Thank so much for watching, I really appreciate you taking time out of your holidays to view this! Links to stuff mentioned in the video: The DWD LinkedIn where the sources I interview for certain stories are linked: www.linkedin.com/company/thedevilwearsdata/ The DWD newsletter where I send further info and analysis of my videos: thedevilwearsdatanews.beehiiv.com/subscribe I'm not posting on Instagram yet, but feel free to find me there: instagram.com/thedevilwearsdata/ For the lululemon, Gucci, and Elf videos mentioned, please check out my channel :) Love, DWD!
I hate this company so bad. They ruined smashbox and Mac: they used to be professional focused, now smashbox has a weird clean girl image that doesn’t suit the history of the brand. Give us back the photofocus foundation and keep that false skin care crap for the ordinary (that I love, but they’re increasing their prices a lot for what they offer). They’re discontinuing good products and coming up with boring and unrequested stuff nobody really wants. I don’t care if ED itself has the best foundation in the market, I hate it and they deserve the downfall. I’m okay with K beauty brands rising instead of them, at least their products are good. I’m Italian so I can buy quality makeup in my own country, apart for foundations cause our industry only does light/medium orange colors. They could disappear and I wouldn’t care, I’d just hope someone else bought the ordinary before their fall
I worked for Estee' Lauder in the Y2K era, and after working for them for 2 years, I hate this company so bad too. They're notorious for putting out tons of products, then discontinuing them just as quickly, being too elitist with how they sell their products, working their employees into the ground with boot camp like training & insane sales goals, and having outdated business & marketing strategies that don't attract younger customers or end up alienating their legacy customers. I've been calling out everything that has been said in this video for almost 20 years & I was right.
Ha! I love comments that are this passionate and clearly from someone who is very developed in their thinking and analysis. This sort of detailed, very propelled feedback is what I'd crave if I were a business owner. You gotta be cruel to be kind. There's integrity and honesty running right through it all and that's worth a great deal to people trying to make money-- you can work with criticism like this. Your criticism is in direct proportion to your enthusiasm, which means you have a big heart, high standards and care about things falling apart on your watch. I'm so here for it.
No amount of AI is going to fix EL if they don't update their positioning to a younger market! Millennials are increasingly buying premium and EL's fiercely loyal boomer market won't be around forever. You'd think a new CEO would notice this glaring strategy problem but he's going for easy wins instead. I wouldn't count on EL bouncing back anytime soon. Awesome video, I always enjoy your content 🌻
Every year, a Chinese person would come to the (Danish) department store I worked at, and buy almost everything from the limited edition Christmas collection from MAC. Always the entire lipstick stock of it. I quickly learned why.
Chinese people always used to take up as much time as possible when shopping in the beauty departments of every store I ever worked in-- and then they'd buy nothing. We'd all have our brightest smiles on during their approach to the counter but we'd secretly wince inside knowing we were about to spend our time and energy on the same old shit yet again. This isn't a racist load of stereotype peddling, I'm just reporting on a phenomenon that all beauty counter girls at the time related to. Why they all did this, I have no idea but after they'd leave we'd catch the eye of whichever sales assistant was fated to cater to them for a redundant half an hour and share a mutual discreet eyeroll. There it is.
In the UK Estée Lauder brands had several price increase over the last few years. I don’t know if there was price increase in the last year, but the two years before last there were 5 price increases. As example, MAC lipstick used to be £17.50 and now it’s £25. MAC also stopped irs back to MAC recycling scheme. Cliniques moisture surge ( one of their hero products) used to be around £28 or £30 now it’s £42. My happy perfume was £18, now £25 I can only assume the same price increases happened in other countries too. And I don’t doubt these price increases annoyed customers and many went to other brands for alternative products. Whilst L’Oréal group brands such as Lancôme, YSL etc and LVMH brands such as Dior , had some price increases, even Chanel, it was a lot less in comparison to Estée Lauder brands. Charlotte tilbury prices had slight increase I think, but some products are the same price as 3/4 years ago.
Holy cow, those aren't insignificant increases either! I understand that there were issues with supplies and stuff over the last few years, but you can't expect customer loyalty or to garner the interest of new buyers when you pull price hikes like that. I'm not sure what it's like overseas, but after Estee Lauder acquired The Ordinary, it became available in my country. Here, it's actually classed as a luxury brand by retailers because that's how expensive it is. _The Ordinary_ is classed as a luxury brand. How crazy is that?
@@nkd1983 I’ve also stopped buying any EL brands products. I was actually working for one of EL brands, but when the 3rd increase happened whilst I was working there I decided I won’t be buying anything even with the employee discount. There are many great products by other brands. One of my favourite products from EL brands is from Aveda, the dry shampoo. But I can make it myself. All other products I used to love from various EL brands, there are plenty of alternatives. If I do ever buy anything from EL brands, will only be if it’s at a very good discount.
I know you’ve said in the past that you are camera shy but you are honestly so pretty you should definately do more videos on camera if you want! This video was very informative too. I clicked to learn about Estée Lauder but ended up learning about Chinese economics and AI 😂 I love it!
Amazing video! And I’d love to see you cover the daigou phenomenon more in-depth, I’ve never heard of it before you talked about it and it’s so fascinating
Beauty consumers are some of the savviest. I am ride or die Estee Lauder foundation person it’s my holy grail. HOWEVER even I stock up on cheaper brands because $55 is a lot for a small bottle of product.
I 100% saw this coming. As someone who was associated with the company last year, I could see them struggling. They tried multiple ideas and none of them worked unless it was a % off the entire store (which was already a thing). The bulk buyers make up the majority of people who shop at their discount store. And girl, if you can find a cosmetics company store please go there to get estee products. I've been able to buy advanced night repair for $35. One more thing, it takes about 3 months for you to see any changes when using a new product. Great video!
What will help EL get back on track is allowing their brands to exist in the spaces that generated the most fandom and loyalists. MAC, Bobbi Brown and GlamGlow are examples: All three had a uniqueness that couldn't be duplicated. Once EL stripped away products that would have aged with the loyal clientele and replaced it with copycat products (even going so far as creating scarcity) - consumers went elsewhere. EL was known for skincare, MAC for professional, highly pigmented make-up, Bobbi Brown catered to consumers who wanted minimalism, and GlamGlow made masks that really helped skin improvement. All of them now are no different than a local pharmacy brand - inflated pricing or not. EL also reads conservative and not on trend with younger consumers. I'm sure the Asia market decrease affects them; how they have taken their other brands down with them is what's sad. Even Aveda is now just a shampoo / conditioner brand - - their excellent skincare barely gets mentioned these days.
The need another 'Liz Hurley' effect in order to jumpstart another revival. They got best products in some segment (foundation, mascara esp.) and perfume. They need to find a younger spokesperson (credible celebrity?) and new line skincare+perfume targeted to new demographic. Their best first step, I guess, a new perfume. I remember how influential Liz Hurley imagery in their ads that cause me and my friends to purchase their classic scents back then in late 90's eventhough it's quite pricy for us college kids. By the way, perfumery, for new consumer, tend to be their first encounter with a legacy brand. Loyalty can go from there. As long as EL keep their signature classy, feminine elegant branding, they are fine to me.
You are so right. Elizabeth Hurley was an incredibly effective spokesmodel - her ads are still memorable. They should bring her back to their marketing, not just their charity campaigns, alongside a new spokesmodel.
Not sure what your opinion is on this, but when I researched this company years ago I noticed a lot of nepotism within the company. I thought it was a red flag how many family members of the founder where in high positions at the company, decided to take a pass. I’m all for insider ownership of founders, but when kids, grandkids, etc are taking up positions of a public company, definitely a little sus.
I’m not sure I have a fully formed opinion yet about conglomerates that are run by family - some seem to do it quite successfully (NewsCorp, Reliance Industries) so it’s not inherently suspicious. What makes you say it’s a little sus about ELC?
I guess it makes me wonder if they are qualified for the role, especially in global multinationals competing in cutthroat industries that require top talent. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Succession. 😂
The children and grand children for sure didn't inherit Mrs. Lauder's genius for product development or her business savvy. That's precisely why they're in trouble
In my country, Indonesia, Estee Lauder, Shiseido or L'oreal are quite expensive. They used to be top game because the quality coming with the price and no social media. They dominated so long because of the power and money. Right now? Many dermatologists or young enterpreneur released their own brands. Good quality with good prices. Social media become their main marketing especially with influencers. Why do I need to spend $ 80 if I can buy less than $ 25 but get very good skincare? I go to a famous dermatology in my town, only need to spend $ 10 every month since I can't find good brands that fit my skin. And my face is good and clean. My sister used to buy L'oreal skincare but seems like they changed it and it doesn't fit with my sister, she stop buying it. Another major is also boycott. Many brands grab the opportunity to release their own products like Huda Beauty.
I'm sorry but this segment is pretty funny 11:31 guy is sitting infront ChatGPT (It is known that chatgpt often provide false information) and telling how innnovative it is to use ai to impove cream
yeah, I do think that EL is a granny beauty line. however they own the ordinary, and I rely on some of their products, and dupes don't do much for me. the ordinary is creating way more products recently, maybe EL pushes them to do so. I don't care what will happen with EL, but I hope the ordinary will prevail
Great video, can you make sure to label the trend lines on all the graphs sometimes you only verbally describe it and it’s hard to keep track of what data represents what.
Estee Lauder is too boomer and hasn't done enough to reach out to younger generations in the right way. Some of their brand purchase choices were ill-timed. For example, Too Faced is not a trend-setting brand and it cannot survive on mascara alone. L'Oreal was always better diversified across different markets and had generally made better choices when purchasing niche brands (example, 3CE). AI is not going to help sell more Advanced Night Repair.
Moreover, they keep buying high end-ish brands rather than acquiring one that is mid range or lower. Broadly speaking(ofc there will be exceptions), but Gen Z and Millennials don't really have enough disposable income yet to buy high end make up/skincare on a regular basis and as far as I'm aware their skincare doesn't really address the concerns a younger demographic might have with their skin. I imagine it must be especially bad in the States speaking in terms of price point as there are college loans, rent and other necessities being expensive and borderline diabolical grocery prices. Having TO under them isn't enough especially when they keep jacking up the prices of TO products-in my country at least-when local brands and Korean/Japanese skincare provide better results at a similar or better price point.
I wouldn't even call them too boomer. I'd call them too geriatric. People would always say "Looks like somebody parked a retirement home at the Estee' Lauder counter" or "Estee' Lauder customers have one foot in the grave" when I worked for them in the 2000s. OOF.😬
From my experience, the key product is now inferior compared to Korean brands. As a Millennial I've never perceived this brand to be premium. It is mid end at best for me and average in quality. In other words, when I feel a little low in money, I would buy this but only when they're around 45% sale. But even now, I'd pay full price on korean skin care, which works out to be around the same as their full price but with better results. No one ever commented on my skin the whole time I was on EL. But within 1.5 months of switching to another premium korean brand, I received comments. FYI my skin has always been good so for people to comment, it means a big difference
I used to use their Lab Series products. They've reduced the range and increased the prices dramatically. It's also very difficult to get hold of if you dont want to buy online. I don't bother now. If others are like me, no wonder they're going down.
I wonder with ELC if their portfolio of brands is part of problem. L’Oréal, unilever, pg exisit in highend and mass spaces but ELC is all premium. And I’ve noticed a lot of the brands ELC added to their portfolio over the last 10-15 years struggled (too faced, Rodin, glamglow…) . Anyway love your analysis ✌️
Implementing AI not only seems desperate but also like a huge mistake, I just don’t see how knowing a random stat from a clinical trial would be helpful without the data behind it. The data is what makes that stat important, a 128% increase in hydration, compared to what? what was your control group? who was the trail carried out on? how long did it take to see these results? it all means nothing without the full results.
This. For example, I know EL night serum is good, but the Missha Time Revolution is just as good with the same ingredients and the price point is much better. So I'm skipping the EL every time.
I’m not near the end of the video so you may talk about this, but I’m wondering if Estée Lauder’s portfolio of only prestige brands and the shrinking middle class in the United States have also effected it. Estée Lauder differs from Unilever because Unilever owns brands at all price points.
@@Ronsonpeters Great comment. Yes, Unilever and L’Oreal’s diverse portfolio definitely makes them more immune to the larger economic factors in China and the US. For example, when COVID happened, ELC took a bigger hit than L’Oreal because people stopped spending on prestige makeup but still purchased cheaper alternatives.
They bought Tom ford and discontinued my holy grail traceless foundation stick 😭 I hate them so much for it. And they did same thing to Becca, ruined brands like Mac, smash box and Bobbi brown. Reverse Midas for me.
I used their doublewear light foundation for decade and suddenly they discontinued it. And they introduced several versions of it but all failed to perform the same. I stop using their doublewear anything since then.
I'm curious what are people's thoughts on prestigious company's strategy to target younger people. To me, prestigious products that scream prestige are the ones that didn't change too much historically. Say, for example, Channel no 5 stayed relevant throughout the company's history. Psychologically, I'm more tempted to buy it because I automatically assume that the product is better because people have been purchasing it over the years. Whether it's true or not, it works on me. If anything, having AI tools and using Kendall as a model makes me want to purchase from Estee Lauder less because it screams to me that it's all about marketing and not about improving products/relying on good established products. To me it's also boring marketting - is that all they can come up with considering the company's size? Again, curious to see what other people think
The AI isn’t for marketing - it’s to help them organize their internal company data to make faster business decisions. So now instead of digging through old files for half an hour to find an answer, they can simply type their question into a chatbot and retrieve the answer quickly within a few seconds
Kendall Jenner is a bad fit because her brand is not premium at all. The Kardashian-Jenners have wide appeal but I still associate them with diet tea sponsored posts on Instagram. EL needs someone like Margot Robbie that's not only A-list, but well respected with a clean image. I don't have a problem with them using AI, but it's a red flag to announce it as a big part of their strategy. They make it sound like they're failing because business insights aren't generated fast enough, which is something AI would (probably) fix. But I think their problems run much deeper than insight speed.
Am not able to understand how daigo culture is impacting bottom line, if the consumers are anyway purchasing the product? End of the day, they are selling more in china right?
Regulations in China that are cracking down on daigou trade means fewer daigou agents are purchasing goods at duty free stores -- so the company is selling fewer items in travel retail, which is a channel that they have heavily relied on in the past!
Basically less will buy from the duty free shop. Who knows if Chinese will buy in china at a higher price so they will miss out on sales and duty free shops will be empty
Nooo Estée Lauder sumptuous extreme is the BEST MASCARA OF ALL TIME! It’s so inky & not dry flaky… better than NARS, YSL, Too Faced and every mascara I’ve tried 😢❤ also love their pink cleanser which is really moisturizing
I will never buy another foundation as long as EL Double Wear is on the market! Their products are genuinely great, but their marketing department needs to catch up because I only ever see their brand organically mentioned by influencers as a "best kept secret"
Yep. As a former Estee' Lauder employee, I can tell you they're one of the biggest monopolies in the beauty industry & their greedy AF. I left them in 2007 for Elizabeth Arden because I didn't like how they did business then. I struggled to sell their products to regular people & I would always give EL ideas & feedback to sell and brand their products better, but they would never listen to me because I was just a Beauty Advisor working at one of their counters, nor would they even listen to their customers ever. Estee' Lauder has no loyalty. They're like the Disney of beauty.
Always fascinating to analyse the struggles and hardships in the bottom-line sales performance of a legendary corporation like EL. Often it's mismanagement and behind the scenes stuff (still equally fascinating to me) but other times it's to do with not utilising marketing opportunities in the fast paced digital world. Lauder make some extremely good products. How many Gen Z folks REALLY know or care (unless they've grown up with their mum's stuff around them to experiment with and connect to)? I found this video really engrossing. PS= I have never heard or read a single in-depth, knowledgable article looking into the great flop of Napoleon Perdis's brand. None of his products have ever been featured in the land of YT beauty 'gurus'. Not a peep, nothing. I'd love to know why Napoleon Perdis has been entirely ignored in the land of beauty content creators. Why has the brand been ignored for the duration of time it's existed? Why am I the only person who seems to care about this grand mystery?
Personally, I refrain from buying from EL in direct reaction to Ronald Lauder’s contributions to right wing PACs and politicians, and his very vocal Zionism.
this year I got more into fragrance and I've learned a lot of fragrance brands that Estee Lauder bought doesn't exactly have the same customer base Tom ford for instance has always been expensive but it actually made innovative perfumes and had iconic packaging. the Tom ford of today is watered down (supposedly) and the new fragrances are trendy but don't pull the same demographic or sway the industry. plus the changes made to plastic are cost effective they need to stick to a lane.
@ honestly I've been trying to walk myself backward to figure out what did it but I think it was a combination of a new and affordable hobby that could be private or social / pick me up I owned perfumes I knew were popular but I never wanted to wear for myself and all at once I got connected to the middle Eastern perfume world affordable prices but better quality juice than something I could by in store cheaply with decent quality or high quality packaging. it was a smaller industry so many of the people talking about it weren't American and they had smaller channels and very responsive. I bought many perfumes this year, mostly middle Eastern. 💁🏾♀️🫣I just did a purchase of niche samples because next year I would like to add some higher end to the middle Eastern. No regrets. My foray into perfumes is comparable to people discovering tumblr or TikTok for the first time. There’s no other way I could have more easily figured out my tastes if not for cheaper perfumes and unisex perfumes and reviews that let me know to try more than floral
@ hope that was helpful. I know it’s one of the most growth performing market Which sucks for perfume prices because everyone is increasing across the board but gourmands and vanillas and red fruits like cherry and strawberry are probably going to continue to trend It’s an easy gateway item for people to discover more from a brand. I think the fragrance boom is going to appeal to newer generations looking for signature scent and then trying to capitalize on moods/social use to buy more fragrances for situations or mood
Imagine putting in a pre order before your flight, adding all your details of the flight in and then paying for it all, going to pick it up and there is a slight problem 😂. Um, no thanks. Who thought of this and I seriously want to know if legit one person has ever used it?
Their big problem is that they’re not remotely innovative, and many products haven’t changed in decades. If you want clean ingredients, then you avoid the EL brands. The market has changed, but they haven’t.
clean beauty shouldn't be a barometer used to measure industry standards because it's a gimmick aimed at appealing to people who don't know any better a la aluminum and paraben-free. trust that not tapping into that niche isn't what's holding them back lol if anything doubling down on it would be a terrible risk
God, do I ever have sneezing fits when I try to use Estee' Lauder's skincare. They need to stop having their products be so overly fragranced & everything smelling like my Grandma's flower bed. They can't just have Clinique pick up the slack with the fragrance free products.
Their products are honestly so expensive. Im their target audience. Middle class mid 30s who on average spends mid 100s on skincare. And maybe it works. It has never worked for me and comparatively, size wise, they are so expensive
Hey, I just Want to let you know that esteladuer have been doing for teens cosmetics with brand name esstee edits as Kendall Jenner for face of the brand....yeah it's terrible actually for Price list that absolutely insane
The estee lauder night serum is good....if you have really dry skin. That is the only reason I enjoy it a little bit. That being said, I don't buy them. I use cetaphil, aveeno, and kbeauty.
Thanks for the analysis! I have a quick question: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). What's the best way to send them to Binance?
There are so many beautiful women to promote EL and they choose Kendall Jenner. I avoided buying from EL since. And now Kendall is on the Loreal side > I refuse to fund the kardashian lifestyles.
Investing in politics is about the best way to cut your potential customer base in half. I was eyeing some aveda hair products, but I'll pass now you made me aware of this.
EL's head is very much open about being right-wing and zionist and MAC, arguably the 'wokest' makeup brand, did actually end up losing relevance after they got bought by EL and subsequently have been notably less edgy and liberal in their marketing...which is likely a coincidence, but nonetheless it's fun to note given how batshit crazy your comment is lol
Are they inactive? I just checked the links and they work - but I haven't posted anything on them yet! Please let me know if you're still having trouble accessing them though
Thank so much for watching, I really appreciate you taking time out of your holidays to view this!
Links to stuff mentioned in the video:
The DWD LinkedIn where the sources I interview for certain stories are linked: www.linkedin.com/company/thedevilwearsdata/
The DWD newsletter where I send further info and analysis of my videos: thedevilwearsdatanews.beehiiv.com/subscribe
I'm not posting on Instagram yet, but feel free to find me there: instagram.com/thedevilwearsdata/
For the lululemon, Gucci, and Elf videos mentioned, please check out my channel :)
Love,
DWD!
I hate this company so bad. They ruined smashbox and Mac: they used to be professional focused, now smashbox has a weird clean girl image that doesn’t suit the history of the brand. Give us back the photofocus foundation and keep that false skin care crap for the ordinary (that I love, but they’re increasing their prices a lot for what they offer). They’re discontinuing good products and coming up with boring and unrequested stuff nobody really wants. I don’t care if ED itself has the best foundation in the market, I hate it and they deserve the downfall. I’m okay with K beauty brands rising instead of them, at least their products are good. I’m Italian so I can buy quality makeup in my own country, apart for foundations cause our industry only does light/medium orange colors. They could disappear and I wouldn’t care, I’d just hope someone else bought the ordinary before their fall
I worked for Estee' Lauder in the Y2K era, and after working for them for 2 years, I hate this company so bad too. They're notorious for putting out tons of products, then discontinuing them just as quickly, being too elitist with how they sell their products, working their employees into the ground with boot camp like training & insane sales goals, and having outdated business & marketing strategies that don't attract younger customers or end up alienating their legacy customers. I've been calling out everything that has been said in this video for almost 20 years & I was right.
Ha! I love comments that are this passionate and clearly from someone who is very developed in their thinking and analysis. This sort of detailed, very propelled feedback is what I'd crave if I were a business owner. You gotta be cruel to be kind. There's integrity and honesty running right through it all and that's worth a great deal to people trying to make money-- you can work with criticism like this. Your criticism is in direct proportion to your enthusiasm, which means you have a big heart, high standards and care about things falling apart on your watch. I'm so here for it.
No amount of AI is going to fix EL if they don't update their positioning to a younger market! Millennials are increasingly buying premium and EL's fiercely loyal boomer market won't be around forever.
You'd think a new CEO would notice this glaring strategy problem but he's going for easy wins instead. I wouldn't count on EL bouncing back anytime soon.
Awesome video, I always enjoy your content 🌻
Millennials are buying Kbeauty.
Every year, a Chinese person would come to the (Danish) department store I worked at, and buy almost everything from the limited edition Christmas collection from MAC. Always the entire lipstick stock of it. I quickly learned why.
Chinese people always used to take up as much time as possible when shopping in the beauty departments of every store I ever worked in-- and then they'd buy nothing. We'd all have our brightest smiles on during their approach to the counter but we'd secretly wince inside knowing we were about to spend our time and energy on the same old shit yet again. This isn't a racist load of stereotype peddling, I'm just reporting on a phenomenon that all beauty counter girls at the time related to. Why they all did this, I have no idea but after they'd leave we'd catch the eye of whichever sales assistant was fated to cater to them for a redundant half an hour and share a mutual discreet eyeroll. There it is.
In the UK Estée Lauder brands had several price increase over the last few years. I don’t know if there was price increase in the last year, but the two years before last there were 5 price increases. As example, MAC lipstick used to be £17.50 and now it’s £25. MAC also stopped irs back to MAC recycling scheme. Cliniques moisture surge ( one of their hero products) used to be around £28 or £30 now it’s £42. My happy perfume was £18, now £25 I can only assume the same price increases happened in other countries too. And I don’t doubt these price increases annoyed customers and many went to other brands for alternative products. Whilst L’Oréal group brands such as Lancôme, YSL etc and LVMH brands such as Dior , had some price increases, even Chanel, it was a lot less in comparison to Estée Lauder brands. Charlotte tilbury prices had slight increase I think, but some products are the same price as 3/4 years ago.
Yes in germany Its the Same
Holy cow, those aren't insignificant increases either! I understand that there were issues with supplies and stuff over the last few years, but you can't expect customer loyalty or to garner the interest of new buyers when you pull price hikes like that.
I'm not sure what it's like overseas, but after Estee Lauder acquired The Ordinary, it became available in my country. Here, it's actually classed as a luxury brand by retailers because that's how expensive it is. _The Ordinary_ is classed as a luxury brand. How crazy is that?
I stopped buying double wear foundation from EL due to the huge price increase. I can get similar product for way less
@@Parrot5884 that is really crazy that The Ordinary is considered as luxury brand in your country.
@@nkd1983 I’ve also stopped buying any EL brands products. I was actually working for one of EL brands, but when the 3rd increase happened whilst I was working there I decided I won’t be buying anything even with the employee discount. There are many great products by other brands. One of my favourite products from EL brands is from Aveda, the dry shampoo. But I can make it myself. All other products I used to love from various EL brands, there are plenty of alternatives. If I do ever buy anything from EL brands, will only be if it’s at a very good discount.
I was an avid EL night repair serum user until they hired Kendal Jenner as a spokes person. I don’t support anything the Kar/Jenners promote.
It feels like EL tried to attract millennials with a Jenner, they just missed the fact that the peak of their popularity was like 8 years ago
Everthing Estee' Lauder does with their marketing is either snob appeal or "How do you do fellow kids?"
I know you’ve said in the past that you are camera shy but you are honestly so pretty you should definately do more videos on camera if you want! This video was very informative too. I clicked to learn about Estée Lauder but ended up learning about Chinese economics and AI 😂 I love it!
Thank you so much! I am working on beating the camera shyness haha. Glad you enjoyed the video 😊
Amazing video! And I’d love to see you cover the daigou phenomenon more in-depth, I’ve never heard of it before you talked about it and it’s so fascinating
@@sophiechiewtrakoon thank you for watching! And I will def look into creating a longer episode on diagou culture
Finally the wait is over!!!! I have missed your videos so much!
Beauty consumers are some of the savviest. I am ride or die Estee Lauder foundation person it’s my holy grail. HOWEVER even I stock up on cheaper brands because $55 is a lot for a small bottle of product.
I find no justification/ reason to charge £45 for a lipstick. Too many other, very good products around.
I 100% saw this coming. As someone who was associated with the company last year, I could see them struggling. They tried multiple ideas and none of them worked unless it was a % off the entire store (which was already a thing). The bulk buyers make up the majority of people who shop at their discount store. And girl, if you can find a cosmetics company store please go there to get estee products. I've been able to buy advanced night repair for $35. One more thing, it takes about 3 months for you to see any changes when using a new product.
Great video!
Did you work there?? Just curious
@JayJay69420lol I can neither confirm or deny that question... lol
What will help EL get back on track is allowing their brands to exist in the spaces that generated the most fandom and loyalists. MAC, Bobbi Brown and GlamGlow are examples: All three had a uniqueness that couldn't be duplicated. Once EL stripped away products that would have aged with the loyal clientele and replaced it with copycat products (even going so far as creating scarcity) - consumers went elsewhere. EL was known for skincare, MAC for professional, highly pigmented make-up, Bobbi Brown catered to consumers who wanted minimalism, and GlamGlow made masks that really helped skin improvement. All of them now are no different than a local pharmacy brand - inflated pricing or not. EL also reads conservative and not on trend with younger consumers. I'm sure the Asia market decrease affects them; how they have taken their other brands down with them is what's sad. Even Aveda is now just a shampoo / conditioner brand - - their excellent skincare barely gets mentioned these days.
The need another 'Liz Hurley' effect in order to jumpstart another revival. They got best products in some segment (foundation, mascara esp.) and perfume. They need to find a younger spokesperson (credible celebrity?) and new line skincare+perfume targeted to new demographic. Their best first step, I guess, a new perfume. I remember how influential Liz Hurley imagery in their ads that cause me and my friends to purchase their classic scents back then in late 90's eventhough it's quite pricy for us college kids. By the way, perfumery, for new consumer, tend to be their first encounter with a legacy brand. Loyalty can go from there. As long as EL keep their signature classy, feminine elegant branding, they are fine to me.
You are so right. Elizabeth Hurley was an incredibly effective spokesmodel - her ads are still memorable. They should bring her back to their marketing, not just their charity campaigns, alongside a new spokesmodel.
Not sure what your opinion is on this, but when I researched this company years ago I noticed a lot of nepotism within the company. I thought it was a red flag how many family members of the founder where in high positions at the company, decided to take a pass. I’m all for insider ownership of founders, but when kids, grandkids, etc are taking up positions of a public company, definitely a little sus.
I’m not sure I have a fully formed opinion yet about conglomerates that are run by family - some seem to do it quite successfully (NewsCorp, Reliance Industries) so it’s not inherently suspicious. What makes you say it’s a little sus about ELC?
I guess it makes me wonder if they are qualified for the role, especially in global multinationals competing in cutthroat industries that require top talent. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Succession. 😂
@@jamesmendoza4825 LOL great show
The children and grand children for sure didn't inherit Mrs. Lauder's genius for product development or her business savvy. That's precisely why they're in trouble
In my country, Indonesia, Estee Lauder, Shiseido or L'oreal are quite expensive. They used to be top game because the quality coming with the price and no social media. They dominated so long because of the power and money.
Right now? Many dermatologists or young enterpreneur released their own brands. Good quality with good prices. Social media become their main marketing especially with influencers. Why do I need to spend $ 80 if I can buy less than $ 25 but get very good skincare? I go to a famous dermatology in my town, only need to spend $ 10 every month since I can't find good brands that fit my skin. And my face is good and clean. My sister used to buy L'oreal skincare but seems like they changed it and it doesn't fit with my sister, she stop buying it. Another major is also boycott. Many brands grab the opportunity to release their own products like Huda Beauty.
I really love your videos! Keep it going! 💜
I'm sorry but this segment is pretty funny 11:31 guy is sitting infront ChatGPT (It is known that chatgpt often provide false information) and telling how innnovative it is to use ai to impove cream
That why I switched to copilot I need to to help research not give me fake stuff and tell a robot off
The one thing the repair serum can't seem to repair is the company, whoosh that was so shady 😅 very informative video!
yeah, I do think that EL is a granny beauty line. however they own the ordinary, and I rely on some of their products, and dupes don't do much for me. the ordinary is creating way more products recently, maybe EL pushes them to do so. I don't care what will happen with EL, but I hope the ordinary will prevail
Great video, can you make sure to label the trend lines on all the graphs sometimes you only verbally describe it and it’s hard to keep track of what data represents what.
@@aarong5996 this is a great suggestion - thank you! Will do next time.
Estee Lauder is too boomer and hasn't done enough to reach out to younger generations in the right way. Some of their brand purchase choices were ill-timed. For example, Too Faced is not a trend-setting brand and it cannot survive on mascara alone. L'Oreal was always better diversified across different markets and had generally made better choices when purchasing niche brands (example, 3CE). AI is not going to help sell more Advanced Night Repair.
Moreover, they keep buying high end-ish brands rather than acquiring one that is mid range or lower.
Broadly speaking(ofc there will be exceptions), but Gen Z and Millennials don't really have enough disposable income yet to buy high end make up/skincare on a regular basis and as far as I'm aware their skincare doesn't really address the concerns a younger demographic might have with their skin. I imagine it must be especially bad in the States speaking in terms of price point as there are college loans, rent and other necessities being expensive and borderline diabolical grocery prices.
Having TO under them isn't enough especially when they keep jacking up the prices of TO products-in my country at least-when local brands and Korean/Japanese skincare provide better results at a similar or better price point.
I wouldn't even call them too boomer. I'd call them too geriatric. People would always say "Looks like somebody parked a retirement home at the Estee' Lauder counter" or "Estee' Lauder customers have one foot in the grave" when I worked for them in the 2000s. OOF.😬
11:00 the most ridiculous corporate thing I have ever heard. They really learned nothing
From my experience, the key product is now inferior compared to Korean brands.
As a Millennial I've never perceived this brand to be premium. It is mid end at best for me and average in quality. In other words, when I feel a little low in money, I would buy this but only when they're around 45% sale. But even now, I'd pay full price on korean skin care, which works out to be around the same as their full price but with better results.
No one ever commented on my skin the whole time I was on EL. But within 1.5 months of switching to another premium korean brand, I received comments. FYI my skin has always been good so for people to comment, it means a big difference
Your channel is great!
I used to use their Lab Series products. They've reduced the range and increased the prices dramatically. It's also very difficult to get hold of if you dont want to buy online. I don't bother now. If others are like me, no wonder they're going down.
I wonder with ELC if their portfolio of brands is part of problem. L’Oréal, unilever, pg exisit in highend and mass spaces but ELC is all premium. And I’ve noticed a lot of the brands ELC added to their portfolio over the last 10-15 years struggled (too faced, Rodin, glamglow…) . Anyway love your analysis ✌️
They own Deciem, which produces The Ordinary. Cheap and good. They tried some years ago to launch cheap lines at Kohl’s, but that failed I believe.
Estee lauder does own Deciem and by virtue of that, The Ordinary.
Their “groundbreaking” AI tool is literally just RAG on top of their Sharepoint…
Love the videos!so cool to see you explain everything in a way even i can understand! keep up the googd work!
I try to make the videos accessible to everyone! Thank you for watching ❤
Why would you expect skincare to show noticeble results in two weeks?
I was side eyeing that too. Most clinical trials are 8-10 weeks.
Implementing AI not only seems desperate but also like a huge mistake, I just don’t see how knowing a random stat from a clinical trial would be helpful without the data behind it. The data is what makes that stat important, a 128% increase in hydration, compared to what? what was your control group? who was the trail carried out on? how long did it take to see these results? it all means nothing without the full results.
Love your channel and content❤
They can’t compete with Korean beauty on quality, price point, trends and time to market.
This. For example, I know EL night serum is good, but the Missha Time Revolution is just as good with the same ingredients and the price point is much better. So I'm skipping the EL every time.
I’m not near the end of the video so you may talk about this, but I’m wondering if Estée Lauder’s portfolio of only prestige brands and the shrinking middle class in the United States have also effected it. Estée Lauder differs from Unilever because Unilever owns brands at all price points.
@@Ronsonpeters Great comment. Yes, Unilever and L’Oreal’s diverse portfolio definitely makes them more immune to the larger economic factors in China and the US. For example, when COVID happened, ELC took a bigger hit than L’Oreal because people stopped spending on prestige makeup but still purchased cheaper alternatives.
They bought Tom ford and discontinued my holy grail traceless foundation stick 😭 I hate them so much for it. And they did same thing to Becca, ruined brands like Mac, smash box and Bobbi brown. Reverse Midas for me.
I used their doublewear light foundation for decade and suddenly they discontinued it. And they introduced several versions of it but all failed to perform the same. I stop using their doublewear anything since then.
I'm curious what are people's thoughts on prestigious company's strategy to target younger people. To me, prestigious products that scream prestige are the ones that didn't change too much historically. Say, for example, Channel no 5 stayed relevant throughout the company's history. Psychologically, I'm more tempted to buy it because I automatically assume that the product is better because people have been purchasing it over the years. Whether it's true or not, it works on me.
If anything, having AI tools and using Kendall as a model makes me want to purchase from Estee Lauder less because it screams to me that it's all about marketing and not about improving products/relying on good established products. To me it's also boring marketting - is that all they can come up with considering the company's size?
Again, curious to see what other people think
The AI isn’t for marketing - it’s to help them organize their internal company data to make faster business decisions. So now instead of digging through old files for half an hour to find an answer, they can simply type their question into a chatbot and retrieve the answer quickly within a few seconds
Kendall Jenner is a bad fit because her brand is not premium at all. The Kardashian-Jenners have wide appeal but I still associate them with diet tea sponsored posts on Instagram. EL needs someone like Margot Robbie that's not only A-list, but well respected with a clean image.
I don't have a problem with them using AI, but it's a red flag to announce it as a big part of their strategy. They make it sound like they're failing because business insights aren't generated fast enough, which is something AI would (probably) fix. But I think their problems run much deeper than insight speed.
Estée Lauder has some great eyeshadow formulas, they need to market them more . Got some in free set deal and was shocked how beautiful they went on .
Thanks for this take!
Am not able to understand how daigo culture is impacting bottom line, if the consumers are anyway purchasing the product? End of the day, they are selling more in china right?
Regulations in China that are cracking down on daigou trade means fewer daigou agents are purchasing goods at duty free stores -- so the company is selling fewer items in travel retail, which is a channel that they have heavily relied on in the past!
Basically less will buy from the duty free shop. Who knows if Chinese will buy in china at a higher price so they will miss out on sales and duty free shops will be empty
Very detailed video
Very good 👍
You really did it! Thanks for the video😊
@@ayay1902 thank you for the suggestion ❤️❤️
Nooo Estée Lauder sumptuous extreme is the BEST MASCARA OF ALL TIME! It’s so inky & not dry flaky… better than NARS, YSL, Too Faced and every mascara I’ve tried 😢❤ also love their pink cleanser which is really moisturizing
I will never buy another foundation as long as EL Double Wear is on the market! Their products are genuinely great, but their marketing department needs to catch up because I only ever see their brand organically mentioned by influencers as a "best kept secret"
The brand history is disgusting idk how people buy from them yall have no morals lol and it’s overpriced for the market now
@@Iamliterallythatgirl literally any brands that been around for 30+ years have some kind of shadiness though
Yep. As a former Estee' Lauder employee, I can tell you they're one of the biggest monopolies in the beauty industry & their greedy AF. I left them in 2007 for Elizabeth Arden because I didn't like how they did business then. I struggled to sell their products to regular people & I would always give EL ideas & feedback to sell and brand their products better, but they would never listen to me because I was just a Beauty Advisor working at one of their counters, nor would they even listen to their customers ever. Estee' Lauder has no loyalty. They're like the Disney of beauty.
Great 2 see analysis 👍
Always fascinating to analyse the struggles and hardships in the bottom-line sales performance of a legendary corporation like EL. Often it's mismanagement and behind the scenes stuff (still equally fascinating to me) but other times it's to do with not utilising marketing opportunities in the fast paced digital world. Lauder make some extremely good products. How many Gen Z folks REALLY know or care (unless they've grown up with their mum's stuff around them to experiment with and connect to)? I found this video really engrossing. PS= I have never heard or read a single in-depth, knowledgable article looking into the great flop of Napoleon Perdis's brand. None of his products have ever been featured in the land of YT beauty 'gurus'. Not a peep, nothing. I'd love to know why Napoleon Perdis has been entirely ignored in the land of beauty content creators. Why has the brand been ignored for the duration of time it's existed? Why am I the only person who seems to care about this grand mystery?
Personally, I refrain from buying from EL in direct reaction to Ronald Lauder’s contributions to right wing PACs and politicians, and his very vocal Zionism.
this year I got more into fragrance and I've learned a lot of fragrance brands that Estee Lauder bought doesn't exactly have the same customer base
Tom ford for instance has always been expensive but it actually made innovative perfumes and had iconic packaging. the Tom ford of today is watered down (supposedly) and the new fragrances are trendy but don't pull the same demographic or sway the industry. plus the changes made to plastic are cost effective
they need to stick to a lane.
What made you get into fragrance? I have a video coming up about this, so just curious!
@ honestly I've been trying to walk myself backward to figure out what did it but I think it was a combination of a new and affordable hobby that could be private or social / pick me up
I owned perfumes I knew were popular but I never wanted to wear for myself and all at once I got connected to the middle Eastern perfume world
affordable prices but better quality juice than something I could by in store cheaply with decent quality or high quality packaging. it was a smaller industry so many of the people talking about it weren't American and they had smaller channels and very responsive.
I bought many perfumes this year, mostly middle Eastern. 💁🏾♀️🫣I just did a purchase of niche samples because next year I would like to add some higher end to the middle Eastern.
No regrets. My foray into perfumes is comparable to people discovering tumblr or TikTok for the first time.
There’s no other way I could have more easily figured out my tastes if not for cheaper perfumes and unisex perfumes and reviews that let me know to try more than floral
@ hope that was helpful. I know it’s one of the most growth performing market
Which sucks for perfume prices because everyone is increasing across the board but gourmands and vanillas and red fruits like cherry and strawberry are probably going to continue to trend
It’s an easy gateway item for people to discover more from a brand. I think the fragrance boom is going to appeal to newer generations looking for signature scent and then trying to capitalize on moods/social use to buy more fragrances for situations or mood
Imagine putting in a pre order before your flight, adding all your details of the flight in and then paying for it all, going to pick it up and there is a slight problem 😂. Um, no thanks. Who thought of this and I seriously want to know if legit one person has ever used it?
Their big problem is that they’re not remotely innovative, and many products haven’t changed in decades. If you want clean ingredients, then you avoid the EL brands. The market has changed, but they haven’t.
'Clean' ingredients are a marketing gimmick. What's this even supposed to mean??
clean beauty shouldn't be a barometer used to measure industry standards because it's a gimmick aimed at appealing to people who don't know any better a la aluminum and paraben-free. trust that not tapping into that niche isn't what's holding them back lol if anything doubling down on it would be a terrible risk
God, do I ever have sneezing fits when I try to use Estee' Lauder's skincare. They need to stop having their products be so overly fragranced & everything smelling like my Grandma's flower bed. They can't just have Clinique pick up the slack with the fragrance free products.
There are so many alternative products thats almost has the same ingredients.
Their mascara is the best of all time.
I tried the Double Repair Serum and it literally did nothing for my skin. No difference. I tried their creams too. Drying and no improvement.
I think they need to start marketing to younger people (and a lot of products in general need to stop going crazy with the price increases).
Their products are honestly so expensive. Im their target audience. Middle class mid 30s who on average spends mid 100s on skincare. And maybe it works. It has never worked for me and comparatively, size wise, they are so expensive
Used to like using their moisturizers but not anymore there are better options out now & a lot cheaper
EL just gives old people stuff. Like Avon. Lol
Or Mary Kay.
Hell yeah! My girl is back!!!
I wonder about the role of south korean brands
Hey, I just Want to let you know that esteladuer have been doing for teens cosmetics with brand name esstee edits as Kendall Jenner for face of the brand....yeah it's terrible actually for Price list that absolutely insane
The estee lauder night serum is good....if you have really dry skin. That is the only reason I enjoy it a little bit. That being said, I don't buy them. I use cetaphil, aveeno, and kbeauty.
What?!! I love Estée Lauder. It’s my fav skincare brand of all time.
Thanks for the analysis! I have a quick question: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). What's the best way to send them to Binance?
There are so many beautiful women to promote EL and they choose Kendall Jenner. I avoided buying from EL since. And now Kendall is on the Loreal side > I refuse to fund the kardashian lifestyles.
FIRST
They've been investing for years in Donald Dumpf so I'm sure next year will be much better for them.
Investing in politics is about the best way to cut your potential customer base in half. I was eyeing some aveda hair products, but I'll pass now you made me aware of this.
😂
Gi woke going broke 😅
Err, what? Who's woke?
EL's head is very much open about being right-wing and zionist and MAC, arguably the 'wokest' makeup brand, did actually end up losing relevance after they got bought by EL and subsequently have been notably less edgy and liberal in their marketing...which is likely a coincidence, but nonetheless it's fun to note given how batshit crazy your comment is lol
Estee lauder??? Woke??? It is literally the opposite
I tried to follow you on Instagram or Twitter like you suggested. But those accounts are inactive.
Are they inactive? I just checked the links and they work - but I haven't posted anything on them yet! Please let me know if you're still having trouble accessing them though
@@thedevilwearsdata Yes, that's exactly what I meant.
@@nirniro2444 I haven't posted on them yet because I haven't had time, but will be doing so in the new year :)