American beauty takes online leap

By DITA De BONI

United States-based cosmetics giant Estee Lauder has launched itself into cyberspace, announcing a comprehensive internet retail strategy this week to keep pace with beauty industry competitors.

The company will offer a multi-brand beauty site - to be launched in 2001 - that will sell prestige products exclusively from the Estee Lauder-branded portfolio.

There will also be links to the individual sites that already represent subsidiary brands Clinique, Origins and Bobbi Brown.

Specially designed "microsites" will also be available on certain retailers' e-commerce sites, the company says.

The third strand of the internet assault is Estee Lauder's purchase of gloss.com, a popular internet beauty site which will be incorporated into Estee Lauder Companies Online.

Estee Lauder has not offered own-brand products over the web until now, fearing a net presence would undermine its global, multi-million dollar marketing campaigns and damage the exclusive image of the products.

The American company, along with Shiseido and L'Oreal, has not signed up to supply newly listed New Zealand e-tailer Beauty-Direct.com.

But they are all revising their possibilities, clearly spurred into action by the head start companies like BeautyDirect have in electronic cosmetics sales.

The president and CEO of Estee Lauder Companies, Fred Langham-mer, said in a statement the online opportunities for the company were immense.

"The strategy we are announcing ... will allow us to interact directly with millions of consumers, inviting them to experience our brands in an entertaining and informative way.

"Our strategy will also allow us to integrate our traditional and online distribution channels, which we believe is the most effective approach to this new marketplace."

Estee Lauder Companies, also incorporating high-profile brand names MAC, Tommy Hilfiger, Aveda and Donna Karan, reported net sales of NZ$4 billion and earnings of NZ$272.9m in the year to June 30, 1999.

A spokeswoman for Estee Lauder New Zealand, Penny Thompson, said while women could not buy Estee Lauder and its associated brands online here at the moment, the company would soon be offering products in conjunction with existing partners.

But as BeautyDirect was not an existing retailer of Estee Lauder products, it would not be considered for the online partnership, she said.

"We don't know exactly who at this stage, but I understand we will be talking to retailers who we want to partner."

BeautyDirect chief executive Bronwen Evans was overseas and unavailable for comment last night.

But she has said previously that she welcomes competition from other online cosmetics companies as it "raises the general level of buying online."