Health and beauty etail titan The Hut Group has snapped up Glossybox – we take a closer look at the cosmetics subscription box business.
- Glossybox was founded in 2011 in Germany by Charles von Abercron and now operates in 10 markets including the UK, US and France.
- The beauty box company sends its subscribers a personalised box of five products per month for £10 and an accompanying magazine – users can sign up for three-, six- or 12-month subscriptions or have boxes delivered on a rolling basis.
- Prior to being acquired by The Hut Group, Glossybox was owned by European investment firms Kinnevik Online and Rocket Internet. The latter has previously backed etail giants including Groupon, Hello Fresh and Zalando.
- The beauty start-up has a 200,000-strong global customer base and turned a profit for the first time in 2015.
- The retailer’s initial growth was punctured by an unsuccessful foray into Asia, from which it withdrew in 2013 following a lack of demand for its service.
- Glossybox’s UK division has partnered with retailers including Karen Millen and Harvey Nichols in recent years, and has also launched an editorial content platform called Beauty Unboxed, which offers make-up tutorials and product rankings.
- The start-up’s UK arm is run by Rachel Kavanagh who, prior to joining Glossybox, founded and ran beauty brand Rockstar Tan, which is sold in UK retailers including Boots and House of Fraser.
- The business will continue to be run by chief executive Caren Genthner-Kappesz, who took over from Abercron in January 2016. Genthner-Kappesz previously ran eBay subsidiary Shopping.com and acted as chief operating officer for German ecommerce platform Brands4friends.
- Glossybox stocks products from more than 100 brands and retailers across make-up, skincare and haircare categories including L’Occitane, Primark and Nuxe.
- The etailer has dedicated teams in Paris, Milan, Tokyo and New York to track developing beauty trends and an overall team of more than 300 employees.
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