Adore Beauty

Adore Beauty (founded 2000) is Australia’s first cosmetics retailer to sell exclusively online.[1] The company is based in Melbourne, Australia in the suburb of Northcote.[2]

History

The company was founded in 1999 by Kate Morris, a 21-year-old business student.[3] Morris used savings and an A$12,000 loan from her boyfriend’s parents to start the business, which she ran out of her garage.[4][5] She found a company in the newspaper to build the first website, which cost A$8,000 and took six months.[6]

At first, the company only stocked two small Australian brands: Baiame and Santalia. The first mainstream brand, Bloom, signed on in 2002.[5] Clarins signed on in 2006.[6]

The company had a $2 million turnover by the end of 2010.[7] In 2014, the company secured a deal with Estee Lauder Companies to become an authorized agent for Clinique, Bobbi Brown and Estee Lauder brands.[8] That same year, the company earned over $7 million in revenue and ranked 29th in the Smart Company ‘Smart50’ Awards.[3] Morris won the Innovation Award for Victoria in the 2014 Telstra Women’s Business Awards.[9]

In 2015, Australian retailer Woolworths Limited bought a 25% stake in the company for an undisclosed sum. The investment grew the company 70% over one year. Morris remains the CEO.[1][4]

As of 2016, the company turns over $16 million and carries 150 brands and 10,000 products.[6][10] The company is an official online stockist of Dermalogica, ghd, Clarisonic, Lancôme, Benefit Cosmetics, Aesop and Kérastase.[11] The company’s Findation service, which compares 22,000 foundations to find the best match, has 1.5 million users.[12]

In 2016, the company began expanding into China through the Alibaba Group Tmall Global platform.[4][13]

References

  1. 1 2 Robb, Kirsten. “Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris: Why I sold a 25% stake in my $10 million business to Woolworths.” Smart Company. May 15, 2015
  2. ↑ Carmody, Broede. “Small business decides: Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris on the importance of high-speed internet.” Smart Company. May 26, 2016
  3. 1 2 Villaneuva, Aaron Jefferson. “29: Adore Beauty.” SmartCompany Awards 2014. Sept. 15, 2014
  4. 1 2 3 Bogle, Ariel. “How to take a beauty website from an Australian garage to China.” Mashable. April 19, 2016
  5. 1 2 Cain, Alexandra. “Beauty in the eye of the online shopper.” The Sydney Morning Herald. July 27, 2010
  6. 1 2 3 Smith, Fiona. “Adore Beauty’s Kate Morris founded a $16 million business on cosmetics and code.” Financial Review. May 18, 2016
  7. ↑ Carmody, Broede. “Four lessons in business success from Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris.” Smart Company. Jan. 29, 2016
  8. ↑ Robb, Kirsten. “How I snagged a deal with Estee Lauder.” Smart Company. Dec. 4, 2014
  9. ↑ Harper, Jane. “Woolworths snaps up 25 pc of online retailer Adore Beauty.” The Courier Mail. May 14, 2015
  10. ↑ Ainomugisha, Gerald. “This Australian e-commerce site is tapping into the $100 billion Chinese beauty market.” Australian Anthill. Apr. 28, 2016
  11. ↑ Hawkes, Helen. “Good grooming in one click.” Financial Review. July 23, 2015
  12. ↑ “Four Melbourne businesswomen reveal their secrets to success.” The Herald Sun
  13. ↑ Daquino, Laura. “Beauty Queen Eyes China.” Business News Australia. May 18, 2016
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