Last week, E.l.f Beauty reported sales in its fiscal second quarter at $215.5 million, up 76% from the same time last year, and raised its outlook for the 2024 fiscal year. Also on Wednesday, Estée Lauder Companies cut its full-year forecast after a 10% dip in sales, partially attributed to troubles in China. Elsewhere, Amazon shuttered its two-store experiment at becoming a brick-and-mortar fashion retailer. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Glossy Podcast for interviews with fashion industry leaders and Week in Review episodes, and the Glossy Beauty Podcast for interviews from the beauty industry. -Lexy Lebsack, West Coast correspondent
E.l.f. Beauty’s sales surge
Popular with price-conscious consumers, E.l.f Beauty delivered its 19th consecutive quarter of net sales growth Wednesday with $215.5 million in sales for its second quarter of fiscal 2024. E.l.f. Beauty owns the eponymous makeup line, plus E.l.f. Skin, clean beauty brand Well People and skin-care line Naturium, which it acquired in August for $355 million.
During the earnings call, the brand reported a growth of net sales by 76% and raised its sales outlook for the 2024 fiscal year from a range of $792 million to $802 million to $896 million to $906 million. Its net income was $33.3 million.
E.l.f. Beauty is particularly popular with Gen-Z consumers and on TikTok. Last week, the brand targeted the Latinx community through a partnership with Colombian star Manuel Turizo.
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El.f. Beauty CEO Tarang Amin told Business of Fashion that annual sales revenue will soon surpass $1 billion and the brand is open to more acquisitions.
Estée Lauder Companies’ stock hits 6-year low after disappointing outlook call
On Wednesday, cosmetics giant Estée Lauder Companies reported a 10% decrease in net sales for the first quarter of its fiscal 2024. Net earnings were $31 million for the quarter, compared to $489 million at the same time last year. CEO Fabrizio Freda cited a slowdown of sales in China and across Asia as a top factor. The brand’s stock dropped 19% Wednesday, and according to Forbes, the heirs to the conglomerate lost approximately $3 billion.
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Despite the dip, ELC reported that fragrance sales had increased across all of the conglomerate’s brands, including Le Labo and Tom Ford.
Amazon shutters its brick-and-mortar fashion experiment
On Thursday, Amazon announced it will close its two Amazon Style stores, its trial run into a brick-and-mortar fashion business that lasted less than two years. Located in Glendale, California and Columbus, Ohio, the stores will close next week. Both Amazon Styles stores were located in popular malls and sought to compete with fast fashion and mass stores like Kohl’s and Macy’s.
Last year, Amazon closed its brick-and-mortar bookstores and a selection of its poor-performing Amazon Fresh and Go stores, according to AP News.
