Brand News
23 August 2022
5 takeaways on Estée Lauder's online growth
The prestige beauty company's online sales grew 11% in fiscal year 2022.

Estee Lauder products. (Photo by Melinda Seckington | Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license)
The prestige beauty company's online sales grew 11% in fiscal year 2022.
Estee Lauder products. (Photo by Melinda Seckington | Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license)
The Estée Lauder Companies is a beacon for beauty.
With more than 20 brands in its portfolio including MAC Cosmetics, Clinique and Bobbi Brown, Estée Lauder is a leader in the prestige beauty category with a global footprint. That means the business’ activities can say a lot about what’s happening in commerce and the consumer economy. This includes ecommerce, where Estée Lauder is growing its business by selling through its own websites, third-party marketplaces and other retailers’ websites.
In recently reported results for the fiscal year ended 2022, company leaders shared insights into how ecommerce fits into the wider picture of the business, and progress for online sales over the last year.
Here’s a look at how the company is Estée Lauder is growing its online business, as described on its FY 2022 Q4 earnings call:
For the year ended June 30, Estée Lauder’s online sales grew 11%, and represent 28% of overall sales. Online sales grew mid-single digits in the latest quarter, paced by double-digit growth in the Asia Pacific region. Digital sales are now more than double their pre-pandemic numbers.
The company launched Estée Lauder, Clinique and Origins on JD.com in China. It is planning to add more brands at JD.
“We continue to innovate across the online ecosystem to generate trial and repeat,” CEO Fabrizio Freda said.
Haircare from Aveda was also introduced in China through the marketplace Tmall with a standalone store, and Estée Lauder is planning to “double down” on this channel. In the coming year, the company is set to open an innovation lab in Shanghai to create for Chinese consumers, and beginning production in a facility near Tokyo that is the company’s first-ever in the region.
Online also allows Estée Lauder to reach more consumers. In China, for example, Freda said the company reaches 148 cities, but is seeing demand from more than 600 cities. Through ecommerce, the company can reach the cities where it does not have physical distribution. It allows the company to attract new customers. In India, it introduced The Ordinary Skincare through the platform Nykaa, and is further growing a presence among the community by partnering with the channel to stand up a beauty-focused incubator for entrepreneurs. These online-focused strategies works in concert with the company’s introduction of new brands to a region and its entrance into new brick-and-mortar stores. It all increases distribution.
When it came to earnings, one big factor in the quarterly results was disruption at the company’s Shanghai distribution center as a result of COVID-19 quarantine. This limited capacity to fulfill orders from mid-March to early June. However, the distribution facilities were reopened in June in time for the 6.18 Shopping Festival, where brands performed well.
Freda talked about how the company engages consumers on WhatsApp in Latin America. This helped social media-based selling reach 30% of revenue in the region. Beauty advisors and makeup artists are also extending their expertise by creating content on platforms like TikTok.
Freestanding stores in North America have fulfillment capacity, and Estée Lauder is standing up these capabilities in EMEA and Asia Pacific.
“These new capabilities are driving higher average order values and convincing upsell trends,” Freda said.
Estée Lauder is also seeking to close freestanding retail stores that are “unproductive.”
“By the end of fiscal 2023, we expect to have closed nearly 250 freestanding retail stores under the program. We've also rationalized department store counters and other retail locations, improving our ability to focus our efforts on driving more profitable omnichannel opportunities in our remaining distribution,” CFO Tracey Travis said.
Here’s a few more notes on Estée Lauder’s sales and the macroeconomic picture from the earnings call:
On the Move has the latest hiring update from The Vitamin Shoppe and At Home.
Heidi O’Neill has a new role at Nike. (Courtesy photo)
This week, Unilever, Nike and BigCommerce are seeing major transitions in the executive ranks. Meanwhile, The Vitamin Shoppe named a permanent CEO, and At Home brought on a longtime Walmart executive as president.
Conny Braams. (Courtesy photo)
Consumer goods giant Unilever announced key changes in top leadership roles. These include:
Graeme Pitkethly will retire as chief financial officer, effective at the end of May 2024. The board is set to launch a formal search for his successor. Pitkethly has been with Unilever for 21 years.
Conny Braams, who serves as chief digital and commercial officer, will leave the company, effective August 2023. Braams previously held senior management roles including Executive Vice President (EVP) of Middle Europe; and EVP Foodsolutions Asia, Africa and Middle East.
Craig Williams. (Courtesy photo)
Nike, Inc. announced several key leadership changes focused on consumer-led growth and marketplace. They are as follows:
Heidi O’Neill who is currently president of consumer and marketplace, will become president of consumer, product and brand.
Craig Williams, who is currently president of the Jordan Brand, will become president of geographies and marketplace at Nike, Inc.
Matthew Friend, EVP and Chief Financial Officer at NIKE, Inc., will expand responsibilities to include procurement, global places and services and demand and supply management.
Jared Carver will serve as CEO of Converse. Over the last four years, he served as VP/GM of North America for Converse.
Scott Uzzell, the previous CEO of Converse, transitioned to a new role as VP/GM, North America for Nike, Inc.
“These shifts will allow us to streamline our focus across product, brand storytelling and marketplace, mining deep consumer insights to deliver breakthrough innovation and engagement, while building long-term growth and profitability,” said Nike CEO John Donahoe, in a statement.
Lee Wright. (Courtesy photo)
Lee A. Wright was named CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe on a permanent basis, after serving as interim CEO since January 2023. Wright previously served as Chief Commercial Officer of Franchise Group and in executive roles at Conn’s.
Muriel Gonzalez was promoted to president of the retailer, after serving as EVP and chief merchandising and marketing officer of The Vitamin Shoppe since August 2020.
BigCommerce announced the following leadership roles:
Daniel Lentz was promoted to chief financial officer of BigCommerce, effective July 1. He previously served as SVP of finance and investor relations. Lentz will succeed CFO Robert Alvarez, who is retiring after a 12-year stint as CFO.
Chuck Cassidy was promoted to general counsel, effective June 2. Cassidy previously served as VP and associate general counsel. He will succeed Jeff Mengoli, who is retiring.
Hubert Ban was named chief accounting officer. He will replace Vice President of Accounting and Principal Accounting Officer Thomas Aylor, who departed the ecommerce platform on May 19.
Jeff Evans. (Courtesy photo)
Jeff Evans was named president and chief merchandising officer of At Home, the home goods retailer.
Evans previously served as EVP of entertainment, toys and seasonal at Walmart, managing the largest general merchandise business for the retailer. He rose to the position after serving in executive roles at Walmart US and Sam’s Club.