Popular online retailer opening two Perth stores

Perth Now

2 days ago

Online cosmetics retailer Adore Beauty is ramping up its bet on bricks-and-mortar by opening two stores in Perth just weeks apart.
Adore will open the 180sqm store in Westfield Carousel on Thursday, with the second location at Booragoon — slightly bigger at 189sqm — coming two weeks later on July 10.
It marks Adore's first venture outside its home State of Victoria, where it opened two shopfronts in Southland and Watergardens earlier this year.
Adore chief executive Sacha Laing said WA was its fastest growing market in terms of sales. He teased of at least two more stores in Perth over the next 18 months.
'WA was a focus for us, particularly given the speed of the growth in that market,' Mr Laing told The West Australian when asked why Perth beat Sydney. Adore opens its first Sydney store in August.
'When I had the opportunity to secure two locations in the Westfield centres in Booragoon and Carousel, I was like, 'Great, Perth will be our next market that we open in'.' Adore opened its first retail store this month at Westfield Southland. Credit: Supplied
The ASX-listed retailer launched as online-only in 2000 and last November first unveiled plans to open more than 25 stores in the next three years.
Mr Laing said it was on track to have 20 stores nationally by the end of 2026 after penning deals with 'several of the country's largest landlords'.
He is confident about Adore's push into bricks-and-mortar despite social media platforms, like TikTok, becoming an increasingly popular storefront, especially for young consumers.
'In Australia, only 13 per cent of retail sales in the beauty category are done online, so 87 per cent of retail sales in the beauty category are done in physical stores,' Mr Laing said.
'When we look at the opportunity to grow the Adore network . . . there's this huge market that we haven't previously addressed.' Adore Beauty chief executive Sacha Laing at the Watergardens store in Melbourne. Credit: Nicole Squelch
While Adore has more than 14,000 products available across 300 brands online, customers will be offered a smaller, curated selection from about 90 brands at Carousel and Booragoon.
But for customers who are after a product that is out of stock or only available online, the store's digital kiosk — or what Adore calls the endless aisle — will allow them to pay for it in-store and delivered to their homes.
Mr Laing said the stores were deeply immersed in digital, meaning it will mostly be paperless, with screens displaying product descriptions and prices on shelves.
'(Being digitally-led enables Adore to) expand ranges really quickly,' he said.
'We could double the size of a brand overnight if we wanted to. We could double the size of a category overnight if we wanted to.'
The Perth stores will also offer in-store treatments and dermal therapists.
Adore's physical stores are set to challenge major industry players Mecca — which holds the biggest market share in cosmetics in Australia at about 21 per cent — and Sephora, the beauty chain owned by French luxury goods giant LVMH.
Sephora and Mecca already have stores in Carousel, with the latter also in Booragoon.
According to IBISWorld, Australia's $6 billion cosmetics industry is forecast to grow 2.5 per cent over the next five years.
Mr Laing reckons the market is 'big enough for us all'.
'Our product mix and our category mix are quite different. When we think about the competitive set or the overall landscape, there's department stores, there's the value offerings of some of the other mass market beauty retailers, and there's specialty beauty retailers . . . but the market is quite fragmented and what that enables us to do is find our own space,' he said.
Adore — founded by Kate Morris — reported revenue of $195.7 million in the 2024 financial year, with net profit hitting $2.2m.
That compared with a loss of $559,000 the prior year.
Meanwhile, Mecca's latest accounts released earlier this month revealed it had raked in just over $1.2b in revenue in the year to the end of December 2023, up from the $971.5m recorded the previous year.
Adore has had a troubled life on the Australian Securities Exchange, with its share price tumbling since listing in October 2020 from $6.91 to 64¢ on Tuesday.
Asked if he watched the share price, Mr Laing said 'absolutely'.
'My job is to create shareholder value and to attract new investment interest in the business as well,' he said.
'Acquiring new customers through our online channels and through our physical stores, improving the frequency of new customers and growing the overall revenue line of the business, will inevitably create great profit growth.
'Growing profitability, fundamentally, is what will drive the share price.'
Mr Laing took on the top job at Adore last September, replacing Tamalin Morton.
He has more than 25 years of experience in the retail industry, having held executive roles at David Jones and Country Road Group.
He also led youth fashion retailer General Pants Co and accessory brand Colette by Colette Hayman, which was saved from administration early last year.
The reporter travelled to Melbourne as a guest of Adore Beauty.