words “hard candy” were used, there is no evidence that a consumer would be confused as to if there was a connection between the company Hard Candy and Anastasia Beverly Hills. 

SUMMARYAnastasia and her daughter Claudia founded Anastasia Beverly Hills in 1998, and have continued to own and run the company together for twenty years. Celebrity use is the main driver of success for Anastasia Beverly Hills. From models (e.g. Cindy Crawford) to large personalities (e.g. Kim Kardashian), products are driven by social media due to the Instagram users who promote and use their products. They remain the second most followed beauty account on Instagram with over 16 million followers and have an estimated yearly revenue of over $5 million USD. While Hard Candy attempted to sue them for trademark infringement in 2016, they ultimately won the lawsuit, and have seen no negative effects on their business as a result.

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Cosmetics Case Study - Benefit: The Business

Benefit Cosmetics’s success largely relies on their ability to internationally market high-quality products through the brand’s identity as approachable, sassy, and humorous. Later renamed Benefit Cosmetics, it currently sells products at over 2,000 cosmetics counters in 30 countries. It has grown from a single shop to a cosmetics behemoth, with more than 13 million followers on social media platforms and roughly $1 billion in sales. Despite initially hoping to merely break even, the small boutique has found success in its mission statement: "laughter is the best cosmetic."
Business History & strategyDespite massive expansion, Benefit Cosmetics’s business strategy has remained consistent over time. In 1976, Jane and Jean Ford opened a new beauty boutique focused on creating quality products that work as an easy fix to common cosmetic problems for women. The beauty company’s spirit of creating products to solve problems is demonstrated by their willingness to create a whole new product, overnight, for an exotic dancer in 1977. This excellent customer service at their retail stores lies in the brash acceptance of notions of being girly and feminine, as well as making consumers feel comfortable through laughter. In 1997, the company opened a London branch. Two years later, Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, otherwise known as LVMH, acquired the brand due to its success in the US. In 2006, a new CEO was named, Jean-Andre Rougeot, who attended Harvard Business School and previously ran Diam International. By 2011, valued roughly at $500 million, Benefit was increasing its company presence internationally through online tools and implementing a digital marketing plan to better connect with millennials. Currently, Benefit is a “$1B subsidiary of LVMH, with the majority of sales arriving through indirect channels, such as Macy’s and Sephora.” Benefit Cosmetics is still partly owned by Jean and Jane Ford, who still work with the company. To this, it has retained its original focus of creating practical and enjoyable products for women of all ages, with a special interest in targeting younger generations to maintain growth. 
Marketing StrategyBenefit Cosmetics capitalizes on the latest trends and technologies to position their brand for success, developing innovative and clever marketing techniques. Using augmented reality technology, the beauty company released “Brow Try-On” in early 2018, an interactive app that allows users to see what different types of brow styles would look like on them. As a marketing director for the firm notes, “To reach our core millennial consumer, it has become essential to develop tools and interactive experiences that add value, foster engagement and simplify product discovery.” Consumers also increasingly expect companies to be socially responsible, and Benefit Cosmetics has responded to this by holding a Bold Is Beautiful charity initiative for the past 3 years. The event donates all proceeds from visits to the Brow Bar, in-store eyebrow waxing, to 34 charities that empower women internationally; moreover, UK and Ireland branches conducted pop-up shops, re-selling celebrities’ clothing and other branded items. A 2017 PopSugar article noted that Tribe Dynamics, a market research firm, estimated Benefit “generated $48 million in earned media value — a metric used to describe publicity and engagement through digital media — landing it in the top 10 cosmetics companies for July 2017.”

Influencer campaigns play a large role in Benefit Cosmetics’ success. Klear.com, an influencer marketing software, ranks the firm’s engagement as “Outstanding,” with a 98 out of 100 influence score, which relates to “the ability to drive action.” A WWD report found that in 2016, a social marketing campaign driven by influencers “reportedly drove a 30 to 40 percent sales lift for the nine products in the line, year-over-year, in its first six months.” A 2017 collaboration with Meredith Foster and Teala Dunn reached an additional 12 million consumers, and was projected to garner an additional $7 million in revenue. Influencers are invited to try products, form relationships, and participate in engaging marketing campaigns to reach consumers. In the UK, these content marketing stunts have contributed to a 60% market share. Benefit was also one of the first brands to feature male influencers for the products, driving a theme of inclusiveness across their brand. In 2018, Benefit is continuing this strategy to court millennial consumers, hosting influencer events across the globe to accompany the launch of a new mascara product, with some reports noting a budget up to $10 million for the campaign. Influencers are a significant driver of success in recent years, according to the Vice President of Global Strategic Marketing at Benefit Cosmetics. 

Benefit Cosmetics has 7.6 million followers on Instagram; 937,000 Followers and 78,400 Likes on Twitter; 6.1 million Followers and 6.1 million Likes on Facebook; 170,276 subscribers on Youtube; and 67,407 Followers on Pinterest. To give some indication of growth, the number of its Twitter followers grew by 306% since 2014; the number of followers on Facebook saw a 57% increase in the same period.

The incredible success of the company is generally attributed to its clever and innovative sales techniques and branding. It is built around being approachable; with witty product names and laughter at the core of its message, Benefit Cosmetics aims to reflect a feminist culture when women can be anything they’d like to be and create a community within their stores. Their 'no-judgement' belief is key, especially to create an environment where cosmetics is an accessible and enjoyable product. This strategy works internationally; Benefit’s products are popular in Germany and France due to its social marketing and strong product lineup. 
IssuesBenefit has largely avoided any serious decline in sales arguably due to its social marketing strategy. However, social marketing is risky, and the latest publicized issue arose in 2015 when the company was accused of body-shaming over social media. Apart from this negative press, however, no other issues exist.
ConclusionOverall, Benefit has largely remained consistent in their brand’s identity of fun, stylish, and approachable throughout massive growth. Despite a majority acquisition by LVMH, the original owners have continued to manage the company and found success with few issues. An aggressive approach to online marketing has proved successful, contributing to continued growth and popularity among younger generations. As The Guardian notes, “Their ethos- 'who says make-up has to be serious to be good?'- proved to be popular with the public and the company grew and grew.”

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Cosmetics Case Study - Anastasia Beverly Hills: Financials

Anastasia Beverly was the top beauty brand for 2016 with an annual revenue of $35million. The same year, they had the largest year-on-year sales on Amazon, a growth of 146%. However, because Anastasia is a private company, a lot of its sales figures and other information is private. After a thorough search of websites, reports, articles and press releases using different combinations of keywords, the only growth metric we could find was one used by advanced marketing technology brand Tribe Dynamics. It is called Earned Media Value (EMV). EMV is a quantifier /metric used for calculating the estimated value of publicity a company gains when users engage online with their product or content. Based on this metric, Anastasia Beverly declined 12% YoY between January 2017 and January 2018.

Please find below a full dive into this request.

ANNUAL SALES BREAKDOWNThe current annual sales for Anastasia Beverly is $35million. We could not find any sources breaking this down into domestic and rest of the world.

GROWTH/DECLINE Although we could not find data on sales growth based on sales or number of stores, we could find growth based on EMV.  
Based on this metric Anastasia Beverly experienced a decline of 12% YoY January 2017 to 2018. Their value in January 2017 was $122,416,992 but by January 2018, it had dropped to $107,798,970. However, they had shown a growth of 71% from Q2 of 2015 to Q2 of 2016. 

Here is a breakdown of their EMV value based on the various social media for Q2 2015 and Q2 2016. 

 Q2 2016 
 Youtube: $24,656,462 
 Instagram: $124,502,171 
 Facebook: $5,651,405 
 Twitter: $1,200,740 
 Blog: $1,251,673 
 Pinterest: $1,828,760 
 
 Q2 2015 
 Youtube: $6,231,800 
 Instagram: $99,333,335 
 Facebook: $1,359,741 
 Twitter: $389,941 
 Blog: $414,547 
 Pinterest: $69,606 
 
3. PERCENTAGE SALES FROM BRANDED RETAIL STORES After a thorough search of websites, press releases and reports, we could locate one source that gave a percentage of growth for Anastasia Beverly Hills and Amazon. Anastasia Beverly Hills had the largest year-over-year growth at about 150% from 2015 to 2016, attributed to the company’s use of Instagram influencers to promote its products.

4. DATE/COUNTRY OF FIRST INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHAll interviews and press releases we came across focused on the date of the company’s launch in the USA. We tried various search parameters using "international launch", "first global launch", "global stores", and others but could only find a launch of their UK Website on December 17, 2016. Their products were already available in-store in the UK before this time. We also found that the brand is now available in 25 countries and 2500 stores. Their products are available in Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Macy’s and Dillards.

CONCLUSIONTo wrap up, although we could not find all information for this request, we could find some data. Anastasia Beverly, being a private company, holds lots of information close to its chest. However, we could find their latest annual sales figure of $35 million. We also found that Amazon was their biggest source of retail revenue in 2016 and that their EMV dropped by 12% in 2016. 

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Cosmetics Case Study - Benefit: Financials

Benefit Cosmetics' total sales in 2016 was $1.3 billion. The company hit the $1 billion sales revenue mark in 2014, representing a 300% growth from the 5 years prior to 2014. Unfortunately, we were unable to find details on the breakdown of sales by country or by channel, as the company has not publicly released these statistics. You will find an in-depth breakdown of this information, below.

METHODOLOGY
We started by searching for Benefit Cosmetics financials, sales growth, and breakdown of sales by country and channels, however, we found very little information. This is because the company doesn't publish its financials publicly. Benefit Cosmetics is a subsidiary of LVMH, a public company, however, LVMH doesn't publicly publish a detailed annual report for Benefit Cosmetics. LVMH groups Benefit Cosmetics together with other similar brands such as Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain, Givenchy, Kenzo Parfums, and Sephora under the segment "Perfumes & Cosmetics" and reports general financial data for the entire segment. Although LVMH's annual report shows that its Perfumes & Cosmetics segment has been growing (it grew by 14% in 2017) and that Benefits Cosmetics' Brow Collection contributed significantly to the growth, there is not enough information to triangulate how much of the growth is due to Benefit Cosmetics specifically.

In general, Benefit Cosmetics doesn't release financial information publicly. This fact is exemplified by an L.A. Times's profile of the company's products that included an interview of Nicole Frusci, senior vice president, U.S. marketing, in which Frusci declined to reveal the company's financial information when questioned.

Due to the limited information available from the company's official channels, we decided to piece together as much financial information about the company as possible by reviewing press reports about the company. Please note that although Wonder generally doesn't use sources older than 2 years, we have reviewed older sources in this request due to the nature of the request and the need to understand the company's growth over the requested time period. We have highlighted our findings below in line with your request.

1) Total Annual Sales
According to a Moodie Davitt Report, the company's total sales in 2016 amounted to $1.3 billion. This is the latest publicly available figure. We also searched for its total sales in the US and International market as requested but were unable to find any relevant data. In addition, we searched for the percentage of its total sales that is due to the US market or international market in order to triangulate the figure, but the percentage was unavailable.

Hence, we are unable to provide a breakdown of the company's sales in the US and International market as requested.The Moodie Davitt Report states that Korea, the U.K., Central Europe and the Middle East are the strongest markets for the company.

2) Sales Growth
The company announced in 2014 that it was on track to reach $1 billion in sales for the first time at the end of 2014 and announced that they intended to sponsor 150 employees for a holiday in early 2015 to celebrate reaching the $1 billion mark. The $1 billion dollar revenue represents 3 times its revenue from the previous five years, representing a growth of 300% between 2009 and 2014. And since we know the company had a revenue of $1.3 billion in 2016, that represents a growth of 30% ((1.3 billion - 1 billion)/1 billion) * 100)) between 2014 and 2016.

Benefit Cosmetics grew its presence from 2 countries in 2006 to 45 countries today. The company opened its first Brow Bar in 2003 in the US and grew to 1,200 Brow Bars in 2014, globally. In 2016, the company's Brow Bars increased to 1,850. In addition, "Benefit Cosmetics’ travel retail business recorded +30% year-on-year growth in 2016 driven by the launch of its Brow collection in July last year and increasing mini product offer."

Although we were unable to find data specifically for the US, we found that in the UK, the company's revenue reached £67.4 million in 2013, a 7% increase from the £63 million recorded in 2012.

3) OTHER RELEVANT QUANTITATIVE
 A report on the UK premium mascara market also stated that Benefit Cosmetics increased its "market share in the premium mascara market from 25% to 38% in the two quarters following the launch of Roller Lash."

The company had 60% market share in the £20 million brow-grooming market in the UK in 2016. The company's brow category was growing by 30-40% yearly in 2016 and is believed to have surpassed Anastasia as the top brow company in the world. Within six months, the company's brow segment reached its $100-million retail sales target for 2016 and was on course to reach $250 million in 2016. NPD Group stated that the company was the number one brow company in the world in 2016, while digital research firm L2 reported that Benefit Cosmetics and Anastasia Beverly Hills shared the top spot.

4) Breakdown of Sales By Channels
Unfortunately, we were unable to find any data or published report on the breakdown of Benefit Cosmetics' sales (by percentage or revenue) that come from branded retail stores, department stores, specialty stores, the company's website, and other websites as requested, despite searching extensively.  We were also unable to find enough information to triangulate the data. As explained in our methodology, brand specific information is not released by it's parent company.

5) First Country and Date of Launch
The company first launched internationally in Harrods, London UK in 1997.

CONCLUSION
To wrap up, Benefit Cosmetics revenue increased to $1.3 billion in 2016, representing a 30% growth since 2014. We have also detailed important metrics above that shows the company's growth over the years. However, we were unable to find data on sales segmentation by channels as requested because the information is not publicly provided by the company.

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Cosmetics Case Study - Anastasia Beverly Hills: Products, Distribution, Customers

 Anastasia Beverly Hills, Inc. (ABH), a prestige cosmetics company, was founded in 1997 by Anastasia Soare in Beverly Hills, California. The company offers premium cosmetics and beauty products that can be categorized into brows, makeup, and makeup tools. It also owns several salons. The company retails its products online and through brick and mortar retailers in the United States and globally.

The company is famous for the patented Golden Ratio eyebrow- shaping method that gave birth to a booming cosmetics business for its eyebrow-styling category. ABH’s core customers are mostly females belonging to the 18 to 34 age brackets and coming from the middle to upper-class income segment.
ABH's BRAND DISTRIBUTIONABH's products are distributed in 1,540 stores in 10 countries. Their physical store locations include ABH salons, department stores, boutiques, beauty counters, specialty stores, airport stores, beauty lounges, and others. Their network of brick and mortar stores can be found in the following countries with the number of store locations indicated for a total of 1,540: Belgium — 75; Canada — 2; Denmark — 9; Finland — 21; France — 102; Germany — 104; Netherlands — 112; Norway — 176; Sweden — 266; and US — 673.

ABH also sells its products through various online store channels such as: Anastasiabeverlyhills.com, Anastasiabeverlyhills.co.uk, Anastasiasoare.ro/ro, Sephora.com, Nordstrom.com, Dillards.com, Macys.com, Beautylish.com, Beautybay.com, Finestcosmetics.se, Cultbeauty.co.uk, Douglas.de, Douglas.nl, Planetparfum.com, Greatbeautybar.de, Greatbeautybar.nl, Tennecosmetics.nl, Urban outfitters.com, Frendsbeauty.com, Nigelbeauty.com, Naimies.com, Kicks.se, Ahlens.se, Mynavyexchange.com, Shopmyexchange.com, feelunique.com, and Anastasia Beverly Hills store on Amazon.com.
WHOLESALE ACCOUNTS
No existing pre-compiled lists were found that implicitly state ABH’s wholesale accounts. Based on the dispersed information found on their official site and other sources, the wholesale account of ABH are most probably the following:

(1) Planet Parfum — Belgium; (2) Nordstrom — Canada;  (3) House of Stars — Denmark, (4) Matas — Denmark, (5) Sephora — Denmark, (6) Kicks — Finland, (7)Sephora — France; (8) Douglas — Germany; (9) Douglas — Netherlands; (10) Kicks — Norway; (11)Beauty Academy — Norway; (12) Brow Rehab — Norway; (13) Web Shop Coverbrands — Norway; (14) Dajana Tomanovic — Norway; (15) Rapide Brow Bar — Norway; (16) Skin Bynelly — Norway; (17) Vita Exclusive — Norway; (18) Fredrik & Louisa — Norway; (19) Skintonic — Norway; (20) Cosmetique — Norway; (21) Kicks — Sweden; (22) Åhléns — Sweden; (23) Parfymeri La Classe — Sweden; (23) Salong Bangs — Sweden;(24) The Venue Esthetic — Sweden; (25) Beauty Project Stockholm — Sweden; (26) Lyko Mall Of Scandinavia — Sweden; (27) Dillard's — US; (28) Anastasia Beverly Hills Salon — US; (29)Beauty Supply Store — US; (30) Nordstrom — US; (31) ULTA — US; (32) Beauty Brands — US; and (33) Macy’s — US.

The complete list of ABH's retail locations can be found on the company’s official site.
ABH’S PRODUCT AND SERVICES CATEGORIES
ABH's main product categories include the following:

  Makeup products: Face primers and powders, blushes, cheek tints and stains, contouring colors, concealers, highlighters, foundation, and glow colors.

 Eyebrows Fillers, Gels, Pencils.

 Accessories: Makeup brushes and tools.

 Bundled cosmetic products: Palettes and sets

 Salon Services

ABH’s products were first introduced to their customers in the year 2000.
ABH’S HERO PRODUCTS / MOST POPULAR PRODUCTS
Based on the best-selling product list and the ABH company profile in its official site, the following are some of the company’s most iconic products:

1. SOFT GLAM PALETTE — easy to blend long-lasting full pigment shadows.

2. AMREZY HIGHLIGHTER-limited edition illuminating powder to achieve a radiant finish.

3. DIPBROW® POMADE — An award-winning waterproof, multitasking and long-lasting matte pomade.

4. CLEAR BROW GEL — Long-lasting, invisible brush-on gel.

5. BROW WIZ® — Award-winning ultra-slim, retractable brow pencil that leaves precise, hair-like strokes.

6. MODERN RENAISSANCE PALETTE — Eyeshadow collection with 14 shades for both daytime and evening use.

7. BROW DEFINER — Retractable pencil with a unique, triangular tip that can be wielded in three ways to outline and fill in brows.

8. PERFECT BROW PENCIL — Award-winning dual-tipped, powder-like brow pencil that produces long, straight strokes.

9. LIQUID LIPSTICK — Cult-favorite liquid lipstick that contains intense pigment with a long-lasting formula.

Most of the original wording in the product descriptions were retained to preserve the meaning behind the benefits that are being touted.
ABH’S TARGET CUSTOMERS
 After an extensive search, I was not able to uncover publicly available data that completely outline ABH’s market demographics. I just gathered some information fragments from various reports and articles to build a rough picture of ABH’s target customers’ demographics.

Based on ABH’s website, their general target customers are those who are passionate about the eyebrow-shaping beauty trend.

Digging further, ABH has been heavily leveraging their Instagram account to promote their brands to beauty influencers and Instagram users with great success. Based on a market report, they have the second most followed Instagram account as of December 2017 with 15.2 million followers. They have so far increased their Instagram subscribers to 16.4 million in 2018. The latest Instagram earning figure that I can find is from 2015 which estimated ABH’s Instagram earned media value to be worth $46.5 million, larger than M.A.C.’s $26.4 million. Since most of the active Instagram users globally are women with ages between 18 to 34, we can more or less triangulate that their main target customers fall in this age range.

Additional data can also be found on the Alexa website report. Most of the visitors of ABH’s online stores are female, college graduates, and most probably have a job as the majority of the site visits were done while at work. ABH’s online store got the majority of site visitors from the US at 56%. Following the US are these countries: Russia — 4.2%, Canada — 3.9%, Australia — 3.7%, and Saudi Arabia — 2.3%.

As with what is happening in the total beauty industry, Generation Y’s entry into the job market will further boost the cosmetics industry so this age range can be assumed as one of ABH’s target age demographic.

There were no specified race demographics that can be found in ABH’s website. Given that the company provides numerous color shades for all skin types, it can be surmised that ABH’s targets all races. This is most probably driven by the fact that diversity and variety are now the new standards in the beauty industry. Furthermore, beauty cultures outside of the western world now wield more influence. Beauty products’ consumers outside North America and Europe are now changing the face of the beauty market based on their race’s physical appearance. Purchase of beauty products can also be guided by ethnic and cultural preferences.

In terms of income segmentation, ABH’s products are premium or prestige ones and so its target income demographics are most likely part of the middle to high-class income ranges.
CONCLUSION
 ABH offers premium cosmetics and beauty products that are mostly based on its patented Golden Ratio eyebrow-shaping technique. The company was established in 1997 by Anastasia Soare in Beverly Hills, California. ABH sells its products in several locations around the world and through various online stores. The company’s core target customers are mostly working females with ages ranging from 18 to 34 years old and coming from the middle to higher class income segment.

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Cosmetics Case Study - Benefit: Products, Distribution, Customers

 Benefit Cosmetics is a premium cosmetics company founded by Jean and Jane Ford in 1976 in San Francisco, California. The company was formerly called The Face Place before it changed its business name to Benefit Cosmetics LLC in 1990. In 1999, the company was acquired by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.E.(LVMH), a luxury goods' company.

 Benefit Cosmetics produces premium cosmetic brands that are known to have creative and fun names as part of their feel-good philosophy. Its brands also target certain skin issues and provide tailored services. The company mainly targets females belonging to the middle to high-income groups.

The company operates in several locations worldwide through its partner retailers and resellers. It also offers its products in online stores.

BRAND DISTRIBUTION

 Benefit Cosmetics are sold in 4000 stores in 35 countries. Their brick and mortar store locations include department stores, boutiques, counters, specialty stores, airport stores, bespoke beauty lounges, and others. Their main network of retail stores can be found in the United Kingdom, the United States, Mexico, Hong Kong, Paris, and Australia, as well in the location of international resellers.

WHOLESALE ACCOUNTS
There are no pre-compiled lists that directly state Benefit’s wholesale accounts. Based on the scattered information found on their official site, the triangulated wholesale accounts of the company are the following:

(1) Macy’s Sephora; (2) Ulta; (3) Soho Botique, (4) Henri Bendel, (5)Harrods, (6) Debenhams, (7)Sephora Branches, (8) Boots Pharmacy, (9) Arnotts, (10) Benefit Boutique — Paris, (11) Gare De Lyon Store, (12) Sephora Beijing, (13) Hong Kong Plaza Hollywood Boutique, (14) Sephora ION Orchard Singapore, (15) Edgars V&A Waterfront South Africa, (16) Bondi Sydney, (17) Shopping Pátio Higienópolis — Brazil, (18) El Palacio De Hierro — Mexico, (19) Annecy — Switzerland, (20) Woojoo Dubai Mall, (21) Al Naeem Mall — Dubai, (22) IL DE BEAUTE Tverskaya — Russia, and (23) Shinsegae Department Store — Korea.

Other account locations can be found in Benefit’s official site.

BENEFIT cosmeticS' PRODUCT CATEGORIES
Benefit's product categories include the following:

 Makeup products: Face primers and powders, blushes, cheek tints and stains, concealers, highlighters, foundation, and brow make-up.

 Skincare products: Cleansers, moisturizers, body care products, makeup removers, and specialized skin care products to address targeted skin problems.

 Eye care products: Eyeliners, eye shadows, palettes, eye primers, mascaras, and false eyelashes.

 Accessories: Makeup brushes and tools.

 Bundled cosmetic products: Beauty and eye kits.

 Others: Various fragrances and gifts.

I only found the introduction year of Benetint, formerly known as Rosetint, which the official site specifically mentioned that they first sold in 1977 to an exotic dancer. I did not find any other specific information on when all their other products were first introduced. The assumption is that some of their commonly used basic makeup products like face powders, blushes, mascaras, and lipsticks were already introduced when they opened their first shop back in 1976 while they are still known as The Face Place.

HERO PRODUCTS / MOST POPULAR PRODUCTS

Based on Benefit’s official website, the following are the most popular products that they consider as innovative and will meet the real needs of their customers:

1.       Benefit Dandelion Brightening Finishing Powder — a floral blush on with a sheer finish.

2.       Benefit Erase Paste Brightening Concealer — available for all skin tones, this concealing paste hides skin imperfections and highlights skin perfection.

3.       Benefit Professional Face Primer — minimizes pores to guarantee a smooth finish.

4.       Benefit Hello Flawless! Powder Foundation — sheer airy powder foundation for a light and not overdone finish.

5.       Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow! Liquid Foundation — an illuminating foundation to enhance skin beauty and hides imperfections.

6.       Benefit High Beam Liquid Highlighter — luminous highlighter can complement and make cheek and brow bones glow.

7.       Benefit Hoola Matte Bronzer — bronzer that yields a beach-inspired tan

8.       Benefit They're Real! Lengthening Mascara — single layering mascara can lengthen the appearance and increase the volume of lashes.

9.       Benefit Benetint Cheek & Lip Stain — dual-purpose stain for the cheeks and lips.

I preserved most of the actual words used to describe the products so as not to lose the creativity infused into the descriptions as well as the benefits that are being communicated.

BENEFIT’S TARGET CUSTOMERS
I was not able to find any publicly available data that have the full details of Benefit’s market demographics.  I just consolidated some snippets of information from various articles.  One article dates back to 2011 but since Benefit did not change their branding much from that year, we can still more or less refer to the data to get a picture of the company’s target customers.

Based on a 2011 interview with Sharon Farley, Benefit’s Australian Marketing Manager, the company’s core customers are mostly females that are aged between 20 – 45.  However, they have seen that their products also interest women and some men from all age groups. Since she did not specify that this is specific only to Australia, we can triangulate that this is applicable globally.

Currently, with Generation Y already entering the job market, this age group has become a big customer of the cosmetics market, especially in the United States.

Additional data can be found on the Alexa website report. Most of the visitors of Benefit’s online shop are female, college-graduates, and most likely have a job due to the majority of the site visits done at work. The company’s online store got the most number of visitors from the US at 36.5%. This was followed by UK — 11.8%, Germany — 4.6%, Spain — 3.4%, and France — 3.1%.

No specific race demographics were found as well. Since the company offers various shades of their make-up, it can be assumed that they cater to all skin colors. Furthermore, we can just refer to a global cosmetics report where it was stated that diversity and variety are now the new norms in the beauty industry. According to the report, non-western beauty cultures now have more influence as consumers beyond North America and Europe are re-shaping the beauty market based on their race’s image attributes. Purchase of beauty products can also be influenced further by ethnic and cultural preferences.

With regard to income, since Benefit’s brands were considered as premium, the target income demographic belongs to the middle to the high-class range.

CONCLUSION

 Benefit Cosmetics, a premium cosmetics company, offers make-up, skincare, accessories, and other cosmetic products that are known to capitalize on their bold and creative way of marketing. The company was founded in 1976 by Jean and Jane Ford in San Francisco, California. The company used to be called The Face Place before changing its name to Benefit Cosmetics LLC in 1990. Benefits was acquired by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.E.(LVMH) in 1999. The company has multiple locations around the world as well as having an online presence. Its target customers are mostly working females belonging to the middle to higher class income segment.