‘Don’t be afraid to tell consumers ‘no you’re not right’ - Glossybox MD

The brand which offers a monthly sample subscription service of the latest skin care, perfume and other cosmetics for around £10, has a massive online community and relies on word of mouth referrals.

Speaking at a recent London based event, ‘The New Rules of Beauty PR and Marketing’, Rachel Kavanagh, managing director UK & Ireland declared that the ‘age of fear’ is over for beauty brands who she encourages to stand their ground against misplaced or unproductive criticism.

“The customer isn’t always right… brands are actually going to start saying 'no you’re not right'. We have an authority, we know our position and we stand by it. This is our channel so that fear has to stop because you can’t progress,” ​Kavanagh said at the Beauty Monitor event.

That, she says, includes hollow apologies and accepting blame just to save face.

‘It’s a community not a customer care platform’​

While this Glossybox MD is standing her ground, she states this does not mean that it or any other beauty brand should dismiss customer concerns or refuse to acknowledge its own mistakes. 

Rather, it’s about setting boundaries and providing customer experience for the rest of its subscribers in an environment where feedback is appreciated but not tolerated in an unproductive manner.

The brand has had its fair share of ups and downs…​

In 2015, after an expansion in Asia that nearly took the business under, Glossybox finally started to see a profit.

The beauty sampling trend took off over five years ago with the launch of US based firm Birchbox, which inspired the likes of this brand to get a piece of the action.

Despite doing well in Europe, Glossybox found itself having to downsize a workforce of 350 to 130 in 2013, after expanding into more than 20 markets including Asia.

Things started to look up in 2014 for the brand though, as it reported its' customer base to have grown by 25 per cent, despite having to cut marketing costs by 33 per cent.