The beauty industry continues to evolve to meet the everchanging needs of the consumer which has transformed the way products are marketed, distributed and the speed to market through development. This has impacted beauty company’s expectations within specific skillsets for employees to stay relevant and competitive within the fast-moving and demanding business of creating successful beauty products.
Product Development: In the last 5 years the speed to market has become a “race” to drive newness and cut down on the product development cycle. In the past, beauty brands would develop products within a 2-to-3-year timeline from concept and launch. In the last five years, most brands have evolved to 1-year timelines, and competitive “fast beauty” products have launched within 6-to-9-months from conception.
The emphasis on ingredient knowledge as a product developer has become an expectation to identify and highlight key ingredients to craft a product story and meet the expectations of savvy, ingredient-driven consumers.
As consumers take to social media to learn about new products, a skill that makes top Product Developers stand out is the ability to formulate visually appealing “instagrammable” products and partner with marketing to communicate ingredient stories and capture this in imagery.
Marketing: This is a skill-set that will always evolve however, over the last few years traditional marketing became a secondary focus while digital, social and influencer marketing took center stage.
Brands today utilize social platforms to build brand awareness, engage and connect with their audience for direct feedback, and Instagram “This or That” surveys assist brands in understanding what content resonates with their customers to better customize marketing initiatives. The impact of COVID-19 has created a bigger emphasis on digital, social, and influencer marketing to drive traffic to DTC sites as a primary avenue of revenue.
The dual skill-set of creative marketing abilities and an analytical mindset to use data to validate creative directions continues to be a winning combination.
Sales: Omnichannel strategy has created blurred lines within the distribution channels for many beauty brands. In the past, a Prestige brand would not cross over to a Mass retailer however the distribution channel has changed dramatically to expand market share. Recent developments such as Sephora and Kohls partnership with roll-outs in fall 2021 is a great example of this.
Sales professionals that have a diverse distribution skill set and have successfully navigated the nuances of specific retailers creating alignment for a brand across multiple distribution channels will see continuous growth within this area of expertise.
Lastly, the expertise in leveraging the e-tail business with robust webpages to highlight multiple product images, tutorials, benefit and features continue to play a critical part in driving e-commerce sales and has been driven by sales depending on the organizational chart.
E-commerce/Digital: Over the last 5 years, Amazon.com has become a valued distribution platform. 2020 was dubbed “The Year of DTC eCommerce” by Glossy Beauty. Many Retailers were closed in the early months of the pandemic, impacted by “shelter in place” initiatives and beauty brands quickly shifted to focus their distribution strategy to drive sales online. 90% of all Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping was done online.
Professionals that drive email campaigns, customer loyalty, paid social, digital content, affiliate marketing functions, influencer partnerships, SEO/SMO strategies, SMS texting and continue to test and learn this evolving space will find themselves in high demand as companies invest in DTC which produces higher margins and has proven to be highly profitable during the pandemic.
As the beauty industry continues to evolve, it is imperative that beauty professionals adapt to the changing demands and invest in their skills to remain competitive. If you are working for a beauty brand that is not evolving with these critical strategies, it could be a good time to connect with a recruiter… Visit our website and our recruiters will contact you for a confidential exploratory conversation to discuss your experience and career goals for continued growth.
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