AS Beauty Group’s Sara Mitzner: ‘We keep women 40 and older in mind’ at every stage of the brand

Mitzner has led many of AS Beauty brands’ biggest marketing moves, including Laura Geller Beauty pivoting its strategy to attract and acquire more mature consumers. According to Mitzner, in April, AS Beauty Group’s sales were up 140% year-over-year. “It’s been fun for me to be at a company in an industry that they always say is recession-proof,” Mitzner told Glossy.

On this week’s episode of The Glossy Beauty Podcast, Mitzner discusses the future of AS Beauty Group and the Gen X opportunity in beauty. Excerpts from the discussion, below, have been lightly edited for clarity

Reaching women over 40 via Laura Geller Beauty
“We keep women 40 and older in mind at all stages of the brands, and that does make a difference. For example, as we age, our skin tends to dry, so it’s important that you’re using formulas that are hydrating and aren’t going to dry you out. So when we’re developing our products [across our portfolio], we’re making sure [to include] hyaluronic acid, centella asiatica and other ingredients that are going to be hydrating, and that makeup is going to look good on mature skin. If it looks good on mature skin, it’ll look great on younger skin, as well. It’s a mindset when we’re in the development process, and the same thing with our marketing strategy — it focuses on women over 40. We’re dedicated to only featuring women over 40 on the website and our social media channels. … It’s not that we’re excluding younger women — we love younger women, as well. We love all of our customers, and we have customers of all ages. We’re just focusing on women over 40. … We’re careful that it’s not mature unnecessarily, not negative and not a mindset. Our Geller consumers are living their best lives, having the most fun they’ve ever had, owning their age, owning the place they’re in, in life, their wisdom and their experience. They’re not someone who’s just passively watching their life go by or isn’t relevant. Our feeling is that they’re actually so relevant and the backbone of all of our societies and doing the work, whether it’s in the workforce or at home. They’re also present in our community, and we have to shine a light on that.”

Discounting in the beauty industry
“This isn’t my first time being at a promotional sales strategy brand that focuses on it — I’m used to it. It goes a long way. Our history for Laura Geller is in QVC, and QVC has always put a premium on offering amazing prices and quality products for their customers. Since we started on QVC, our customers have been based on the ideology that they love beauty and are looking for something quality but also looking for a great price. We sit in that luxury space — and our DTC business and our Amazon business have a lot to do with this — but we are able to offer amazing prices for our customers. We want our products to be accessible, and we want all women over 40 to wear Laura Geller — that’s our goal. … We’re trying to get into as many hands as possible, and the only way to do that is to make it as accessible as we possibly can for our customer. It’s been a successful business model for us, and we’ve grown astronomically since 2019 when the company bought Laura Geller, so it’s definitely working. It feels great to get a bargain. … Even though, when you’re over 40, you have a bit more extra money to spend, you still want to be careful with your choices. Our product is so great for that because we make the majority of our products in Italy — it’s hand-baked in Italy and hand-finished by Italian artisans. … So you’re getting made-in-Italy, hand-finished product for an amazing price. … It’s definitely rare, especially in the luxury goods space of beauty. But I’m so proud that we’re able to offer this to our customers.”