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Beauty executives are rethinking the pace at which they introduce new products. Instead of continually launching new products, some brands including 111Skin, Bare Minerals and Youth to the People are updating existing formulations, packaging and branding, as they seek to make their hero products more efficacious and attractive for a younger generation of consumers. It’s a bold move in a sector that relies on a constant churn of new launches to stay relevant.
Earlier this year, UK-based science-backed skincare label 111Skin began rolling out improved versions of hero products, including its Y Theorem serum, eye cream and day dream, with claims of more active ingredients and effective results. It will relaunch more products — next is the Black Diamond range — in September. Last month, Youth to the People, a L’Oréal-owned brand rooted in superfood ingredients, reintroduced its Air-Whip Moisture Cream. Bumble and Bumble, one of Estée Lauder’s haircare brands, recently introduced Bb.Seaweed, an updated version of its original seaweed shampoo and conditioner, with more naturally derived ingredients and 100 per cent recycled packaging. Meanwhile, Orevon-owned Bare Minerals is making improvements to its loose powder foundation, a cult product that first launched over 25 years ago.
Product relaunches are “a recent development” in beauty, observes Margarita Arriagada, a strategic advisor at consultancy firm TSC, founder of refillable lipstick brand Valdé Beauty, and former chief merchant at Sephora for more than a decade. Brands work hard to establish their hero products, because “it’s what gets people talking about the brand [and] pays the rent”. As a result, they have been reluctant to innovate after launch, she explains; why risk altering something that is working well? Brands with signature items can also withstand turbulent periods, like a recession, as consumers tend to stick to tried-and-true products, she adds.
A rethink is underway as brands grapple with demand for newness and growth. Keeping up is a challenge, says 111Skin co-founder and CEO Eva Alexandridis. “The industry is always pushing for new, new, new. If you don’t [cater to] that, you don’t get space. But how many new products can you have as a brand?”
With fewer barriers to launching a brand, and the increasing capability to shorten the speed to market of a new product, beauty is adopting “a fast fashion approach”, multiple executives tell Vogue Business. That can be detrimental for consumers: too much choice can lead to confusion, and incorrect or unnecessary use of products can be harmful to the skin barrier, warns Alexandridis. “It’s a challenging discussion. We didn’t want to be forced to launch new products continuously for the sake of having prime space at a retailer. It was a very contentious decision for us to look at existing products and try to improve them.”
Communicating with customers
There are benefits to reinvesting in a bestseller. It’s low risk and high yield if the product has already proven to be a hit. The rise of social media platforms like TikTok also means that younger generations are discovering popular styles from years past and can catapult an old product from obscurity to selling out in a few hours. TSC’S Arriagada cites viral products like Clinique’s decades-old Black Honey Almost Lipstick and Dior’s Lip Glow, which first launched in 2009, as examples. “They’ve been around for a while but Gen Z is starting to discover them,” she says. For legacy brands, there’s an opportunity to refresh iconic products, especially as new priorities like clean formulas and refillable packaging come to the fore, she adds.
The challenge is communicating those changes to consumers who can develop strong attachments to specific products. Since the recent reformulation of Lancôme’s flagship Teint Idole Ultra Wear Foundation, consumers have come forward on social media to express their disappointment about certain shades being discontinued. On TikTok and Reddit, users shared their experiences with the new product, with some arguing that existing reviews are misleading as they were written about the previous iteration. The new formulation was designed to be lightweight and "more breathable", according to a Lancôme spokesperson. The brand acknowledged that the revised product "created some confusion" among consumers and it would roll out a wider shade assortment to US consumers by the end of the year. Meanwhile, previous foundation shades are still available for purchase via its e-commerce site, the brand said.
The Superfood Air-Whip Moisture Cream was one of Youth to the People’s original products when the brand launched in 2015 and has remained a bestseller in its portfolio as well as at primary retail partner Sephora — but after eight years, it was due for an update, explains global brand president Gouzelle Ishmatova. She acknowledges that people form beauty habits, making it trickier for brands to “convince loyal consumers that the new version is better”.
“You must take customer loyalty into consideration. Trust in a brand or product is everything and there is a chance they won’t recognise that what you’re offering now is a better version of something they have enjoyed using in the past,” says Dr Barbara Sturm, founder of her namesake skincare line. The brand relaunched its supplements collection, ‘Sturm Inside’, across its own direct-to-consumer channels in late 2021, before rolling it out to retailers in 2022. While the process was “long, complicated and expensive”, Sturm felt it was necessary to re-evaluate and innovate as new science-backed ingredients and technologies become available. The new packaging is also made with 100 per cent compostable materials that biodegrade within five years, she adds.
While brands benefit from the awareness of an existing bestseller, the revised product isn’t necessarily cheaper or faster to develop, says 111Skin’s Alexandridis. “There are certain ingredients that you might want in the product, so you have to source them and then try to innovate while staying close to the textures or other features that people love,” she explains. “That can be challenging because every ingredient has a different effect.” 111Skin’s new serum, for example, contains four times the amount of active ingredients as the previous iteration; however, the brand chose not to multiply its use of fragrance for the product, as it can cause irritation. The trade off, however, is a stronger, more clinical smell that might be uncomfortable for first-time users.
“If it’s a skincare product, chances are it’s probably going to be more expensive, because you’re upgrading formulas. A lipstick product may be cheaper because the formula has commercially scaled and there is an opportunity without having to redesign the wheel,” agrees TSC’s Arriagada. “Nine times out of 10, brands don’t benefit from an economy of value by upgrading formulas and it will typically cost more, but it does depend on the category.”
Getting retail partners on board
Convincing retail partners and beauty editors to promote the updated product is another hurdle. “You explain how you’re making the product better, but they won’t consider it a new launch if you tweak an existing product,” says 111Skin’s Alexandridis. “While retailers will put us on the shelf, they might not talk about it, because the industry is set up in a way to only promote the new.” Without the same kind of exposure, reintroduced products take longer — at least a few months — to yield results, she says. “Our sales would have been higher if we had support.”
The support from retail partners is crucial, especially if they are a key part of a brand’s distribution strategy, agrees Youth to the People’s Ishmatova. “The role of samples in store is so [consumers] can come and try [the new product].” Her advice is for brands to be “transparent” in their storytelling so that consumers understand the modifications and what they might be able to expect. “Many consumers still don’t know about Youth to the People, so this is an opportunity for us to reach new people and share with them our iconic products that they might not have heard about,” she adds.
The logistics of managing existing stock with the newer updated version is also something brands need to contend with. “These are very serious negotiations and come down to personal relationships with retailers,” says Alexandridis. In the UK, 111Skin’s home market, its bestsellers have a strong sell-through and are often sold out, making it easier for the brand to replace older iterations with the updated product, she explains. The US is different. “They asked for stock swaps. In other cases, some accounts just sold the new product alongside the old.” Small levels of old stock recalls have either been donated to charity, or used in its spas, she explains.
When making improvements, protecting a brand’s or product’s hero qualities can help with retention and adoption, Ishmatova believes. Youth to the People’s new moisturiser offers increased levels of hydration, a higher dose of vitamin C and actives, and is “even more powerful” in antioxidant protection, but retains its lightweight texture and roots in superfoods, she notes. The update was driven by consumers, she adds. “We constantly monitor consumer feedback, so if we feel that there is an opportunity to improve the formula, we will.”
“The best practice is to always keep in touch with your customer,” agrees TSC’s Arriagada. She questions the rise of fast-to-market brands and personality-led labels in beauty, and whether they listen to consumers as much as they try to sell to them. For 111Skin’s Alexandridis, it’s a long game. “It’s not about how quickly we can sell products, but we want to make sure that people love what we launch,” she says. “From the explanations to the clinical trials and before-and-after pictures, we really have to work harder to explain why the new product is superior.”
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