With the New York City skyline as the backdrop, brands, retailers, and suppliers from around the globe gathered at Spring Studios in Tribeca for the 2024 BeautyMatter FUTURE50 Summit.
The sold-out event kicked off with the takeover of Spring Place, NY, for an intimate evening of cocktails and dinner created in collaboration with Executive Chef Fabio Bano. The energy was electric as the BeautyMatter community gathered at carefully curated tables to celebrate the founders and teams behind this year's FUTURE50 brands.
"FUTURE50 does an incredible job of bringing together so many diverse perspectives from our industry in a very short period of time," says Jeff Lee, co-founder and CEO of DIBS Beauty, one of the companies honored at the event. "As a brand, we're thrilled to have been recognized, and as a founder and CEO, I found the event incredibly helpful to maintaining and establishing new connections with our partners and peers."
The next day started with attendees, eager to get networking, lined up for the opening of registration at 8 a.m. BeautyMatter's founder and CEO Kelly Kovack and co-founder and President, John Cafarelli set the stage for the day, reminding the full house that at its core BeautyMatter is a community.
Launched in the fall of October 2016 as an idea, it turned into a side hustle and, ultimately, a business claiming a space on the global beauty stage. Looking at the crowd of 350 people in a fully activated space of 15,000 square feet, Kovack shared, "I am not sure this is what I had in mind when BeautyMatter started rattling around in my head 12 years ago, but we've built a space and you have filled it. BeautyMatter doesn't exist without the community."
Cafarelli recounted how often attending industry events can be daunting because beauty folks like to travel in packs. While there is safety in numbers, it makes it challenging for some to network, often sending some to the sidelines busying themselves on their phones—they're usually not busy; they don't know anyone. The consummate connector, he broke the ice encouraging people to talk to strangers and prompting the audience to introduce themselves to those around them. The networking began.
"This was my first year attending FUTURE50. I was thrilled to connect with many industry leaders and see friends at the event," comments Ian Michael Crumm, celebrity esthetician and co-host of BeautyCurious podcast. "The content programming was meaty and thought-provoking, leaving me with new ideas to implement in the coming year. I'm very much looking forward to the next one!"
Irina Barbalova, Global Lead, Health and Beauty, Euromonitor International set the stage with insights and data presented from the group’s most recent research on the current state of the evolving global beauty and wellness landscape. The content program was kicked off with a fireside chat between Kerry Robinson, SVP of Beauty and Personal Care, Walmart, and Shai Eisenman, founder and CEO of Bubble Skincare (2023 FUTURE50 brand). The topics dove into the current state of play in markets like China, India, and the Middle East, as well as insights on scale, brand building, investment, and the red-hot fragrance category.
"What I enjoyed about the FUTURE50 Summit is the opportunity to connect with and hear directly from emerging brands as well as leaders within the industry. The setting is energizing, and the discussions thought-provoking for an engaging day of inspiring content," Fei-Fei Zhang, Executive Director at J.P. Morgan, comments.
Kelly McPhilliamy, Managing Director, Consumer Group, Harris Williams, also had words of praise for the event. “What is so unique about FUTURE50 is its focus on the beauty brands everyone is talking about. It was a valuable opportunity to spend time with and hear from these brands in addition to the most active investors and industry leaders in the space. One comment that stood out to me was an investor remarking, 'things haven’t happened until they happen.' From a M&A standpoint, I took this as a reminder there are multiple ways to be successful in beauty as a brand and as an investor,” she adds.
Intelligence, purpose, and a generosity of information echoed through all the panels of the day. When attendees weren’t busy networking, perusing the shelves of the marketplace, or posing alongside Touchland mascot Misty who made a surprise guest appearance at the event, they intently listened to the panelists share their unique viewpoints on topics keeping the industry abuzz.
Key Takeaways:
Gen Z vs Gen Alpha: Walmart is Gen Alpha's number one retailer. They are smart, digital savvy, and incredibly discerning when it comes to the brands and products they buy. “If Gen Z can see right through you, Gen Alpha is a whole new version of that,” says Eisenman.
Top 10 Markets: Looking at the top countries, the US, China, and Brazil are expected to maintain the top three spots. Mexico jumped in growth, and South Korea is set to replace Italy as a top 10 market in 2028.
Investment: Investors don’t want too much concentration risk in one category. They are looking for refinement around profitability and companies with healthy cash management and product diversification. Buyers are more cautious of mega brands that are incredibly young.
China: The Chinese market is fast-moving and constantly changing. It's more competitive, expensive and no longer the growth engine it once was. In the past, brands could earn $3 for every $1 they invested. Today, brands are losing money on acquisition.
India and Middle East: Both markets have some of the youngest populations with the highest consumption of social media globally. They are looking for brands that speak to their lifestyle aspirations and personal references like quality, transparency, and sustainability.
Ingredient Innovation: Biotech companies are launching brands because there is no financial incentive to innovate ingredients solely. One of the leading suncare active ingredients used in 40% of suncare products manufactured only generates $14 million in annual revenue.
Regulatory: While everyone has been focused on MoCRA, extended producer responsibility (EPR) packaging laws have been enacted in four states: California, Colorado, Oregon, and Maine; and Maryland is taking the first steps in enacting EPR legislation as well.
Scale: You only get one shot with a retailer; select it carefully. Enter retail at the right time and with the right partner for your brand to build a system for growth. Don’t underestimate the operational requirement and have a strong team to accommodate the needs of that next chapter.
Fragrance: Distribution is the biggest hurdle to scaling a fragrance brand. To reach the $100 million mark requires a global footprint built with distributors which takes a lot of the control out of the brand’s hands—and a huge chunk of the brand’s margins.
