Beauty & Wellness Briefing: How beauty brands are winning new customers on Reddit 

Launched in 2005, Reddit is an alternative social network where users can post text and multimedia assets and create conversation threads, known as subreddits, across topics. Popular beauty-focused subreddits include r/SkincareAddiction, which boosts 4.4 million members, and /r30PlusSkincare, which has 2.1 million members. 

Reddit went public on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year. In its third quarter ending September 30, Reddit’s daily active unique visitors increased 47% year-over-year to reach 97.2 million. The site currently has more than 500 million user accounts and, according to Reddit, one in five conversations on the site are related to purchase decisions and product categories. 

The number of beauty brands tapping into Reddit’s user base has grown over the past few years, with skin-care brands finding unique success. As previously reported by Glossy, L’Oréal-owned Thayers skin care saw a 213% increase in click-through-rate during a 2022 Reddit campaign. Ulta Beauty leaned into Reddit the same year, as reported by Glossy sister publication Modern Retail, as a reaction to Apple iOS14 privacy changes. Reddit doesn’t require cross-app tracking for targeted advertisements. 

More recently, in 2023, Amorepacific-owned K-beauty brand Laneige debuted on the site, as previously reported by Glossy. Laneige, known for its cult-status lip balms, found success, reporting a 50% higher click-through rate than Reddit’s beauty vertical benchmark and a 42% higher video completion rate than Reddit’s beauty vertical benchmark for six-second videos.

Fast-forward to this year and we see Sephora leaning in. On December 4, Sephora produced its first three-hour live AMA, short for “Ask me anything,” on Reddit with four of its beauty directors. During the event, the experts accepted questions from users about holiday gifts as well as general beauty and shopping questions. The chat was all done within Sephora’s user profile, u/Sephora, with Q&As posted to Sephora’s page for all users to read. 

Sephora’s user account was launched in 2019, but this AMA was the company’s foray into creating content for the site. It’s part of a strategy to tap into the discussion already happening on the subreddit page r/Sephora, which discusses the retailer and its offerings but is not associated with the retailer. It currently has 835,000 members. 

Heritage skin-care brand Erno Laszlo is another brand that’s found success on Reddit, Tiffany Roshanian, senior manager of growth marketing, told Glossy. 

“We have a really devoted, cult following of customers that have been invested for 30-plus years. We obviously nurture those relationships, but we also want to introduce Erno Laszlo to the next generation,” Roshanian told Glossy. “The idea to launch on Reddit actually came from a very late night browsing [session on the platform]; I personally use it all the time.” 

As a member of the r/SkincareAddiction and /r30PlusSkincare subreddits, Roshanian already understood the power of the site for brand awareness and set out earlier this year to help users find information and reviews about the line while exposing new users to the brand. 

“We built a full-funnel plan together [with Reddit], starting the campaign with a few of our favorite videos that we felt would perform well on the platform,” she said. 

The brand used an ad product called a Megathread, as well as the site’s free-form ad products like carousels and videos. “It’s essentially their version of a long-form editorial or advertorial,” Roshanian told Glossy. “It’s a place where you educate on the brand in a long post of four to five paragraphs with pictures and videos.” 

The format allows for longer-form storytelling and creates a hub to send users being retargetted by the brand, she said. 

Results included a 2x increase in ROAS and a 109% increase in click-through rate, compared to the company’s previous Reddit posts, said Roshanian. It worked so well that Reddit worked with Erno Laszlo’s team to create a detailed case study for other brands interested in adding Reddit to their social strategy. It includes a detailed breakdown of the ad products used. 

But utilizing new ad tools from Reddit is just one part of the puzzle, said Roshanian. “Reddit is truly its own place, and it’s got its own language,” she told Glossy. Pushing a product is a no-no, she said. Instead, “Being there in a way of informing people and wanting to educate on a certain product is great.” 

For example, Reddit users frequently use shorthand, like TLDR for too long didn’t read or IYKYK for if you know you know. “We tried the same copywriting approach that we would for other channels and it didn’t perform as well,” Roshanian said. “But when we had a little bit more fun and spoke more like the people on the platform it worked better.” 

Roshanian plans to utilize the platform for Erno Laszlo both organically and through sponsored buys. “Because the users on the platform are just so educated and savvy, you can use [Reddit] as a feedback tool for what people want to learn more about and where to start your campaigns,” she said. 

Erno Laszlo is owned by private enquiry firm CITIC Capital, owner of beauty brands like Trilogy skincare and packaging provider Axilone. 

The new ad products are part of Reddit’s ongoing quest to become a lower-price ad partner for brands and retailers. 

Now with the future of TikTok unclear, Reddit could find new advertisers and users. According to Coresight Research analyst Sunny Zheng, one draw of TikTok is more competitive rates for ads, which has allowed indie brands to flourish, compared to Meta, which has consistently higher rates, she told Glossy. As reported by Modern Retail in June, Reddit is actively trying to position itself as a more affordable, lower-funnel ad platform. 

Reddit was launched in 2005 by Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian and Aaron Swartz and has been owned by Advanced Publications, parent company to Condé Nast, for much of its 19 years until Reddit went public in March of this year. The site began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker “RDDT” and was valued at about $6.5 billion during its IPO.

Executive moves: 

• Israel Assa, the Estée Lauder Companies’ global president of travel retail worldwide, has stepped down after 23 years with the conglomerate. He has been replaced by Olivier Dubos, who will take on the role of svp and gm of travel retail worldwide.
• Paul Matthews, Unilever’s global head of communications and corporate affairs, has stepped down after 16 years with the company. His replacement has not yet been named.
• Martin Thompson is the new CEO and U.S. market head of Nestlé USA, effective January 1. Nestlé owns wellness and lifestyle brands like Vital Proteins, Nuun, Garden of Life and Nature’s Bounty.

News to know:

• Store closures have surged 69% in 2024, according to data from CoreSight market research. There have been around 7,100 store closures through the end of November of this year, including 586 CVS stores, 408 Rite Aid stores, 259 Walgreens stores and 677 Family Dollar stores.
• Tangle Teezer, the detangling hairbrush company started in 2007, has been acquired by consumer goods company Bic for $210 million. Tangle Teezer’s annual sales have topped $76 million. Bic, which is known for its plastic products like lighters, pens, and razors, acquired Inkbox and Tattly, both temporary tattoo brands, in 2022.
• Color cosmetics brand VIOLETTE_FR has taken on undisclosed Series B funding led by Silas Capital, Experienced Capital and others. The VIOLETTE_FR line was launched by celebrity makeup artist Violette Serrat in 2021 and currently sells DTC and through Revolve, Moda Operandi and other retailers. Silas Capital has invested in Oak Essentials, Rôz haircare, Makeup by Mario and other brands. The brand will use the funding for global expansion, product innovation and digital enhancement.
• L’Oréal Group has sold skin-care brands Decléor and Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc to a newly created French beauty company called Cospal. It comes as part of L’Oréal Group’s focus on dermatological skin care and deprioritization of botanical-focused skin care. “Rejuvenating two iconic brands like Decléor and Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc is a unique opportunity to preserve their heritage while breathing into them a new, innovation-driven impetus,” Cospal founder Matthieu Lesieur said in a statement.
• The Estée Lauder Companies is set to open a hub for its biotechnology science in Belgium. The new facility will begin commercial production in 2025. “Our prestige beauty products depend on the highest quality raw materials. By producing our own biotechnology-based materials at one of our main manufacturing campuses, we are able to manufacture at scale in a more responsible way. This is a great example of how our end-to-end value chain is partnering to advance innovation and sustainability across the enterprise,” Roberto Canevari, evp of global supply chain at ELC, said in a statement.
• The Food and Drug Administration released updated guidance mapping out the proper registration and listing of cosmetic product facilities and products on Wednesday. A vital part of MoCRA compliance, the new guidance “finalized its FAQ section to reflect input by stakeholders on the questions they had regarding cosmetic product facility registration and product listing submissions,” attorney Kelly Bonner told Glossy. The new guidance is especially applicable to businesses with gross annual sales that do not exceed $1 million, Bonner said, and the agency is also calling for more commentary from industry insiders on related topics. “FDA is working in partnership with the industry and respects that a large part of the industry is small businesses, and women and/or BIPOC owned,” Bonner told Glossy. “[FDA is] not looking to make the process opaque or unduly onerous, and they are looking to address questions and concerns regarding its practical implementation.” 

Stat of the week:

Retail returns in 2024 could reach $890 billion, according to a report released on December 5 by The National Retail Federation. According to the group, retailers estimate that 16.9% of their annual sales in 2024 will be returned. To mitigate lost profits, 68% of retailers surveyed say they are prioritizing upgrading their returns capabilities within the next six months.

In the headlines:

Which beauty brands and influencers won on social media in 2024? Eyva, an AI-driven platform streamlining beauty industry data, raises almost $2.9M in seed funding. Pathways into science: a new generation of female scientists taking the road less traveled. Founder Tina Chow Rudolf shutters Strange Bird amid retail challenges and personal changes. 

Listen in: 

Fazit Beauty founders Aliett Buttelman and Nina LaBruna join the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the overnight success the brand enjoyed after Taylor Swift wore its Faux Freckle Makeup Patches to a Kansas City Chiefs game earlier this year. 

Need a Glossy recap? 

How beauty brands and agencies are preparing for the possible TikTok ban. How Noyz became the first fragrance brand to launch with shelf space in every Ulta store. Macy’s to close additional stores as it puts focus on luxury amid declining sales. Post-election wellness brand Julie wants women to know they’re not f*cked. Exclusive: Sephora announces the 2025 Accelerate class. Tech products from Apple and Dyson are this season’s buzziest gifts.