Glossier: A Thoroughly Modern Beauty Brand

Most companies have been on a digital transformation journey in recent years, taking their brick-and-mortar offering and adapting it to new technologies and consumer behaviors. 

But amidst this huge online shift, a new breed of brand has emerged. Beauty brand Glossier was instrumental in leading this pack of disruptors, with its customer-centric approach, use of social media and innovative digital marketing tactics.

In just a few years, this direct-to-consumer make-up business went from launching four products on a basic ecommerce site in 2014 to forecasting $275 million in retail sales in 2023 and a company valuation of $1.8 billion in 2021. 

However, 2020 brought about turbulent times for the brand as brick-and-mortar stores closed. A year later, a third of corporate staff were laid off after a decline in revenue, there were reports of racism, a toxic workplace, and a lack of product innovation. Most shockingly, in 2022, the founder and CEO of Glossier, Emily Weiss resigned, having built the company from scratch to be one of the two percent of companies that received venture capital investment for all-female founding teams.

But Glossier’s success continues unabated. With a new CEO at the helm, since 2022, Kyle Leahy is looking to turn the company and brand image around. To do this the company will need to refocus on its five-pillar digital marketing strategy - Consumers, Content, Conversations, Co-Creation and Community.

Let’s look at what we can learn from Glossier’s marketing activities and tactics that saw it grow from a start-up to a multimillion-dollar business. 

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