Retailers shine spotlight on Black-owned beauty brands
NEW YORK >> When Rose Ingleton launched her own namesake skincare line two years ago, she couldn’t break into the big chains and was forced to use her own funds and get financial help from family and friends.
But things changed after the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests last year. Ingleton, a Manhattan-based Black dermatologist with more than 20 years of experience, reconnected with beauty chain Sephora and now her products can be found on the retailer’s website as well as at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.
“There was this sudden awareness,” Ingleton said. “I am now at the top food chain. I’m now getting ready to approach deeper pocket investors.”
As corporations continue to face a racial reckoning,
the beauty industry is trying to address the criticism that it centers too many of its products around whiteness by pushing more items onto store shelves that better represent the diverse women they serve.
Retailers from Sephora to Walmart and Target have focused on increasing their
offerings of Black-owned brands across all categories as a key strategy to combat racial bias. They’re also developing entrepreneurship programs and trying to create a pipeline of new talent.
More than 20 companies including Sephora and most recently Ulta Beauty have signed onto a nationwide campaign called 15 Percent Pledge, which aims to have companies from all industries commit to at least 15% of their products on their shelves to Black-owned businesses — in line with the U.S. Black population.
Plenty more have not yet signed it, but some are forging their own path. Target, for instance, said it currently has 50 Black-owned and Black-founded beauty brands, with plans to continue increasing that number as part of its broader commitment to add more than 500 Black-owned brands by the end of 2025.
Retailers can’t afford to ignore this lucrative segment.
Last year, Hispanic consumers spent 6.1% more on beauty and other items compared with 2019, while Blacks spent 5.4% more, according to NielsenIQ. That pace exceeded the 3.5% increase for the total U.S. population.
And while NPD Group
Inc. found that Blackowned brands represent just 4% of sales in prestige makeup, they performed 1.5 to 4 times better in May, June and July 2020 — during the peak months of the Black Lives Matter movement — than the rest of the market, reversing their declines and reflecting a consumer appetite to support such businesses.
Still, overall progress has been slow. Ulta wants to double the number of Blackowned brands to 26 by yearend, but that will only get the penetration to 5%, says its chief merchandising officer Monica Arnaudo. Ulta and Sephora say they want to make sure the brands are financially successful.
Black entrepreneurs also argue they continue to be pigeon-holed by retailers and investors who think their products are only for women of color. And beauty brands catering to women of color continue in some cases to be locked up in stores — even after a number of stores including Walmart, CVS Health and Walgreens pledged last year they would end that practice.
Taydra Mitchell Jackson is the marketing director of The Lip Bar, a Blackowned brand based in Detroit, Michigan that’s now in more than 1,200 stores including Target and Walmart. She says retailers have to be careful not to think of adding merchandise from Black owners as just a token gesture.
“Merchandising is critical, but messaging and how I feel when I walk in the store are just as important,” Jackson said.
She noted some social media influencers complaining about Lip Bar items being locked up at Walmart, “creating a feeling of being inferior.” The brand is following up with the company.