Retailers realized $1 e.l.f. makeup drove incremental sales, not cannibalization
Joey Shamah · e.l.f. Cosmetics: Joey Shamah. The Dollar Store Formula That Built a Cosmetics Giant · Jun 29, 2026 · at 36:34
Joey Shamah, co-founder of e.l.f. Cosmetics, explains how sales data from supermarket chain H-E-B refuted retailer fears that selling dollar cosmetics would trade consumers down from premium brands.
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“The best thing that happened with HEB is we get an email from the buyer the next morning saying, I was wrong, this brand is incremental and impulsive. Because they saw that because of the price, I wasn't buying one or the other. I wasn't not buying CoverGirl for five or six dollars and just buying e.l.f., but I was buying CoverGirl and buying e.l.f., or I still have five dollars to spend, but I'm gonna buy five products because there's such an array of product and really, you know, maximize my dollar.”
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