Latest news with #Maesa
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Inside the Challenges Befalling Black-owned Brands in 2025 — and How They're Facing Them
Black beauty brand founders are facing waning support. Founders and executives told WWD that the galvanization they saw in the wake of George Floyd's murder has decelerated, largely in terms of retail support and investment, though not in terms of consumer sentiment. More from WWD It's Bigger Than Resale: How a Los Angeles Sneaker Store Is Building Its Business - and Community Golden Goose Brings Its 'Forward' Concept Store to Dallas Big 5 Sporting Goods Goes Private in $112.7 Million Deal 'Every year since 2020, we've seen a rollback of the support and investment into Black and BIPOC-owned brands,' said Ron Robinson, founder and chief executive officer of BeautyStat. 'I think it's only gotten more significant under this new presidential administration.' 'Eight out of 10 BIPOC-owned businesses fail within the first 18 months of launch,' said Piyush Jain, chief executive officer of Maesa, which introduced the Maesa Magic Incubator to provide grants and mentorship to underrepresented founders. That program is now in its third year. 'One cause is lack of mentorship, the other is lack of role models, and the third is funding.' The situation has become even more acute under the current presidential administration, which has actively rolled back DEI policies at a federal level, and taken legal action to do the same at universities across the country. More localized to beauty, part of the issue is the number of retailers, in particular, and the wider business landscape that have rolled back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives against the fast-changing political backdrop. During its first-quarter earnings call in May, Target Corp. cited a broader shift away from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at the top of the year as a key contributor to single-digit sales dips, in addition to on-again, off-again tariffs. More specifically, Target ended its Racial Equity Action and Change initiatives, and changed the moniker of its 'Supplier Diversity' team to 'Supplier Engagement.' Elsewhere in the mass market, Walmart stopped participating in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Index, and agreed to drop the phrase diversity, equity and inclusion as well as products marketed to transgender children. On the prestige beauty side, the news is more positive. Both Sephora and Ulta Beauty have signed the Fifteen Percent Pledge, an Aurora James-founded initiative to dedicate 15 percent of shelf space to Black-owned brands and seem committed to attaining that goal. Founders also report investors pulling back in some cases. As WWD reported in 2024, Black-owned brands were among the first to feel the drought of a waning M&A market. For some, the picture is still grim. Crunchbase data, additionally, indicates that funding for Black-founded startups in the U.S. fell from $4.9 billion in 2021 to $700 million in 2024. 'We haven't had the growth scale that typical VC firms want. It's difficult to expect that from founders that are Black-owned because we're already at a disadvantage, we don't have the same resources and we don't have the same capital,' said Denis Asamoah, Forvr Mood, which he cofounded with Jackie Aina. He acknowledged that the brand was on track to meet its sales targets for 2025. 'It just seems like there's always a moving of the goalposts with Black founders, and what we've been able to build and create has been nothing short of incredible,' Aina said. 'It raises questions of what's required of non-Black founders versus Black founders.' 'It's hard right now in general — you can't ignore the macroeconomic pressures and general uncertainty. For small brands that's even more challenging,' said Alisa Carmichael, partner at VMG Partners, who oversees VMG's Parity Collective in partnership with James, an investment initiative that specializes in BIPOC brands. 'Also, the rollback from a DE&I perspective have made people in the ecosystem a bit more nervous.' Melissa Butler, founder and chief executive officer of The Lip Bar, characterized the landscape overall as generally tough. 'Investors are afraid to deploy capital,' she said. 'M&A hasn't been very active. That's true for every founder, and then you have to add on what I call the 'Black tax' on top of it.' Part of that, Butler said, was the persistent misconception that Black-owned brands are designed solely for Black consumers. 'Oftentimes, a Black founder will centralize a Black person in their advertising because your community deserves to be seen and it's an underserved community,' Butler said. 'The unfortunate truth is that can oftentimes lead to you only attracting Black customers. With the Lip Bar, for instance, there's no difference between my lips and a white woman's lips or an Asian woman's lips.' That phenomenon has also impacted the financial community. 'Everyone was so focused on investing in Black-owned brands with COVID and the murder of George Floyd,' said one investor who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'Now, we're in this phase where saying you're Black-owned can be a disadvantage because shoppers wonder if the product is for them, if they should be buying it, or if it's cultural appropriation.' Conversely, brands that keep their appeal broad are reaping the benefits. 'Yes, I'm a Black female founder and this is a Black-founded brand, but the ethos of the brand has always been that it's about everybody,' said Danessa Myricks, who founded Danessa Myricks Beauty. 'Our whole perspective is that everybody is able to participate and feel they're in a safe space.' Added Robinson, 'I'm front-facing on TikTok, and a lot of people didn't even necessarily know that I was the founder until I started to do more on social. We have all these clinicals, all these patents, and that brings people into the brand. On the consumer side, I'm not seeing people pulling back from support.' Other brands agreed that it's not an issue of consumer perception. 'The challenge is that the strategy should always be inclusive,' said Butler. 'I think consumers are already in tune with that, but it's the retailers, investors, strategics and private equity groups that are a little behind in terms of how consumers are looking at beauty today. 'I don't think it's consumers that are shifting,' Butler continued. 'Especially when you look at the population, Gen Z and Gen Alpha are the most diverse and the most open to diversity. I think it's an old guard saying they followed the rules in 2020, and now, they're onto the next.' Best of WWD Which Celebrity Brands Are Next for a Major Deal? Lady Gaga, Beyonce and More Possible Contenders for the Next Corporate Prize The Best Makeup Looks in Golden Globes History A Look Back at Golden Globes Best Makeup on the Red Carpet, From Megan Fox to Sophia Loren [PHOTOS]
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Maesa Magic: Building the Next Generation of Beauty Brands
In a conversation presented by Maesa, James Manso, beauty and fashion market editor at WWD, sat down with Piyush Jain, chief executive officer of Maesa, and Erin George, managing director of fashion and luxury practice at Boston Consulting Group, to discuss how Maesa has become the blueprint for success within the beauty industry. Under Jain's leadership, Maesa has created a successful incubator by working closely with its retail partners such as Target, to create disruptive brands within categories that are ready for innovation. More from WWD Beauty's Digital Future: Listrak's Jaime Elden Talks AI, Social Commerce and Gen Z Influence The 9 Best Tinted Lip Balms for Lightweight Hydration and Easy-to-Apply Color OpenAI to Launch Physical Products Via $6.5 Billion Deal With Jony Ive Our vision is to build the next generation of beauty companies,' Jain said. 'To build it, we need to keep pace with where the world is going, where the society is going and where our consumers are going. One of my fundamental beliefs is that the pace of change today is the fastest it's ever been — and yet it's the slowest it'll ever be.' Embracing change and being flexible is a key driving force at Maesa. But moreover, brands should leverage this agility to stay the course with their vision. 'Content is king in today's world. With our brand Fine'ry, we created a content factory. We leverage artificial intelligence and move content really quickly. Sometimes we create hundreds of pieces of content within hours, sometimes within days,' the CEO said. Maesa is also moving quickly with its brand launches. For example, the intimate care brand Niches & Nooks went from idea to launch in just nine months. Meanwhile, George shared that the keys to success in volatile times include having a North Star of what each brands stand for, being customer-centric and scenario planning. Moreover, the amount of data available to drive decision making in the market is unlike it has ever been. 'If you're behind on the AI curve, it's going to be hard to keep up,' she said. With tariffs being top of mind for everyone, most of the senior executives George has spoken with recently are focusing their energy on cost management in light of different scenario planning and spending less time thinking about driving demand generation. 'Everyone is expecting that demand will contract given the high likelihood of a recession, but there will still be spending. We have to remember that consumer savings is still higher today than it was pre-pandemic,' she said. 'Maybe not what it was during the pandemic but still higher. Interest rates didn't come down yesterday but they may by the end of the year.' George shared that the likelihood of consumer spending on beauty declining is lower than any other category. In uncertain times, Jain said Maesa has been controlling the controllable within the cost side and then leaning in on innovation and demand generation to meet consumer needs. Despite the unpredictability, Maesa has continued to outpace the market in terms of growth, with two brands that launched in the last two years both approaching $100 million in sales this year. 'We start with the consumers — which is at the heart of everything we do. I'm passionate about thinking about the consumer as a whole. We don't think of ourselves through categories,' Jain said. 'When launching a brand like Being Frenshe, we didn't think of 'what's the category.' We looked at how wellness translates to the consumer. As long as you elevate yourself, think about the consumer and how to meet their aspirations, you will always be luxury.' Best of WWD The Best Makeup Looks in Golden Globes History A Look Back at Golden Globes Best Makeup on the Red Carpet, From Megan Fox to Sophia Loren [PHOTOS] The Best Hairstyles in Golden Globes History Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business of Fashion
07-05-2025
- Business
- Business of Fashion
How Maesa Creates and Scales Beauty Brands in a Saturated Market
In 2025, price-sensitive consumers are trying to stretch their money further. Over 60 percent of consumers in the US and UK say they are attempting to save money on discretionary goods 'often' or 'as much as possible,' according to The Business of Fashion (BoF) and McKinsey & Co.'s The State of Fashion 2025 report. However, the notion of 'value' can vary for different consumers. For some, it means buying at off-price retailers. For others, it can be connected to product efficacy, long-lasting properties or simply buying fewer, higher quality items. Meanwhile, the global beauty and personal care market still remains a key spend priority for customers. Globally, it is projected to generate a revenue of more than $677 billion in 2025, according to Euromonitor. Since its inception in 1997, beauty incubator Maesa has worked to provide greater value to end-consumers. It began by manufacturing private label beauty products for high street and specialty retailers, but now in its next phase of growth, Maesa is doubling down on the creation and expansion of its own brands. The company is also partnering with American retailers, including Target and Walmart, to scale its businesses. 'We have more than doubled the business in the last four years,' says Maesa chief financial officer Zaheer Ferguson. 'While our foundations are in private label solutions, our move into creating and accelerating our own brands — either by ourselves or in partnership with our founders — has taken off, and we oversee end-to-end development of the brand including product, marketing, packaging and distribution.' Maesa's CFO Zaheer Fergurson (Maesa) Kristin Ess, which introduced salon-quality haircare into the mass category in 2017, is one example. Today, more than 6,000 units of its 'The One' signature shampoo and conditioner are sold every hour. Maesa's other brands include: actor Ashley Tisdale's wellness brand Being Frenshe; Youtuber Mindy McKnight's haircare brand Hairitage; and fragrance brand Fine'ry, which launched in 2023 and became Target's fastest-growing fragrance brand. These cross-category investments are reflective of Maesa's strategic priority to react quickly to the demands of the market and tap into trending categories, acting as both an operator and incubator for brands. 'We work hand-in-hand with buyers at various retailers, which enables us to be strategic about what [these retailers] and their consumers are looking for,' said Ferguson. 'Our model means we can have targeted support to focus on what things look like in store and how we drive conversion.' Indeed, the launch of perfume brand Fine'ry aligns with increased consumer interest in the fragrance category. Seventy-three percent of Gen-Z and Millennial customers use three or more scents regularly, and 69 percent layer their fragrances, according to a 2024 Boston Consulting Group survey. Meanwhile the hashtag #perfumetok saw a 110 percent year-on-year growth on TikTok in 2024. 'We have an in-house team called Blue Sky, which uses customer insight and a lot of data to think boldly about the categories that will matter. Our size allows for us to react and move quickly, as do the general beauty and wellness objectives we have. There's no constraint on category,' added Ferguson. 'As an incubator, we run an 'always-on' innovation cycle. This gives us the flexibility to be quite reactive and do small runs quickly.' Maesa's CEO Piyush Jain (Maesa) Now, BoF hears from Maesa's chief executive Piyush Jain on how Maesa's business model has evolved to meet consumer and market needs — and the categories and innovations it believes will continue to drive growth in a saturated market. As customers place increasing emphasis on value, how does Maesa define and deliver this need? Value is a frequently misused term. Traditionally, the cheapest brands in the category would sell — or market — themselves as offering 'value for money' because that was the easiest way to communicate their position in the market. In beauty today, consumers are much more informed on what they want. As part of that value piece, they want effective products. At Maesa, our core strategy is democratising access and making prestige trends available at a more accessible price point. Without obvious innovation, technology, or expensive ingredients to justify a higher price point, customers are quick to notice that the pricing doesn't make sense, and seek better value. Take fragrance: great, effective products tend to be priced around $200 to $250, and finding similar quality at $50 price points is more challenging. We saw a gap to operate in this space, particularly as consumers pivoted to using fragrance as a mood enhancer. We work to demonstrate value to consumers by showing up in the categories that matter to them — at competitive price points. How does Maesa prioritise which categories and brands to develop? Our desire to fulfil unmet consumer needs acts as a common thread across our brands. From there, we keep our approach to beauty and wellness broad so we can identify the categories that are ripe for disruption. This is dictated by what we see customers and retailers looking for. Maesa thinks like a portfolio of brands, looking at cross-category innovation and ideas. For example, we've seen a lot of success in the haircare space, so have since leveraged our work in the fragrance category to move into haircare fragrance, bridging two areas of expertise. Another example is the post-pandemic wellness boom, where we saw a need for wellness-oriented brands in the mass channel, and could make the concept more accessible. That's when we launched Being Frenshe. Today, we are leveraging our consumer insights team to identify the next growth spots. In the near future, we are exploring the male grooming space — and Maesa has just entered the intimate wellness category with the launch of our Niches & Nooks brand. How are the channels for reaching beauty consumers evolving? The initial discovery of brands often happens in-store, where we prioritise wide distribution. How we then drive that awareness over time has become a key focus, especially in a saturated market. We are starting to experiment with different methods — we launched our first TV commercial for haircare brand Kristin Ess on Bravo earlier this month, for example. We are using influencers and social media extensively to generate brand heat. Being both an incubator and an operator has allowed us to innovate more quickly — from Blue Sky idea generation to the shop floor in under nine months. We are not chasing mass awareness — that is not the objective. However, we are thinking about tapping into the next level of consumers and meeting those new customers where they are spending time. Maesa's Being Frenshe brand places emphasis on hair wellness How is technology leveraged to scale your own brands? Acknowledging the growth in fragrance, we took a proposition to Target almost five years ago — and the opportunity for a strategy in this category that would allow for their customers to access great fragrance at a reasonable price point. This was the launch of our first fragrance brand Mix:Bar, followed by Fine'ry in 2023. Target remains Fine'ry's exclusive retail partner today. Since launch, we have received a lot of consumer attention, which reflects the demand for this kind of product at this price point. We keep our approach to beauty and wellness broad so we can identify the categories that are ripe for disruption. This is dictated by what we see customers and retailers looking for. In terms of technology, we have leant heavily into artificial intelligence (AI) in our creative campaigns to sustain that attention. It has created a significant amount of high-quality campaign content — and a cost-saving way of maintaining that virality. Technology and data also play a role in how we understand different Fine'ry customers. For example, we have used AI to create personalised fragrance profiles to reflect them and there is still a lot more to explore. How does Maesa approach product innovation when it comes to its own brands? Being both an incubator and an operator has allowed us to innovate more quickly — with our fastest incubation going from Blue Sky idea generation to the shop floor in under nine months. But when we think about innovation, we first consider the DNA of the brand and where the consumers of the brand will give you license to go. For some brands, it is easy to innovate into new products and categories because the essence of the brand doesn't confine itself to a specific vertical. Take Being Frenshe, which started from a broader spectrum. Maesa considered the spaces where consumers desire wellness, which gave us an opportunity to experiment with new product formats, such as the Being Frenshe Hair, Body and Linen Mist. This year, we took the brand into haircare because hair wellness is growing traction among consumers. Wherever wellness travels, we believe we can take the brand. What are the key strategic objectives for Maesa over the medium term? Our goal is to think and operate as a next-gen beauty company, with a broad portfolio across beauty and wellness. Five years ago, we were a small company. Today, we are mid-size and thinking about the next phase of our journey. Making sure our research and development cycle remains quick and competitive is a big part of that — it's how we will build a diversified portfolio of brands and pay close attention to where the consumer is headed. Our ambition is to be the fastest growing beauty company, consistently finding innovative ways to meet unmet consumer needs by, what we call, 'unleashing Maesa Magic.' This is a sponsored feature paid for by Maesa as part of a BoF partnership.
