Global beauty firm deal to boost tech firm growth
TYNESIDE tech firm SoPost is set for major growth after sealing a deal with one of the biggest beauty firms in the world.
The Newcastle firm has been helping brands run powerful product sampling campaigns for the last 12 years, harnessing data and analytics to help boost their clients’ market share.
SoPost already works with global companies such as L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Reckitt, and Coty; sends one sample every couple of seconds; and last year announced the launch of voice-activated sampling campaigns through Amazon Alexa.
The company, which has 65 staff members and turned over £13.88m in most recent accounts for 2022, has now launched a partnership with Shiseido UKI, a luxury cosmetics company with roots in Japan.
As the fifth largest beauty company in the world, with brands now sold in over 120 countries and regions, Shiseido Group’s partnership with SoPost is set to accelerate SoPost’s growth.
Shiseido has partnered with SoPost as their local digital sampling platform to drive their UK product sampling strategy and market share. SoPost will be powering nine of Shiseido’s brands’ sampling strategies across social, direct-to-consumer and retailers in the UK market, including Shiseido, Serge Lutens, Drunk Elephant, Narciso Rodriguez, Tory Burch, Ulé, Issey Miyake, NARS and Zadig & Voltaire.
And while the Newcastle business isn’t allowed to reveal financial details of the deal, founder and CEO Jonny Grubin highlighted how it marks a milestone partnership.
He said: “It’s a significant partnership that unlocks a lot of growth for us.
“It is always incredibly exciting when a brand group as prestigious as Shiseido chooses SoPost as their trusted partner. Proudly headquartered in Newcastle but with experience in 30 countries, we are uniquely positioned to help Shiseido run innovative and impactful sampling campaigns that grow their market share in the UK.
“We are so excited by this partnership and I cannot wait to see the impact that our best-in-class platform delivers for their teams.”
Shiseido UKI’s Angharad Jones, senior e-retail partnership manager, and Géraldine Jacquinot, marketing director skincare, added: “We’re thrilled to be joining forces with such an innovative and visionary partner for our UK digital sampling strategy.
Working across many premium brands, it’s crucial for us to find synergies, efficiencies and economy of scale, whilst ensuring digital marketing activations enable us to connect with the consumer at relevant touch points through an integrated, seamless online/offline experience.
“SoPost allows us to build more sophisticated sampling strategies by leveraging their strong media and retail media network which is a key priority for our growth in the UKI market.
“We were immediately impressed by the SoPost team; especially their energy, collaboration and reactivity! We can’t wait to deliver best-in-class campaigns together for the year ahead.”
Mr Grubin said the deal adds to a strong period for the company, with growth across a number of territories as it targets new ones. The firm already has a presence in London, New York, Paris, Berlin and, most recently, Sydney, but it is now looking to expand its overseas reach.
He said: “Business overall is great – we’re growing in every region and developing plans for India now. We’re seeing particularly strong growth in the US, DACH region, France and Australia.
“There’s a lot of international success happening and our model is proving to be resilient against the economic headwinds.”
The company’s head office now also has one of the best views in the North East, having recently relocated to the 12th floor of Bank House.
Mr Grubin added: “We moved to Bank House at the start of January – it’s amazing. We have a 24-desk office and it’s a fantastic new home for us, much better suited to hybrid working.”
There’s a lot of international success happening and our model is proving to be resilient against economic headwinds
CEO Jonny Grubin