This week, I talked to Nielsen IQ about its new data-sharing partnership with Sephora. Additionally, Glossier gets in on the body-mist craze, and Quince takes a stab at beauty retail.
What’s behind Sephora’s data-sharing partnership with Nielsen IQ
Sephora already keeps a tight watch on its millions of beauty shoppers. But the LVMH-owned retail powerhouse will now have additional insight into beauty consumers thanks to a new data-sharing partnership with Nielsen IQ, unveiled in June.
“The partnership allows us to bring even greater precision and depth of beauty measurement,” said Jacqueline Flam Stokes, svp of beauty, drug and OTC at NIQ. “Sephora is obviously extremely sophisticated in being able to collect first-party data and really understand their consumer. With this, Sephora gains expanded visibility in how these beauty trends are playing out across the broader retail landscape.”
The insights will go both ways and cover the U.S. and Canada beauty markets. Sephora will receive NIQ data, and NIQ will receive Sephora data in weekly reports, which NIQ will aggregate into overall data on the beauty market for its clients. Flam Stokes said the partnership is another step forward for the consumer intelligence company’s investment in understanding the beauty market.
“Several years ago, Nielsen IQ made the decision to expand much more deeply into beauty and into premium beauty,” she said. “We’ve been having conversations across the landscape to be able to not only enhance market coverage, but also allow us to unlock value to premium beauty retailers like Sephora.”
The beauty retail landscape is only growing more complex and competitive in those years. On the mass end of the market, Ulta Beauty raised its full-year outlook for 2025 after a strong Q1. On the prestige end, Cassandra Grey has been rebuilding her luxury retailer Violet Grey after she purchased it back from Farfetch in September. In June, DTC retailer Quince announced the launch of a beauty marketplace with brands like Augustinus Bader and Irene Forte.
Consumers who buy prestige beauty are not only shopping in a handful of retailers anymore. They’re shopping across mass, drug, premium and alternative channels,” said Flam Stokes. “[The partnership] unlocks the ability for [Sephora] to benchmark across the full beauty market. That includes mass, drug, specialty, online and emerging channels like TikTok Shop. And that will help enable them to make more informed decisions, whether about assortment, marketing, brand partnerships or even their own brand development with the Sephora brand.”
But while beauty has been steadily growing, with categories like fragrance in particular seeing nonstop growth, the sector is not invincible. Flam Stokes said she is curious to see if and how premium beauty consumers may switch to lower-priced offerings, particularly as non-traditional beauty retailers like Trader Joe’s amp up their private label beauty offerings.
“We know consumer sentiment has hit a low point in recent months. And so, with that said, we are looking at how consumers might be potentially trading down, and where that leaves categories and product segments,” she said. “Beauty is not completely resilient, but it’s much more resilient than other categories. You have a consumer that purchases on emotion with lots of regularity and replenishment, which is highly attractive across the board and certainly fits very nicely into the offerings that Nielsen has across the board.”
Executive moves:
- The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. named Lisa Sequino as president of the makeup brand cluster. Sequino was previously CEO of sunscreen brand Supergoop. She will oversee the growth of brands including Mac, Bobbi Brown and Too Faced.
- Coty appointed Mario Kirchner as managing director for the DACH region. Kirchner has been with Coty since 2016 and will oversee the conglomerate’s growth in the German-speaking region.
- Violet Grey named Tracy Kline as group president. Kline, previously an executive at beauty retailer Bluemercury, will oversee Violet Grey’s team, supply chain, marketing and merchandising in the new role.
News to know:
- Huda Kattan bought back full ownership of her namesake beauty brand from TSG Consumer Partners. The early-day beauty YouTuber sold a minority stake of Huda Beauty to TSG Consumer in 2017. Kattan stated that Huda Beauty will pursue innovation and authenticity under its new independent ownership.
- DTC clothing brand Quince will begin selling beauty products in June. Quince’s new beauty platform will use a marketplace model to sell high-end skin-care brands like Augustinus Bader and Irene Forte, with products sold on Quince’s website fulfilled by the brands directly.
- Glossier is expanding to body mists. The beauty brand known for its blockbuster You perfume will launch a body mist version of its Orange Blossom Neroli and Sandstone scents, which are already available in deodorant form. Sephora app users will receive early access on June 16 before a full rollout at Sephora and Glossier stores on June 17.
- Hero Cosmetics named gymnast Jordan Chiles as its new global ambassador. The Olympic gold medalist will host a live event later in the year to connect with fans of the pimple-patch brand. Hero Cosmetics previously tapped influencer Alix Earle as its first ambassador in 2024.
Stat of the week:
Creatine searches on Amazon increased 42% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to social media insights agency Front Row. Front Row data also found searches for NAD rose 739%.
In the headlines:
Please don’t start asking for the “Kylie Jenner Boob Job.” The kids are buying luxury niche fragrances on websites you’ve never heard of. They smelt the future – and took it online. Amazon prepares to test humanoid robots for delivering packages.
Listen in:
Perhaps the biggest beauty news of the year came last Wednesday when E.l.f. Beauty announced its acquisition of Rhode, the 3-year-old brand launched by Hailey Bieber. On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty podcast, Glossy talks to Brit Starr, CMO at influencer marketing platform Creator IQ, about how Rhode rose above its celebrity founder.
Need a Glossy recap?
How Benefit is reimagining the customer journey with AI. Sephora Strategies: Sol de Janeiro became Sephora’s top-selling brand in 2024. Now it needs to stay on top. L’Oréal is putting AI at the center of its global marketing strategy. MAC kicks off Pride Month with new Viva Glam lip gloss in collaboration with Kim Petras. Why the women of ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ are landing big beauty deals.
