The beauty industry has shown its resilience during the COVID-19 crisis and more and more brands are emerging in this sector.
Retail in Asia had the pleasure to interview Natasha Moor, Founder and CEO of Natasha Moor Cosmetics, about her business amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Watch the video and learn the story behind the brand Natasha Moor.
RiA: How did Covid-19 affect the business?
Natasha: Globally, the beauty industry is strong and only getting stronger, 85% of beauty-product purchases pre-COVID were made in-store (McKinsey, 2020), but Sephora US online sales reportedly increased by 30% in comparison to 2019 (Priya Rao, Glossy.co, 2020). We believe this growth will continue to take place within the digital arena.
During such uncertain times, we have seen Leonard Lauder’s coined term, the ‘lipstick index’, come into effect. This explains the principle that consumers see lipstick as an affordable luxury, therefore, even in times of struggle, sales tend to stay strong. Our first product in the collection was lipstick.
We recently discovered that our highly pigmented and 14-hour staying power Molten Matte liquid lipsticks are mask-proof: they don’t smudge under surgical masks. We’ve seen a steady growth in our lipstick sales through- out this period. I believe that lipstick is not only a staple in ones collection, but also serves a purpose of injecting and transforming confidence.
With that being said, given the ubiquity of masks that cover the nose and mouth, I believe that the ‘mascara index’ will come into effect. Consumers will be more inclined to spend on enhancing their eyes as it will be the most ‘visible’ part of the face – for the foreseeable future.
We have experienced a greater demand for our eye products, and saw this on August 17th, when we launched our Moor Power mascara at Sephora Hong Kong online. We sold out within the day, and since then have restocked several times.
Our business operations, despite the current conditions, have been rising steadily. While we are mainly an online brand, we have recently launched some of our products at Sephora Hong Kong’s Mini Mart pop up on Lee Tung Avenue, and now offer testers at their Windsor House and IFC locations.
We work with incredible partners that make our products accessible to our customer, such as Sephora Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, and most recently Macy’s. We have worked together to ensure that there are no delays for shipping and orders are being fulfilled seamlessly.
RiA: What tools are being used to retain customers and find new ones during Covid-19?
Natasha: During this period, I wanted to connect with my community in a greater and more personal way than before by developing our digital and social media presence. I love making real connections with my existing and new customers on a one-on-one basis, and often have conversations with them and provide advice; anything from shade matching concealer to recommending lipstick shades that would suit them.
I have also participated in several IG Live’s and have a few more in the pipeline. I believe this is a great way to engage with different personalities worldwide that have a common goal of empowering and inspiring individuals to be the best version of themselves.
Our goal has been to bring our community closer through aesthetically pleasing content that informs and educates on makeup, application techniques, but more importantly, the transformative power of makeup and it’s impact one one’s self-confidence.
RiA: What’s next for Natasha Moor?
Natasha: We are always working to expand our reach to ensure that our customer always has access to our products with ease. We have a few upcoming launches with partners in different parts of the world. This is an area we have been diligently working on and will continue to be a key area of focus.
At the moment, we have a diverse range of products in our portfolio, which encapsulates skin, eyes and lips. Most recently, we launched Kohl it Magic, our triple black long-stay eyeliner that shapes eyes to perfection and Moor Power, and our extreme volumising Moor Power mascara that envelops every lash for volume and length.
We have been working on several new products to add to the collection, as well as formulating new lipstick shades for our Molten Matte and Silk Suede ranges. We strive for perfection with each product we create, and often this means that we spend a lot of time on formulation to packaging.
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Last but not least, our #DoMoor philanthropic initiative is something that is very close to my heart, and continues to be a core focus for our brand and myself. Our most recent initiative, “Sole Mate”, was one that was created in tandem with our “Soulmate” lipstick shade.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the shade “Soulmate” goes towards gifting slippers to those in need. For this initiative, we worked with the Spark-A-Change Foundation in Mumbai. We hope to grow this initiative to other parts of the world, along with many others in the near future.