The Ledger
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Marla Beck: Conglomerate acquisitions of indie brands created barriers protecting Bluemercury
“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 di…”
Marla Beck: Traditional Department Store Beauty Models Served Brands, Not Customers
“The department store model was designed to serve the brands, not to serve the customers.”
Marla Beck: Digital try-on technology cannot replace in-person cosmetic testing
“Beauty always lagged because of this desire to try and feel texture, and there's colors that you need to try, and no matter what you Do the try on technology is just not the same as the real thing.”
Marla Beck: 1990s indie brand boom opened up the cosmetics industry
“It was the rise of the independent brands, which is, for the first time in a very long time, you had founders that were breaking into the industry. So, you had Bobby Brown, you had Marcia Kilgore, you had Lev and Alina Glassman at Frosch, you had Francois Nars…”
Marla Beck: Competitors Eve.com and Gloss.com raised $10M to $20M each
“Eve.com, gloss.com, all of these other companies had raised 10 to twenty million dollars each, and so we were way behind.”
Marla Beck: Bluemercury Seed Investors Demanded Pure-Play Internet Business
“At that point in time, all of our sort of e-commerce techie investors only wanted pure play internet businesses.”