Adore Beauty

Adore Beauty is an Australian online cosmetics retailer.[1] The company was founded in 1999 by Kate Morris and is based in the suburb of Northcote in Melbourne, Victoria.[2]

Adore Beauty
ASX: ABY
IndustryCosmetics
Founded1999
Key people
  • Kate Morris (Founder)
Websiteadorebeauty.com.au

History

The company was founded in 1999 by Kate Morris, a 21-year-old business student.[3] Morris used savings and an A$12,000 loan from her boyfriend's parents to start the business, which she ran out of her garage.[4][5] She found a company in the newspaper to build the first website, which cost A$8,000 and took six months.[6]

At first, the company only stocked two small Australian brands: Baiame and Santalia. The first mainstream brand, Bloom, signed on in 2002.[5] Clarins signed on in 2006.[6]

The company had a $2 million turnover by the end of 2010.[7] In 2014, the company secured a deal with Estee Lauder Companies to become an authorized agent for Clinique, Bobbi Brown and Estee Lauder brands.[8] That same year, the company earned over $7 million in revenue and ranked 29th in the Smart Company ‘Smart50’ Awards.[3] Morris won the Innovation Award for Victoria in the 2014 Telstra Women's Business Awards.[9]

In 2015, Australian retailer Woolworths Limited bought a 25% stake in the company for an undisclosed sum. The investment grew the company 70% over one year. Morris remained the CEO.[1][4]

In 2016, the company reported an annual turn over of $16 million, carrying 150 brands and 10,000 products.[6][10] The company is an official online stockist of Dermalogica, ghd, Clarisonic, Lancôme, Benefit Cosmetics, Aesop and Kérastase.[11] The company's Findation service, which compares 22,000 foundations to find the best match, had 1.5 million users, as of 2015.[12]

In 2016, the company began expanding into China.[4][13] In 2017, Morris bought back Woolworths' 25% stake in the business, restoring her stake to 100%.[14]

In 2019, Morris sold 60% of Adore Beauty to Quadrant Private Equity.[15] In 2020, the company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.[16]

References
  1. Robb, Kirsten (15 May 2015). "Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris: Why I sold a 25% stake in my $10 million business to Woolworths". SmartCompany. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  2. Carmody, Broede. "Small business decides: Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris on the importance of high-speed internet." Smart Company. 26 May 2016
  3. Villaneuva, Aaron Jefferson. "29: Adore Beauty." SmartCompany Awards 2014. 15 Sept. 2014
  4. Bogle, Ariel. "How to take a beauty website from an Australian garage to China." Mashable. 19 April 2016
  5. Cain, Alexandra. "Beauty in the eye of the online shopper." The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 July 2010
  6. Smith, Fiona. "Adore Beauty’s Kate Morris founded a $16 million business on cosmetics and code." Financial Review. 18 May 2016
  7. Carmody, Broede. "Four lessons in business success from Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris." Smart Company. 29 Jan. 2016
  8. Robb, Kirsten. "How I snagged a deal with Estee Lauder." Smart Company. 4 Dec. 2014
  9. Harper, Jane. "Woolworths snaps up 25 pc of online retailer Adore Beauty." The Courier Mail. 14 May 2015
  10. Ainomugisha, Gerald. "This Australian e-commerce site is tapping into the $100 billion Chinese beauty market." Australian Anthill. 28 Apr. 2016
  11. Hawkes, Helen. "Good grooming in one click." Financial Review. 23 July 2015
  12. Kelly, Jen (6 June 2015). "Four Melbourne businesswomen reveal their secrets to success". Herald Sun. Retrieved 24 September 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. Daquino, Laura. "Beauty Queen Eyes China." Business News Australia. 18 May 2016
  14. Waters, Cara (13 February 2017). "Adore Beauty founder buys back stake from Woolworths". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  15. Mitchell, Sue (16 September 2019). "Adore Beauty eyes expansion as Quadrant takes 60pc stake". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  16. Huntington, Patty (23 October 2020). "Australia's Adore Beauty Raises $192 Million in IPO". WWD. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
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