After decades in the public eye, a few cosmetic tweaks can go a long way. (Just ask Cher.)
E-commerce business Adore Beauty is celebrating 25 years of varied success online and on the stock exchange with a makeover that goes beyond moisturiser and into bricks and mortar.
The business, founded in entrepreneur Kate Morris’ garage, opens its first physical store on Saturday, within spritzing distance of new IRL (that’s in real life) rivals Mecca and Sephora at Southland shopping centre in the Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham.
Adore Beauty store manager applying blush on Annie Carroll at the online retailer’s first physical store, in Melbourne’s Southland shopping centre.Credit: PENNY STEPHENS
“The Australian beauty and personal care market is $13 billion, and online makes up about $2.5 billion of that,” says chief executive Sacha Laing, who started with the business in September after working for General Pants.
Morris and co-founder James Height stepped away from executive roles in 2023, but remain Adore Beauty shareholders.
“If we are about 10 per cent of the online market of beauty and personal goods in Australia and can capture 10 per cent of the total market by going offline, I’d be very pleased,” says Laing.
To reach those numbers, Adore Beauty will soon launch another Victorian store at Watergardens shopping centre, with four new locations soon to be announced as part of a roll-out of more than 25 stores.
“There are not many brand crossovers between ourselves and our two largest competitors, Mecca and Sephora, because we are in that high-low and very broad product space.”
Sephora currently has 32 stores in Australia, with a new location opening in Bankstown, Sydney later this year, while Mecca has 97 stores.
The Adore store experience sits somewhere between the glamorous, colourful hustle of Mecca and Sephora’s hectic bustle beneath bright lights. “We wanted to feel elevated,” Laing says.
Though not too elevated – the famous Tim Tam biscuits included in online orders will be available at the counter.
Adore Beauty chief executive Sacha Laing outside their first store at Southland shopping centre.Credit: Penny Stephens
While Adore Beauty has 300 brands online, only 50 are available in-store. Products ranging from budget-friendly La Roche-Posay skincare to luxury fragrances from Goldfields & Banks have been selected using data from online customers near Southland.
They are presented in a calm environment, saved from being clinical by touches of marble, timber and curved glass. Some important features can’t be seen, with Adore Beauty using AI to understand and shape customer behaviour.
“We’ve been working with Melbourne AI company black.ai,” says Laing. “Your shape will be provided with a unique identifier when you walk into the store. This technology is going to understand your movement through the store and what was on the front screen as you came inside.”
“As the AI evolves it will start to inform decisions moving forward. This is a digitally immersed store, deeply connected with our online ecosystem.”
With positive results for the first half of the financial year released today, including a 2.3 per cent increase to $103 million in revenue, Laing is confident that Adore Beauty is on track to looking better in years to come.
“We are filling the gaps in our customer base.”
The writer travelled to Southland as a guest of Adore Beauty.
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