Triona McGinley, beauty director of Brown Thomas Arnotts: a 'huge proportion' of customers now shop on multiple channels. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
A report by consulting firm McKinsey and Company, which puts the value of the global beauty market at $430 billion , says the value of ecommerce in beauty nearly quadrupled between 2015 and 2022. And it is expected to grow by 12 per cent annually out to 2027 . “I invested more in a warehouse, a new warehouse system and a management team that actually could build that side of the business. We spent a good two years really perfecting that. Then, unfortunately, Covid hit but it had a really strong and positive effect for us,” she said.
“In the Irish landscape, it’s very, very competitive with UK players – Lookfantastic, for example. They’re absolutely global, they’re giants. They’re value driven, they’re very focused on the Irish market, and they’re very aggressive on their spend for ads. It can be a big challenge to compete in that space with the biggest online retailers,” she said.
The group reported total turnover of €319.3 million last year, with accounts noting increased investment in its digital offering. Earlier this year, chief executive Donald McDonald said Brown Thomas Arnotts’ digital business is now trading at three times the level it was in 2019. Triona McGinley, beauty director at Brown Thomas Arnotts: 'Planet Beauty has been so important to us because it makes sure that we are the destination, whether it’s online or in stores.' Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
“One of the main reasons behind Planet Beauty was to have the ability to on-trend and off-trend. It’s where we can quickly turn on and deliver products to our customers who have been suddenly sparked by waves of TikTok content and influencer endorsements,” she said, adding that her buying team are “always on” to try to get ahead of the latest trends.
“When it comes to online beauty, it could be 20 to 25 per cent , but at certain seasonal times, or if we put a big focus on a particular online campaign, it could go as high as 30 or 40 per cent,” she said. O’Hagan says they saw online business triple during the pandemic when they moved all non-essential retail to their website, and they had to double the size of their warehouse to cater to demand.
O’Hagan says the online store has been a means to vastly expand the business’s customer base without having to invest in bricks and mortar.