Client Backgrounder

Glossier
New York, New York
233 Spring St., East Tenth Floor, New York, NY 10013
Phone: 212-256-0781
Company Website: Glossier.com
Social Media
Facebook: @glossier https://www.facebook.com/glossier/
Instagram: @glossier https://www.instagram.com/glossier/?hl=en
Spotify: Glossier https://open.spotify.com/user/glossier_irl
TikTok: @glossier https://www.tiktok.com/@glossier
Twitter: @glossier https://twitter.com/glossier?lang=en
YouTube: Glossier https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg17mivnAaXprAdgCgpWNBg

Client Description
Glossier, launched in 2014 by Emily Weiss, is a makeup and skincare brand that started out of a blog, Into
the Gloss (Glossier, 2022, para. 2). The blog covers beauty and lifestyle, creating a space for readers to
share tips and suggestions and cultivate a community. Into the Gloss helps Glossier create a closeness to
its audience by listening to their wants and needs and making them a part of the production process.
This follows their mission to “give voice through beauty” (Glossier, 2022, para. 2). Glossier is a prominent
and versatile brand in the beauty world that celebrates “real girls,” and embracing natural beauty by
prioritizing skin care and carrying beauty products that enhance one’s natural features (Weiss, 2014). It
has collaborated with singers Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams, and influencers such as Kennedy Walsh,
with 2.6 million TikTok followers (@c4tluvr666), and Shayla Mitchell, with over 3 million followers on
Instagram (@makeupshayla).

Mission
Glossier’s mission, as it says on its website, is:
“Our mission is to give voice through beauty, as a direct-to-consumer company that leverages the power
of personal narrative to own the beauty conversation on the internet” (Life at Glossier, 2022).

History
Glossier was born out of Into the Gloss, a blog founded by CEO Emily Weiss covering all things beauty
and lifestyle. Weiss started her career as a fashion assistant at Vogue after gaining experience as a Teen
Vogue and Ralph Lauren intern (Berger, 2019, para. 4). During her time at Vogue, she launched her own
blog in 2010 and cultivated a community of beauty lovers who helped each other through advice,
product reviews and recommendations. After being rejected by 11 prospective investors, Weiss found
luck through venture investor Kirsten Greene in 2014 and was able to launch Glossier with 4 products:
the Soothing Face Mist, Priming Moisturizer, Balm Dot Com skin salve and Perfecting Skin Tint (Berger,
2019, para. 10). With its millennial-friendly marketing and pastel minimalist packaging, Glossier spiraled
into success when its yearly revenue nearly doubled in 2018, going over $100 million (Chitrakorn, 2022,
para. 5).

Industry
In 2021, personal care retail sales in the United States generated nearly 54 billion U.S. dollars in
e-commerce revenue and accounted for over 11 percent of total retail e-commerce sales that year
(Statista, 2022). Additionally, the industry has an “annual compounded growth rate of 4.75% worldwide”
and is predicted to “exceed $716B by 2025, and $784.6B by 2027” (Roberts, 2022, para. 10). Glossier is
known for its popularity amongst millennials and Generation Z, two generations whose lives take place,
for the most part, online.

Management Team Members

Emily Weiss Executive Chairwoman

Kyle Leahy Chief Executive Officer

Seun Sodipo Chief Financial Officer

Kye Chen Chief Accounting Officer

Kleona Mack SVP, Global Marketing

Business/Operating Model and Target Audience

Glossier is known for its direct-to-consumer business model and operates mostly online as an
“eCommerce business selling beauty and cosmetic items for a profit” (Cuofano, 2022, para. 1). Glossier
has flagship stores in Atlanta, D.C., London, Los Angeles, Miami and Seattle, with occasional pop-up
stores (Glossier, 2022). Because a majority of Glossier’s sales happen online, “revenue is bolstered by
higher margins, repeat purchases, and greater access to valuable customer feedback” (Cuofano, 2022,
para. 3). However, in July 2022, Glossier announced its products will be available in Sephora stores and
the Sephora app in the U.S. and Canada beginning early 2023 (Hoshikawa, 2022).
Glossier’s target market is “females between the ages of 16-25 who have a lower budget but appreciate
high-quality products that support progressive ideals such as sustainability, social justice, and body
positivity” (Cho, 2022, para 1.). According to Henry Davis, Glossier’s president and CFO, the Glossier
customer is a “psychographic, someone who understands the role beauty plays in their life” (Danzinger,
2022, para. 10).

Relevant Financial Information

Glossier is a privately owned startup that was founded by owner Emily Weiss in 2010. Its current lead
investor is Lone Pine Capital as of June of 2021 (Yahoo, 2022). It acquired Dynamo, a digital design studio
that was founded by Alex Nemeroff and Bryan Mahoney in 1999 (Mason, 2018).

Competitors
INNBEAUTY Project is a clean beauty brand founded in 2019 that has built its name on affordability,
individuality and sustainability. Its mission is “to celebrate and elevate all the rebels, the fearless, the
risk-takers and the curious” fueling its motivation to be accessible to a diverse group of people
(iNNBEAUTYProject.com), 2022, para. 4). It creates skincare and makeup, like Glossier, and targets a
young audience with its bright, eccentric branding. It wants to shake up the beauty industry, as its name
derives from the words innovation, individuality, and independence (McCormack, 2020 para. 10).
Milk Makeup is a clean, vegan and cruelty-free beauty brand based in New York City (Milk Makeup, 2022,
para. 2). Milk Makeup was founded by Milk co-founder Mazdack Rassi, product developer and COO
Dianna Ruth, Creative Director Georgie Greville, and beauty/fashion editor and E! News correspondent
Zanna Roberts Rassi (Milk Makeup, 2022, para. 4). As stated on the company’s website, Milk Makeup’s
mission it: “We believe beauty isn’t about how you create your look, it’s what you do in it that matters”
(Milk Makeup, 2022, para. 3). Like Glossier, Milk Makeup is largely popular among millennials and Gen Z.
The company largely operates online. However, unlike Glossier, Milk Makeup can be found in beauty
stores such as Sephora and Cult Beauty (wethrift, 2022).

Recent Communications Campaigns

Glossier announced its first celebrity ambassador, Olivia Rodrigo, in 2022 with the continuation of its
“You Look Good” campaign. Rodrigo targets the Gen Z audience with her music, style, and makeup. In an
article covering the announcement of the partnership, Vogue said, “Whether Rodrigo is fresh-faced or
dialing up the boldness and brightness, she does so with a “this-is-me" attitude that’s refreshing and
inspiring. And that’s exactly why Rodrigo has been tapped by beauty brand Glossier as their first-ever
celebrity partner since launching in 2014” (Valenti, 2022, para. 1). She said she feels her best when her
makeup enhances her skin, rather than covers it, and reassures the Glossier audience that when they
feel good, they look good. Glossier created a series of merchandise to accompany the new
ambassadorship, including a sticker, travel mirror and keychain. The announcement video shows Rodrigo
dancing and playing around with products as she talks about what makes her feel best, her signature
winged eyeliner, and her favorite Glossier products.

Recent Major News

In May of 2022, Emily Weiss, founder of Glossier, stepped down from her position as the company’s
Chief Executive Officer (Thorne, 2022). Having held the position for eight years, since founding the
company, Weiss explained why she resigned from the position in a blog post on Glossier’s website. “A
founder is a forever identity, one that starts with a kernel of an idea and never ends. I will always be
Glossier's founder. But a CEO is the champion that a company looks to, to lead it into tomorrow” (Weiss,
2022, para. 3). In the post, Weiss named Kyle Leahy as the new CEO, who served as the company’s Chief
Commercial Officer since 2021 (Thorne, 2022). Although no longer CEO, Weiss now serves as Glossier’s
Executive Chairwoman (Thorne, 2022).

Situation Analysis
Glossier faced controversy in 2020 surrounding allegations of a toxic work environment when former
retail employees created the Instagram profile, Outta the Gloss (@OuttaTheGloss, 2020). Their first post,
titled “An open later to Glossier, from former employees,” detailed the racism and maltreatment they
claimed to experience while working at Glossier’s New York City location. The Instagram profile currently
has 10.9K followers and has not been active since December 2020.
In reaction, Glossier accepted its failure to keep its employees safe from acts of racism, transphobia and
discrimination, and announced its action plan (@Glossier, 2022, para. 2).
According to its Instagram response, Glossier aimed to create a work environment that would center its
beliefs around preventing the marginalization of any group of people and offered one-on-one Zoom calls
with any former employees who wanted their stories heard, with compensation. It created a code of
conduct that stated there would be a “No tolerance policy” for discriminatory behavior from
management or customers, altered its hiring practices for management to include diversity and
sensitivity requirements, and installed company-wide diversity training (@Glossier, 2022, para. 3).

Before the profile’s hiatus, the group spread the hashtag #BoycottGlossier in September 2020 as a
reaction to Glossier’s response to the profile, which the group deemed insufficient (Outta The Gloss,
2020, para. 1). OTG called the response performative and demanded a “meaningful response that
uplifted the voices of black and POC former employees” via their Instagram. Since the origin of the
boycott, Glossier has lost approximately 220,000 followers to date.

Despite the boycott, Glossier still saw peak revenue in 2021 at $20 million and is continuing to expand its
business (Zippia.com, 2022). It has continued its efforts to support diversity and marginalized groups by
renewing its grant program for black-owned beauty businesses in May 2021 (Glossier, “Our
Commitment”, 2022). Through this program, Glossier was able to donate $500,000 to six black-owned
beauty brands that applied. In 2021, it allocated $10 million to the program towards Ceylon, The
Established, Fourth Phase, Nuekie, Rad Swan, Range Beauty, Rebundle, SKIMDO, SKNMUSE, and Young
King Hair (Glossier, “Our Commitment”, 2022). It has plans to re-open the application in later 2022,
according to the grant application page.

Reactions from Glossier critics and fans were positive, with reddit users saying it improved their opinion
on the brand and felt that it would help spark “real, systemic change,” rather than just adding a
performative post to Instagram (r/BeautyGuruChatter, 2020, Reddit.com).

Research Questions
1. What attributes of Glossier brand make it a leader and fan-favorite in the industry
against rising competition?
2. How does Glossier communicate updates to the public on its progress to improve
relations with current and former employees?
3. What aspects of Glossier commitment to diversity and inclusion matter the most to
consumers?