Digital IQ Index®: Beauty 2015

Beauty brands continue to upgrade their brand sites with improved product detail pages and content integration. However, retailer.coms are playing an increasingly important role in the online beauty ecosystem. The L’Oréal Group reports that three-quarters of its online sales come from retailer sites, and just a quarter, from its brand-owned sites. Instagram continues to scale for Beauty brands, tripling total engagement over the last year. Newcomer Anastasia Beverly Hills, which posts 62 photos/week on Instagram, claims a third of share of voice on the platform. The brand has translated online engagement into sales and is the fastest growing Beauty brand on- and offline. Video’s importance remains in full force in the sector. YouTube now boasts nearly two million Beauty videos in English, half dedicated to makeup, and almost a quarter of heavy Beauty purchasers indicate that YouTube is important to their purchase decisions. L’Oreal demonstrates substantial enterprise value in the US market, and dominates the Genius circle this year with 4 of the 5 genius brands. Urban Decay, a 2012 acquisition, captures the top spot coupling a cult following on social media with tactical upgrades across site and mobile yielding robust e-commerce growth. Maybelline nabs the #2 spot with strong discoverability and share of shelf on key retail partner sites and best-in-class merchandising on Amazon. L’Oreal Paris and Lancome, tied for #3, both leverage L’Oreal’s commitment to online personalization. L2’s 2015 Digital IQ Index: Beauty benchmarks 106 U.S. Beauty brands across the Color Cosmetics, Fragrance, Nail, and Skincare categories. Members can download the full report at L2inc.com.