Marla Beck: Conglomerate acquisitions of indie brands created barriers protecting Bluemercury
Marla Beck · Bluemercury: Marla and Barry Beck · Oct 24, 2022 · at 52:04
Marla Beck, co-founder and CEO of Bluemercury, explains how industry consolidation among beauty giants protected Bluemercury from new retail competition and expanded their product portfolio.
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“All of these independent brands were purchased by L'Oreal, by Estee Lauder, and Shiseido. So, overnight, we were then in business with the big companies, and that did two things for us. It provided a wall around us for new entrants, because the indie brands didn't need distribution anymore, they were in these big companies. And so, you know, the next person that wanted to build a cosmetic store had to now go to the big companies, which put in barriers. And it also gave the big companies, Estee Lauder and L'Oreal, window onto what Blue Mercury was doing, and so then they started adding more of their brands to our mix.”
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