Adore Beauty Explained

Adore Beauty
Industry:Cosmetics
Key People:Tamalin Morton (CEO)
Foundation:1999

Adore Beauty is an Australian online cosmetics retailer.[1] The company was founded in 1999 by Kate Morris and James Height and is based in the suburb of Northcote in Melbourne, Victoria.[2]

History

The company was founded in 1999 by Kate Morris, a 21-year-old business student, and her boyfriend James Height.[3] [4] Morris used savings and an A$12,000 loan from Height's parents to start the business, which she ran out of her garage.[5] [6] She found a company in the newspaper to build the first website, which cost A$8,000 and took six months.[7]

At first, the company only stocked two small Australian brands: Baiame and Santalia. The first mainstream brand, Bloom, signed on in 2002. Clarins signed on in 2006.

The company had a $2 million turnover by the end of 2010.[8] In 2014, the company secured a deal with Estee Lauder Companies to become an authorized agent for Clinique, Bobbi Brown and Estee Lauder brands.[9] That same year, the company earned over $7 million in revenue and ranked 29th in the Smart Company ‘Smart50’ Awards. Morris won the Innovation Award for Victoria in the 2014 Telstra Women's Business Awards.[10]

In 2015, Australian retailer Woolworths Limited bought a 25% stake in the company for an undisclosed sum. The investment grew the company 70% over one year.

The company reported an annual turn over of $16 million in 2016, carrying 150 brands and 10,000 products.[11] The company is an official online stockist of Dermalogica, ghd, Clarisonic, Lancôme, Benefit Cosmetics, Aesop and Kérastase.[12] The company's Findation service, which compares 22,000 foundations to find the best match, had 1.5 million users, as of 2015.[13]

In 2016, the company began expanding into China.[14] In 2017, Morris bought back Woolworths' 25% stake in the business, restoring her stake to 100%.[15] Morris and Height were co-CEOs until 2018 when Height became the sole CEO.[16]

In 2019, Morris sold 60% of Adore Beauty to Quadrant Private Equity.[17] In August 2020, Tennealle O'Shannessy took over as CEO from Height.[18] In October 2020, the company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.[19]

Tamalin Morton became CEO in January 2023 after O'Shannessy left the company the previous month.[20] In May 2023, Morris and Height announced they would step down from their executive roles (chief innovation officer and chief data officer, respectively) at the end of June but retain their boards seats.

Adore Beauty purchased Ikou, a wellness and skincare brand with three stores in New South Wales, in June 2024 for $25 million. The purchase will help the company improve its private label revenue and gave Adore Beauty its first physical retail footprint.[21]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Robb . Kirsten . 2015-05-15 . Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris: Why I sold a 25% stake in my $10 million business to Woolworths . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160414214453/http://www.smartcompany.com.au//finance/46941-adore-beauty-founder-kate-morris-why-i-sold-a-25-stake-in-my-10-million-business-to-woolworths/ . 2016-04-14 . 2022-09-24 . SmartCompany.
  2. Carmody, Broede. "Small business decides: Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris on the importance of high-speed internet." Smart Company. 26 May 2016
  3. Web site: Villanueva . Aaron Jefferson . 2014-09-15 . 29. Adore Beauty . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160307235027/http://www.smartcompany.com.au/lists/smartcompany-awards/smartcompany-awards-2014/43723-29-adore-beauty-2014/ . 2016-03-07 . 2023-05-01 . Smartcompany.
  4. Web site: Koehn . Emma . 2023-02-28 . Shoppers love its free Tim Tams, but can Adore Beauty weather the storm? . 2023-05-01 . The Sydney Morning Herald . en.
  5. Bogle, Ariel. "How to take a beauty website from an Australian garage to China." Mashable. 19 April 2016
  6. Cain, Alexandra. "Beauty in the eye of the online shopper." The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 July 2010
  7. Smith, Fiona. "Adore Beauty’s Kate Morris founded a $16 million business on cosmetics and code." Financial Review. 18 May 2016
  8. Carmody, Broede. "Four lessons in business success from Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris." Smart Company. 29 Jan. 2016
  9. Robb, Kirsten. "How I snagged a deal with Estee Lauder." Smart Company. 4 Dec. 2014
  10. Harper, Jane. "Woolworths snaps up 25 pc of online retailer Adore Beauty." The Courier Mail. 14 May 2015
  11. Ainomugisha, Gerald. "This Australian e-commerce site is tapping into the $100 billion Chinese beauty market." Australian Anthill. 28 Apr. 2016
  12. Hawkes, Helen. "Good grooming in one click." Financial Review. 23 July 2015
  13. Web site: Kelly . Jen . 2015-06-06 . Four Melbourne businesswomen reveal their secrets to success . subscription . 2022-09-24 . Herald Sun.
  14. Daquino, Laura. "Beauty Queen Eyes China." Business News Australia. 18 May 2016
  15. Web site: Waters . Cara . 2017-02-13 . Adore Beauty founder buys back stake from Woolworths . 2022-09-24 . The Sydney Morning Herald . en.
  16. Web site: LaFrenz . Carrie . 2023-05-01 . Adore Beauty founders to step aside, remain on board . subscription . 2023-05-01 . Australian Financial Review . en.
  17. Web site: Mitchell . Sue . 2019-09-16 . Adore Beauty eyes expansion as Quadrant takes 60pc stake . 2022-09-24 . Australian Financial Review . en.
  18. Web site: Evans . Simon . 2020-09-28 . Why the Adore Beauty co-founder brought in a helping hand . subscription . 2023-05-01 . Australian Financial Review . en.
  19. Web site: Huntington . Patty . 2020-10-23 . Australia's Adore Beauty Raises $192 Million in IPO . 2022-09-24 . WWD . en-US.
  20. Web site: 2022-11-25 . Australia's Adore Beauty names new CEO . 2023-05-01 . FashionNetwork.com . en-WW.
  21. Web site: LaFrenz . Carrie . 2024-06-28 . Adore Beauty snaps up Blue Mountains wellness brand Ikou for $25m . subscription . 2024-06-29 . Australian Financial Review . en.

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