What Beauty Players Can Teach You

McKinsey nailed it with their article on what consumer companies can learn from beauty. The beauty industry has been upended by the new digital ecosystem and the same sort of disruption is coming for other industries.

 consumers are changing and should then adapt their marketing and channel strategies to suit. Whether the product is lipstick or diapers, it is essential to engage consumers. That means deploying expertise in digital marketing, social media, and the increasingly important influencer ecosystem, while building the advanced-analytics and channel-management capabilities needed to understand consumer behavior. ...

In view of the beauty sector’s experience, the most vulnerable areas have several of the following attributes: significant emotional engagement among consumers, high profit margins, low shipping costs as a percentage of average ticket, low regulatory barriers, and the ability to outsource parts of the value chain. In segments that tick at least three of these boxes—including bathroom fragrances, eyewear, mattresses, and men’s razors—serious born-digital challengers have already appeared.