I have great faith in the future of beauty. From what I’ve seen over the past weeks and months, the cosmetics and personal care industry is up to the challenge that the CoronaVirus recovery presents.
Ethical Leaders Work in Every Sector of the Beauty Industry
In every sector of beauty, savvy and ethical business leaders have been putting human health before corporate wealth. Brands, businesses, and companies that have been making decisions swiftly and surely, putting humanity and purpose first, are doing okay now and will do well in the future.
Many beauty businesses have made sacrifices to care for their teams. Some, like Glossier, shut down stores and offices early and will likely wait to reopen. Others, like clean beauty retailer Credo, too care to keep its in-store staff working even while in-person retail came to a halt.
That company shifted all store associates to virtual selling with its CredoLive platform, where now close to 15% of the company’s ecommerce sales happen.
Highly differentiated indie brands like Zodica Perfumery, and purpose-led brands like LUXE Botanics that has, from the start, been making decision based on a standard of green beauty science and conscious ingredient sourcing, have had an easier time deciding what’s important and staying connected to their respective consumer communities.
A coalition of beauty editors—Cheryl Wischover, Kathleen Hou, Kristina Rodulfo, and Caroline Moss—launched Donate Beauty to help brands share products with frontline workers. Beauty industry suppliers and product manufacturers, like Firmenich and LVMH, pivoted early to produce hand sanitizer, soap, and disinfectant.
The Business of Beauty is Teeming with Specialists and Experts
Plus, all through the virus crisis, familiar business activities have continued; and headlines reporting as much have seen traffic comparable to that of CoronaVirus-related news. For instance, when Avon announced plans for CBD skincare, when Henkel launched a vegan hair brand, and Unilever publicized taking its Olly supplements brand into Canada, beauty insiders wanted to know about it.
And when ingredient makers did what they do best like Geltor’s launch of Elastapure, DSM debuting a hair volumizing molecule called Tilamar, and DuPont sharing data showing the potential of one of its Danisco bioprotection ingredients for use in skincare, the industry took notice.
COVID is Still Here, but That’s Okay
It’s not business as usual. We have a long way to go; and no market has fully moved on to the recovery phase of this pandemic. But thanks to all of you, I’m not worried about the future of beauty.
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this DUviews item was originally posted to LinkedIn and now appears on DeannaUtroske.com