Prama Bhatt, Chief Digital Officer, Ulta Beauty
Raina Moskowitz, Chief Operating Officer, Etsy
Interviewer: Maria Aspan, FORTUNE 


MPW Next Gen 2022 - Bright Spots In Retail

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MPW Next Gen 2022 - Bright Spots In Retail


between the pandemic advancements in technology and the way the world has changed in general. It's safe to say that consumer behavior has dramatically transformed many retailers are warning investors of stock dips and consumer decline. And while this is true for most companies were going to sit down with two retail leaders who are successfully navigating this very tricky market prom a bat, chief digital officer at Ulta Beauty uses a human first design approach that has resulted in significant growth for the retailer. And Raina Moskovitz is the chief operating officer of sc where she leads the company's strategy to unlock new growth and revenue driving opportunities over the last few years has seen a great expansion in its customer base along with a large number of repeat buyers. So what's in the special sauce for both of these retailers here to discuss these business opportunities? Please welcome prom a and Raina for a conversation with fortunes Maria aspen. So we realized that you're all stretched and also we're all that's standing between you and lunch are sitting between you and lunch. So we're gonna try to keep the fun. Yeah, I don't know how we follow follow the stretching routine. Well, let's talk about makeup and makers. What is Um, what is your secret sauce? You know, we, we heard today that US retail sales were up 1.3% and that was like stronger than expected. So in this terrible and grinding retail environment. Um how have you both kind of broken through? Uh, well, I think one retail has been um, is always dynamic. The pandemic probably just heightens the level of dynamism um and uh you know, really responding I think and understanding needs of our members, our consumers, our guests that are um are beauty enthusiasts and uh following the signals they're sending in terms of their different needs they had. Even through the phase of the pandemic, uh through the pandemic, it could have been a. D. I. Y. Phase, it could have been a self care phase, and some of these phases weren't phases at all, they fundamentally altered. Um You know, the way we think about the beauty journey. So I would say for us um really paying attention, listening and learning uh not only to the data but directly from our member base and responding to those needs um has helped us continue to be resilient and uh and innovate uh through the pandemic and post pandemic For Etsy. Our mission is to keep commerce human and we're a platform that connects nearly 90 million consumers with over five million creative entrepreneurs around the world. And we have over 100 million items for sale on sc. And so for us it's really about creating a differentiated experience. So much of retail and e commerce has been defined by, you know, how cheap is something, how quickly can it arrive and as few quick as possible. And there is uh and leading to a lot of commoditization and there's a role for that of course. Um But I think what's really allowed us to grow and thrive is by offering something that's different and a really personalized and human shopping experience. Um mama, I bought makeup for the first time in a few, like in a year for this conference, like how I want to celebrate that. Me too, very excited about my new lipstick. But as we are in this sort of quasi post pandemic return to work, return to travel environment, How do you see that playing out for all to see customer base in your business? Yeah. You know, beauty is a very personal category. And even through those storms that we talked about with the pandemic, uh the role it serves in the lives of our consumer base. We really talk about our brand purpose being about bringing um you know, the possibilities to life through the power of beauty. But really beauty on your own terms. Um Beauty is self expression. Beauty is self care. Beauty is empowerment. Um and we really see uh you know that resonating well um and keeping that relationship with beauty alive because it's because it is so personal. Um So we've seen strong returns um coming out of 2020 you might have heard some terms like the lipstick effect or uh you know, maybe you weren't wearing uh weren't doing the same routine when you were on zoom calls, but you know, I don't know about you guys, I got tired of looking at myself all the time um on those calls and uh so, you know, finding new routines, um so I would say that's uh something that we definitely see in terms of the way we think about the beauty journey and the response and the way we see the behavior of beauty enthusiasts. The last thing I'll leave you is this intersection and I heard a lot of it uh through the conference, which is beauty and wellness and really making sure that when we talk about beauty, we're not talking about it superficially as something on the outside. Um we are really talking about whatever it means um from an inside out perspective or however each each individual defines uh you know, beauty for for themselves. So that intersection with beauty and wellness um is also something we see resonating and something that we think is here to stay. Uh one more question on the beauty industry in general. Of course, we saw the Estee lauder announcement planned deal to take over tom ford um for $2.8 billion. How do you see that reshaping the competitive landscape? Well, you know, um we have really great relationships with our brand partners um and uh each of our key brand partners, our portfolio of brands across hair, skin and makeup across price points. Um and we really love that about our assortment and are offering bringing a lot of diversity and inclusion uh to meeting the needs from a value perspective to uh you know, to prestige perspective. So you'll find everything from master prestige. And so when we think about those relationships with our consumers and we think about those relationships with our brand partners uh you know the more robust of a brand portfolio we have so we can serve the needs of every beauty enthusiasts in the way that they see fit across the categories that we have across the price points that we have. Um And including um as we bring, you know, we have services in every one of our stores. So the stronger our brand partnerships, the stronger our brand portfolio, the more we're meeting the needs of more beauty enthusiasts. I know I want to go back to what you were saying about sort of the patients of the S. C. Customer especially as we're approaching the holiday season. Um Do you feel like customer and consumer behavior has shifted given all of the sort of delays in the supply chain that we sort of all lived through for everything from peloton bikes to toilet paper in the past few years. So you know what's unique about our business model is we've been incredibly resilient and have not faced those types of supply chain issues. So again as I mentioned, we have over 100 million items for sale from over five million creative entrepreneurs and our business models able to adapt and when you shop on Etsy you're buying directly from the maker. So the item you're purchasing is not passing through uh, you know, a long supply chain, It's not passing through a lot of different handoffs, causing delays. And I think um you know, really the most incredible example that we saw this was in april 2020 when the CDC came out and said, you know, they recommended wearing masks and retailers scrambled. You know, no one was making masks. And literally overnight our sellers started, you know, who were, who were selling wedding dresses, who were selling sweaters, whatever whatever they were they pivoted and they were able to meet an incredible surge in demand for face masks. And so that was that was a really incredible moment just given the backdrop of the pandemic and our sellers rising to the challenge. But I think it really demonstrates the resilience and flexibility of our model too. Both respond to big moments and supply chain opportunity and and also to shifting trends and consumer behaviors. So, you know, I think again, it's and it's why he's been able to meet the needs of our consumers because our sellers are able to respond to trends. And I think, as you mentioned earlier, we're also in a moment where consumers are open to trying new things and building new habits. And so as he's also an incredible place to discover new items and to discover new brands. I want to open it up to questions in a minute. But um just to follow up on that, uh what are you seeing from consumer behavior right now? Like what are, what are we interested in? Yeah. So you know, first of all consumers have more options than they've had in a very long time. And so that means e commerce, but also as you said, we can now thank goodness to go out to dinner and we can travel and so there's a lot um that we have to compete against in terms of what consumers are looking for and how they want to spend their money, but what we are seeing is people are creating, people are ready to um to celebrate a little bit even with everything going on. So in terms of trends, you know, we're seeing Hot Pink has been very much trending um throughout the year. People are looking for vibrant art and um and jewelry and um and just festive moments. So we see that people are looking to gather this holiday season, and so they're looking for um for decor and and opportunities to really make their gatherings more festive. Uh Do we have questions in the room? We'll bring a mic over to you 1/2. Hi, I'm Jacqueline Brown with Workday and I'm so excited to have the two of you here. I'm curious about the fc business model, how does it differ from, let's say the the Ebay business model or some of those other business models where they have platforms where entrepreneurs get to sell their products. Sure, so C is a global e commerce marketplace and we connect buyers who are looking to purchase from independent artists and makers and so there are a lot of similarities but we really focused on unique handmade goods and also vintage goods. Um So we're different from other resellers or re commerce and also from Ebay, you know, who has cars and electronics and other things. So really our core businesses around home and living, jewelry, accessories, um some other categories that focus more on handmade and unique items. Got a question over here, Thank you kelly, Robin, transformational management consultant with insignia. Um We deal a lot in innovation, so I'm curious what both of you have to say about what you see in innovation and transformation in each of the companies and brands that you represent for for us. C and an area that we're really focused on is around Discovery. And so, you know, it's amazing that we have so many items for sale on Etsy, but it's also overwhelming and um it leads to a lot of tyranny of choice when you're shopping and you're trying to narrow down what you're looking for. And also sometimes you don't quite know how to describe what you're looking for. And so we're really innovating in areas around search and Discovery to make it easier to find what you're looking for, whether it's through um new image search functionality or through video. Um we're really experimenting a lot here to make it a delightful experience. Um it's you know if you're browsing but also helping you to narrow down the results even faster. Um so that's that's certainly an area that we are really trying to lead and innovate in. Um one I would just second the fact that I was one of those buyers that went to, etc, and bought a face mask, I don't know how many others did, but thank you for for that. Um from an innovation perspective, you know, we've been on a journey to continue to kind of bridge physical and digital experiences and be relevant at different moments along the beauty journey from an innovation perspective we picked a few areas and technologies that we think enable the kinds of beauty experiences that can be differentiated that are differentiated because they're grounded in data and insights, but they're also very personal and human. A little bit of the theme that you that you heard from Raina. So those areas for us um are around uh leveraging ai and intelligence around personalization and I know personalization is a word that gets thrown out a lot in different ways, but you know, really being able to insert yourself in the e commerce journey with an appropriate quiz or or you know, a beauty tips or tool that makes sense. Um uh if you spend any time on our Ulta beauty app um we have a glam lab a virtual try on capability for makeup for hair for lashes. I mean lashes are a thing, I don't know how many of you, I haven't gotten to the point where I'm, I'm wearing lashes, I'll just be truth be told on that. But our our our member base and our consumers lashes are a big trend and to be able to virtually try on a whole host of styles related to lashes um before you buy is just, you know, a friction reducer as well as a little bit of fun, you know, which is what all this is. A, so that's just one area we've been focused on, we've also been focused on taking that same kind of virtual Tryon. If you think about your mobile device and the camera and augmenting your face essentially you're augmenting your hair, coloring, your hair styling, trying a different style, you can use that same technology to augment your store environment. And so how do we make discovery of product in our store using your own mobile device, Whether it be easy ways to bring views or how twos are quick, get ready with me there. Uh, you know, educational tips as your, as your browsing our store. So I would say for us, you know, when we think about innovation, we're thinking about data driven experiences but that really intersect in a human way and that's all the need, uh whether it's virtual try on, we have a personalized skin analysis. Um and these other augmented experiences when you're in our physical stores hire me. I'm Denise from Deloitte. And personally probably I've contributed to your market growth at Ulta with my many part of the reason I shop at also is because you have such a wide range of products by and for women of color. Can you talk a little bit about your journey around supplier diversity and where you see yourself going? Yeah, that's a great question. We're really proud about the fact that we live in an industry in a space that uh really embraces diversity and inclusion and uh and beauty for all. Uh and we believe it's our responsibility to continue to drive um diversity inclusion, build community. Uh and uh we've been more intention. Uh in 2021 we committed to the 15% pledge um in terms of ensuring that we're allowing for appropriate representation and allocation of space within um within our um product portfolio. Uh this year we committed $50 million to continue to drive uh diversity and inclusion. Some of the areas that were, you know, investing um specifically about $10 million on brand marketing related uh to supporting our black led brands are black founded brands are black owned brands. And that's a very specific commitment. We've also made a $25 million dollar commitment across uh driving engagement and marketing activities across multicultural platforms so ensuring that representation um and appropriate. You know, uh fairness is definitely our focus um and also other programs that are more strategic, like an accelerator through our music program where we're really building relationships with very small um and upstart brands that are emerging. So those are a few examples of how we think about diversity and inclusion related to kind of what we're bringing to the marketplace. But I would say, you know, part of the journey that we're on, and while we're so proud, we know there's so much more to do, which is ensuring that the way we think about, you know, our team members, the way we think about every single business process, uh you know, it is at the core of our brand purpose and D. N. A. But making sure we're really being intentional in it. Being, you know, literally linked to everything we do every single day from an operating process perspective is something maybe behind the scenes that doesn't have the visibility of an investment, but something that's equally important to us. Can I ask you to, because he has a slightly different business model, but I'm curious how you're thinking about this behind the scenes. Absolutely. So, so, first I love just thinking about it starts with who you hire and your workforce and how you get work done. And so I love that foundational E and F. C. Has focused on diverse of our employee base for many years and have made a lot of progress there when you have more diverse teams that leads to better products that leads to better decisions. And so that's been the Foundation over the past few years. We've also established several public diversity goals around our marketplace as well. And so we've been also very intentional about our marketing efforts and how do we make sure that S. C. Is a diverse, inclusive and equitable place to both shop and sell. And so we think about both sides, and so a lot of it is in our marketing, um the skin tones that we feature when you come to the site, we think about the merchandise that we promote, um and and um and making sure that that is diverse again, featuring black owned shops, latin owned shops, a p I community shops. And so we also have a mission to focus on um on communities that don't have access to bringing their goods online. And so we have an uplift Makers Fund that enables communities to bring their goods online. We launched an afghan refugee collective um campaign this year. And so bringing those makers goods online has been a great opportunity as well. And so again, lots more to do. But we're sort of laying the Foundation and making public commitments as well to progress just one Well, go ahead, I'm afraid that we are out of time, but I think this is both. Um this is a really these are two really great bright spots to end on. So, thank you both so much for joining us and please join me in, thanking our panelists. Thanks for having me.