Highlights from TheIndustry.beauty LIVE: Opportunities and efficiencies for 2025 and beyond…

Retail is squeezed. On one side operating costs are rising and on the other customers are cutting spend. So, what can retailers do to improve their margin and create a platform for growth amid these twin challenges?

During TheIndustry.beauty LIVE: Opportunities & Efficiencies for 2025 and beyond..., brands and retailers such as Estée Lauder Companies, Harrods, Sephora, L'Occitane Group, ASOS, John Lewis, Medik8, Clarins, Guerlain, Hourglass Cosmetics, Molton Brown, Floral Street, Ultra Violette and REN Clean Skincare, amongst others, accessed meaningful advice and insights across deliveries and returns, customer service, post purchase, customer engagement and acquisition strategies, and store operations and staffing.

Hosted in partnership with logistics experts Bleckmann, and sponsored by beauty tech platform Revieve and delivery management software firm Scurri, this engaging event invited beauty industry professionals to learn from brands, retailers and industry experts from the likes of Debenhams, Neal’s Yard Remedies, Dr.PAWPAW, Byellie and AS Watson, on where retailers can make quicks wins, where they should prioritise longer term investment and how they can drive their business forward in 2025.

AS Watson's Maeolissa Rogers and Scurris Gavin Murphy

Operational efficiency in the Customer Delivery Experience (CdX)

For the first session of the day, Gavin Murphy, Chief Marketing Officer at delivery management platform Scurri, was joined by Maeolissa Rogers, Senior Supply Chain Project Manager at AS Watson, for an insightful discussion on the importance of operational efficiency in the Customer Delivery Experience (CdX).

Through its partnership with Scurri via British fragrance retailer The Perfume Shop, AS Watson is reaping the benefits of the company's configurable delivery management solution, not just at checkout, but as an end-to-end solution pre and post purchase. It comes as consumers are expecting more and more from these experiences, from convenience and choice to speed and sustainability.

The session delved into carrier optimisation and conversion optimisation, as well as repeat purchase revenue and cost-effective communication channels, including how having a streamlined experience can reduce the burden for customer service teams.

"By offering shoppers a seamless experience, you'll have less questions - allowing these teams to focus on more useful enquiries," says Rogers. "Our solution also empowers customer service to better understand the status of deliveries to proactively intervene if there is an issue and make things right too," explains Murphy, showcasing the advantages of Scurri's platform.

"Implementing personalised and consistent communications across all delivery options is a huge benefit of Scurri," adds Rogers. "It also allows us to unify our online and offline experiences, whether it's delivery or collection in-store - same message, same experience."

With a number of other brands in AS Watson's portfolio, Rogers shares that the difference between branded and non-branded operations is clear. "From asking customers, we know that branded is preferred," she says. It is also easier for consumers to avoid fraud, in comparison to third-party delivery updates that are easier to replicate. "In fact, 68% of consumers are wary of third-party updates as they worry it’s a scam, with 81% of people more likely to open tracking updates specific to a brand," Murphy finishes.

Johnny Paterson of Dr.PAWPAW, Amadea Hills of Byellie and Erik Janssen Steenberg of Bleckmann

Scaling Up: the opportunities and the challenges

For the second session of the day, we heard from Johnny Paterson, co-founder of Dr.PAWPAW, Amadea Hills, Head of Operations at Byellie, and Erik Jannssen Steenberg, Business Development Manager & Innovations at Bleckmann, about how they’ve scaled up brands.

Beauty is a growing market; there’s something new every day, but new brands need to cut through the noise to scale. For example, Byellie is looking to scale, but wants to maintain a relationship with its community while doing so, which is why it opted to partner with logistics expert Bleckmann. "Evolving midsized brands is where my heart lies. That’s really where I can add value and share my expertise. I love helping to grow businesses and creating the next best thing since sliced bread," says Bleckmann's Jannssen Steenberg.

As someone who has faced the trials and tribulations that come with scaling a brand, Paterson also offered his insights: "At the start, we probably kissed too many frogs. Just because everyone wants to distribute your brand, it doesn’t mean you should go with them."

"We have a clear direction where we want to go with the brand," adds Hills. "We launched with Sephora last year, and we have a strong direct-to-consumer site. I agree with Johnny; we have to be selective. If it doesn’t align with what you're looking to do, don’t do it. Equally, it's important to test markets. We’ve been testing the waters with marketing spend, which is important for a small brand."

It is also important to think about how to balance the volatility of virality when scaling. For example, Dr.PAWPAW recently collaborated with Wicked on exclusive lip products. In the last quarter, this made up 40% of total sales. Brands have to be prepared for sales bursts.

Paterson said this is also important when looking to scale abroad: "When you jump into some of these opportunities, especially in the US, it's very easy to get excited about going into 12,000 stores with a big retailer, but they don’t tell you about the added taxes and costs. Be careful of these factors when you’re scaling. In the US, for example, it’s very different in the UK."

Bleckmann offers a solution to facilitate this, so brands can sell without additional investments. Rather than going through a lengthy onboarding process, Bleckmann can sell to the US without any growing pains or issues.

Paterson concluded: "It's key to get the right product at the right price at the right retailer."

Debenhams' Alexandra Scolding and Sampo Parkkinen of Revieve

AI, Beauty & Loyalty: How Personalization Fuels Retail Growth in 2025 & Beyond

The introduction of artificial intelligence and augmented reality to the beauty industry has modernised the capabilities of beauty businesses and the experiences they can provide consumers. From skincare analysis to makeup try-ons, AI and AR-powered platforms can offer a personalised and unique retail experience for shoppers, both in-store and online.

Revieve is a technology company delivering these hyper-personalised experiences. In this session, Sampo Parkkinen, Chief Executive Officer at Revieve, questioned Alexandra Scolding, Director of Beauty at Debenhams, on how these innovative services can drive growth in 2025 and beyond.

Debenhams works with Revieve to offer customers tailored skincare, haircare and makeup recommendations, allowing users to access customised consultations with real-time analysis, personalised guidance, and tailored recommendations, as well as a try-on for makeup.

"Debenhams has got such a long history and we're now a digital destination, so it's imperative that we offer customers the same high quality, personalised experiences and services as we previously provided in our stores," says Scolding.

These digital experiences are becoming a standard that today’s shoppers expect - and brands need to keep up this. "Consumers are more informed and more demanding than ever, so these experiences have to serve their needs," says Parkkinen. "Revieve’s solutions allow us to easily serve the customer in an agnostic and authentic way," adds Scolding.

Aside from sales, the company's various solutions also offer a lot of data. "This helps us to understand what customers are looking for, which shapes our retail strategy - for example, have we got enough products in our assortment to meet these concerns? It gives us good guidance on where to focus our attention," says Scolding. "We are seeing many retailers leveraging this data, which is really powerful," adds Parkkinen.

Anabel Kindersley of Neal's Yard Remedies

Fireside interview with Neal’s Yard Remedies CEO and Co-Owner Anabel Kindersley

For the finale, Annabel Kindersley, CEO and co-owner of Neil's Yard Remedies, spoke to the eager audience about the brand and the beauty market, which she champions as a whole.

"We want to change the world one blue bottle at a time. We want to show we can grow a business whilst holding onto ethical and sustainable principles," highlights Kindersley.

Neil's Yard Remedies was a trailblazer and ahead of its time where sustainability is concerned. It produces 98% of its products in its Dorset factory. For the past 20 years, it has been swimming against the tide, but in recent years, that’s changed massively as wellness and sustainability have never been so relevant. "We’ve stayed in our lane, continuing to make beautiful products that are sustainable and champion nature. We haven’t changed; the market has come to us. It shows that more brands are doing great things," she explains.

Although it was the first carbon-neutral business on the high street in 2008, no one cared at the time, so they didn’t shout about it. "But, watch this space as we have a new CMO and there’s some new storytelling coming," Kindersley adds.

Despite new doors opening for the business, the market has been challenging. In the Kindersley's opinion, however, "retail is coming back; people want physical connection, but it needs to be different. A quick shop can be done online, but if you’re coming into a retail environment, you want to speak to someone; you want to be helped and nurtured. We’ve brought back the elegance, luxury and services in our stores – for example, we offer hand massages and this has changed customer spend."

To sponsor one of our events or if you would like to ask about speaking opportunities, please email partnerships@theindustry.beauty.

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