- 来源|Cosmetic Business Online
- 作者|Shi Run Mei
Left the stage regrettably.
Recently, L'Oreal's makeup brand NYX Professional Makeup (hereinafter referred to as “NYX”) Tmall Overseas Flagship Store issued a notice announcing that it will end its operation on June 21, and will no longer accept new orders, and the goods that have been ordered will be shipped normally.
● From NYX Tmall Overseas Flagship Store
As of now, NYX official Tmall overseas flagship store has 184,000 fans and only 20 SKUs left in the store, of which the two highest-selling products are NYX 40-color Utopia Eyeshadow and 16-color Cowboy Plate Earthy Multi-Color Eyeshadow Palette, which were selected for the Hot List of Eyeshadows and Imported Eyeshadows Praise List respectively, with sales of more than 10,000 pieces. In addition, NYX Concealer Essence and Dual Head Mirror Glow Lip Glaze also made the Imported Concealers Hot List and Imported Lip Glazes Hot List, respectively.
It is worth noting that earlier this month, NYX's WeChat public number has also ended its operation. However, NYX's overseas Jingdong self-owned flagship store is still in normal business, and its customer service said it has no plans to close the store.
01
“M-A-C alternation”
L'Oreal takes $500 million
Public information shows that NYX by a Korean-American woman Toni Ko, founded in 1999 in the U.S. NYX brand name from the ancient Greek poet Hesiod's “Divine Genealogy” of the dark goddess Nyx. NYX is the U.S. famous cost-effective professional make-up brand, but also known as “M-A-C's pinto”.
● Toni Ko
NYX launched its first product, eye and lip makeup pencils, priced at only $1.99 each, which became so popular with many consumers that in the first year of the brand's existence, the company's sales reached $4 million, with a net profit of $2 million.
NYX is also a modern, digitally native cosmetics brand that is at the forefront of today's emerging beauty trends, followed on social media by top beauty vloggers, Instagram stars and their millions of followers, and is one of America's “Generation Z” favorite makeup brands.
Recognizing the influence of social media early in the brand's history, Toni Ko used KOLs to market her products. Additionally, NYX is sold in thousands of retail stores in over 70 countries worldwide, including specialty beauty and fashion stores including Ulta Beauty, CVS Pharmacy, Target, and more, as well as independent and beauty supply stores.
With an excellent digital and retail footprint, NYX quickly became one of the fastest growing makeup brands in the U.S. In 2014, NYX was acquired by L'Oréal for $500 million and became part of the mass cosmetics division. That same year, NYX reached $120 million in sales.
Under the L'Oréal Group's operations, NYX has enjoyed rapid growth, with the brand's sales up 78% year-on-year in 2015 and a whopping €450 million in 2016, a 125% increase year-on-year.
In the last two fiscal years, L'Oreal has publicly recognized NYX's contribution on several occasions. For example, in its 2023 annual results report and its first quarter 2024 financial report, L'Oréal mentioned that the color cosmetics business has grown significantly, driven by the combination of the Maybelline New York, L'Oréal Paris and NYX brands.
02
Had achieved the first direct marketing volume of Tmall International
In 2019, L'Oreal officially introduced NYX to China through the Fair. At the event, NYX debuted with its star items 6-color concealer, 16-color eyeshadow palette and setting spray. Also being introduced together at the time was American makeup brand URBAN DECAY.
The arrival of two new brands, NYX and URBAN DECAY, will be a strong addition to L'Oréal China's portfolio of color cosmetics brands, according to then L'Oréal China CEO Fabrizio Ferrari.
In the same year, NYX opened its official overseas flagship store on Tmall; in 2020, NYX was officially stationed in Tmall International Import Supermarket and Xiaohongshu platform; and in 2021, it opened its overseas Jingdong self-owned flagship store.
After entering the Chinese market, NYX also quickly achieved remarkable results. During the Tmall “618” in 2021, NYX also became the first makeup brand with the highest direct marketing volume on Tmall International, and its star single product, 16-color eyeshadow palette, makeup setting spray, and 6-color concealer palette, all succeeded in winning the Tmall International sales championship in three categories. Its multi-color concealer palette, eyeshadow palette, and lip glaze also became hot-selling products at one time.
On the XiaoHongShu platform, there are more than 90,000 NYX-related notes and a better reputation among consumers.
So why did it close its overseas flagship store on Tmall? The “retreat” is actually well documented.
Back in 2020, NYX saw one store withdrawal due to the impact of the epidemic. the official NYX brand said on Facebook that it announced a complete withdrawal from the Hong Kong and Macau markets in China. At the time, NYX had six retail outlets in Hong Kong and Macau - three flagship stores in Shatin, Mongkok and Tuen Mun, as well as three department store counters - all of which have now closed.
L'Oreal also mentioned in its first-half 2020 financial report that the group's mass cosmetics division declined 9.4% year-on-year, mainly due to the impact from the epidemic on the color cosmetics category, with Maybelline and NYX color cosmetics both experiencing serious declines.
In addition, CBO observed that NYX's WeChat public number also ended its operations earlier this month, and the NYX NiSe WeChat video number was discontinued in June last year. Neither the Xiaohongshu nor Douyin stores have any products for sale, and the last video under the official account was posted in late January.
Although NYX has a presence on Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu and other youth-focused social media platforms, the frequency of the brand's direct interactions with fans and consumers and the connections it generates are relatively small.NYX entered Xiaohongshu in 2020, and currently has only 24,000 followers, and the official Douyin account has only 58,000 followers.NYX's overseas Jingdong self-owned flagship store, although still open for business, has only 22 items on sale.
Since last year, there are a lot of overseas makeup brands successively “retreat”, LVMH Group's high-end makeup brand Benefit announced the closure of Tmall, Jingdong, Douyin, and many other e-commerce platforms, leaving only Sephora this sales channel; South Korea's affordable makeup BBIA closed Tmall's flagship overseas store; the United States affordable makeup e.l.f Temporarily leave the Chinese market; Japan's natural and organic makeup Naturaglace closed its overseas flagship store......
Many of these brands, in the overseas market is still very “popular”, but with the rise of national makeup, there are many brands that can fight with overseas makeup, with a variety of colors, a wide range of categories, excellent quality and the ability to quickly respond to market trends, local makeup has a great advantage. For those brands that do not adapt to the changes in the Chinese market, their “retreat” is inevitable.