Article source: New Vision Wonderland WeChat public account
Original title: When fashion OGs do beauty makeup, will they win a lot?
Author: Wonder Fashion
The beauty industry has been a bit lively recently. Many “old acquaintances” in the fashion field have joined the field of beauty and become fresh men, attracting much attention.
For example, fashion brand Balmain is interested in launching its own beauty line with The Estée Lauder Group. Prada has opened a new independent account @pradabeauty on the social media platform Instagram, which is regarded as the clarion call for a full-scale entry into the beauty field.
Before them, many street fashion brands have already taken the lead. MLB quietly opened its flagship store on Tmall. The first round of domestic beauty products included three Eau de Toilette and two air cushions; the once-popular Off-White also launched its first genderless beauty series. “Paperwork”. With more and more fashion brands entering the market, the beauty business seems to have become a must for them.
The mysterious past of fashion cross-border beauty
In fact, it is nothing new for fashion brands to engage in “side business“. Many well-known luxury brands basically have their own beauty business.
As early as 1921, Coco Chanel had foresight and launched CHANEL’s first fragrance, CHANEL N°5. It is said that this classic fragrance is still firmly sitting on the “throne” of CHANEL Beauty’s sales champion. The following year, N°22 perfume was launched, which can be said to be the twin sister flower of N°5 perfume; and in 1924, CHANEL officially owned its own first beauty series.
Famous cartoonist Sem’s first famous work for CHANEL N°5 perfume, 1921
CHANEL N°22
CHANEL’s first beauty collection
After nearly a hundred years of hard work, these businesses have become a strong driver of CHANEL’s performance. According to data, by 2020, the annual sales of CHANEL’s perfume and beauty business have reached 4.4 billion US dollars. Although it has been affected by objective factors in the past two years, the turnover still accounts for one-third of the global total, which is the main component of brand profitability.
It is worth mentioning that CHANEL’s perfume and beauty business has always been in the form of self-operation, and it is in its own hands from product development to marketing. Similarly, when Hermès launched its own make-up line two years ago, it also chose the self-operated model. Relatively speaking, it can reduce the risk of diluting the brand and more secure the brand image.
However, not all luxury brands’ beauty business is self-operated. For many fashion brands, there is also a certain risk in cross-border to the beauty field that they are not familiar with. Therefore, many fashion brands will choose to cooperate with powerful cosmetic groups to authorize the beauty line, and they are interested in the professional product development and marketing channels behind these groups.
Groups such as L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Coty, and Puig hold the beauty business of many luxury brands. With their strong support, the beauty lines of many fashion brands have also made a splash.
Prada, which recently launched its new Paradoxe “I’m Unpredictable” fragrance for women, has its beauty line, Prada Beauty, run by L’Oréal.
On the road of win-win cooperation, Tom Ford Beauty has gone relatively smoothly. After starting his own business in 2004, Tom Ford has established himself in the beauty field with his unique concept of experimenting and advocating feminism. The biggest help behind it is the famous Estee Lauder Group.
Similarly, winning the beauty business of Tom Ford also givesEstee Lauder brings huge gains.In the annual financial report every year, the Estee Lauder Group has repeatedly mentioned Tom Ford’s outstanding contributions to perfume and make-up.
It can be seen that the key to the success of fashion brands in the field of beauty does not lie in self-operation and cooperation. Perhaps the true tone and marketing methods of products can be more “defying the fate”.
YSL Beauty Cosmetics, which has changed its name and surname several times, has been experimenting with beauty cosmetics since the end of the last century, but it was not until 2014 that its business became stable after cooperation with L’Oreal Group. With their appearance in Korean dramas, “Xingxing” and “Slashing Men’s Sex” immediately set off a wave of panic buying. This is also a new way to improve the brand and product awareness from another perspective.
The big brands are so ups and downs when it comes to beauty makeup. There are more fast fashion companies involved in the perfume and beauty business, and the difficulties can be imagined.
After the big brands began to test the water for several rounds in the last century, fast fashion brands are late in this century, such as Urban outfitters, ASOS have launched their own beauty lines, but most of them have not entered the Chinese mainland market. In 2007, ZARA tried to set foot in make-up, and finally launched a full line of beauty products in 2021. In many stores in China, we can buy its perfumes and make-up products. It is probably a fast fashion brand, doing beauty makeup. A louder brand.
Can fashion brands enter the beauty industry successfully?
As for why fashion brands are “successfully” entering the beauty industry, it is not difficult to understand the reasons behind it. The fragrance and beauty market has huge profit potential, and it is a “cake” that every brand cannot miss.
In particular, luxury fashion brands are very good signs in themselves and have a high reputation in the world. With this “golden signboard”, it can attract many existing loyal “fans” of the brand, and it can also attract the attention of “passers-by” who take a wait-and-see attitude. After all, high-end cosmetics and skin care products, as “brand goods”, have an equally eye-catching Logo, which is much easier than buying a lambskin bag.
Many brands are also well versed in this truth, so they are more interested in product design. Like YSL leather air cushion, the unique elements of bag products are transplanted into makeup, which has caused a wave of “remodeling” of chain coin purses. The design of the new makeup and fragrance of MLB Cosmetics mentioned above also hopes that the presbyopia DNA in the fashion can attract MLB’s presbyopia fanatics.
However, there are too many players in the beauty industry. In addition to cross-border players, star brands and overseas makeup artist brands are also emerging one after another. In the eyes of consumers, a beauty brand launched by a professional makeup artist, such as Charlotte Tilbury, Natasha Denona, Anastasia Beverly Hills, etc., may even be more professional than a fashion brand’s beauty line.
Not to mention, Nars and Make up Forever, these “old cannons” who have established a reputation, each season’s new products give people a new feeling, bold color matching, and innovative design, posing a lot of threats to cross-border players.
In our country, there has been a large wave of local beauty brands developing rapidly in recent years, and the momentum is very good. Local professional makeup artist brands, such as Mao Geping, MAOGEPING, Caitang, etc., have gradually established their authority in the local market by better understanding the facial structure and makeup style of Asian women.
There are also many domestic make-up products that have gradually risen, such as Huaxizi, which integrates elements of the new national style and become a “topic maker” on social media, successfully establishing brand and cultural confidence.
With so many players competing on the same field, even a well-known fashion brand, Class A, who wants to enter the beauty market, needs extra effort.
The young millennials grew up surrounded by social media, youth is their capital, and innovation is their weapon. Beauty and skin care products born under the watchful eyes of Generation Z must not only withstand more stringent quality requirements, but also take into account the butterfly effect brought by creativity and promotion.
After all, in this era, “overnight popularity” is no longer a rare situation, but the norm in life.
Today, when the beauty economy is still hot, what high-end beauty lines need to think about may be how to integrate into the local area more quickly. Adapting measures to local conditions can achieve the height that the brand wants. In this battle of crossover and specialization, who will be the new frontrunner of beauty among the next leading fashion brands? We might as well wait and see.