It’s a recent era for the Estée Lauder Cos.

For years, the sweetness company has held off from launching any of its brands on the retail behemoth that’s Amazon, but in a change of strategy, Clinique is debuting within the U.S. Amazon Premium Beauty store on Wednesday.

Clinique can be the primary of a select few brands throughout the Estée Lauder Cos.’ portfolio to achieve this, in accordance with the corporate. It just isn’t yet known which other brands will join.

Of the move, Fabrizio Freda, president and chief executive officer of the Estée Lauder Cos., said: “We’re thrilled to be strategically expanding our consumer reach within the U.S. as a select few Estée Lauder Corporations brands open dedicated storefronts in Amazon’s fast-growing Premium Beauty destination over the approaching months, starting with Clinique today. Clinique launches with its dermatologist-guided skincare and makeup products, which could be quickly delivered to consumers’ doorsteps.”

Most of Clinique’s product offering can be available to buy via Amazon, including bestsellers resembling Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+, Moisture Surge 100H Hydrator, High Impact Mascara, Almost Lipstick in Black Honey and Clinique Joyful.

At the identical time, Clinique developed a Skin Evaluation tool for its Amazon storefront to coincide with the launch. The interactive questionnaire in Amazon Premium Beauty will custom-fit a skincare regimen for Clinique’s consumers.

The about-face comes at a trying time for the sweetness company, whose other brands include La Mer, MAC, Tom Ford, Estée Lauder and more. Weak demand in Asia and at home have weighed on earnings in recent quarters, causing its share price to sink.

Such a move could help matters. In a note to investors late last yr, Oliver Chen, an analyst at TD Cowen, stated that a few of Lauder’s legacy brands were skewed toward older women within the U.S. because of their heavy distribution in malls. Chen stressed that as its distribution structure evolves, he sees opportunities to succeed in a younger audience and recapture share within the U.S. market.

Amazon definitely has the power to assist it broaden its reach, with greater than 100 million unique beauty customers. Morgan Stanley even predicted that it is going to take over from Walmart Inc. as the most important beauty retailer in 2025.

“U.S. beauty continues growing and Amazon is considered one of the first contributors to this growth so we feel confident that Clinique has multiple distinct opportunities to give you the chance to talk to beauty savvy consumers and offer different experiences,” said Michelle Freyre, global brand president at Clinique, in an interview.

It also suits in with the broader changing attitudes toward Amazon in each fashion and wonder. Wary at first, brands are increasingly seeing the retailer as a crucial platform to succeed in customers, with Coach, Victoria’s Secret and Levi Strauss & Co. amongst those who have began selling on Amazon. In beauty, Clinique joins rival L’Oréal-owned Lancôme,  Youth to the People, Keys Soulcare, IT Cosmetics, Urban Decay, Ralph Lauren Fragrance and Shiseido, amongst others.

On why now, Freyre pointed to Amazon’s experience and capabilities improving over the past few years.

“Amazon has repeatedly refined, evolved and elevated its fast-growing premium beauty store with a really tailored prestige, beauty consumer experience and offering unique capabilities and robust equity constructing opportunities for its brand partners,” she said.

And evolve it has. After acquiring Whole Foods in 2017, Amazon gained access to more mass market brands and subsequently launched an indie beauty program, while expanding into skilled beauty. In 2020, it began offering Luxury Stores, showcasing luxury fashion and wonder brands like RéVive Skincare and Clé de Peau. 

It hasn’t all the time been smooth sailing, though. Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs originally launched in 2018 as the primary exclusive beauty brand to partner with Amazon — however the brand didn’t see the runaway success it had hoped for and relaunched with Sephora. And just a few years ago, plenty of big brands including Nike and Birkenstock left Amazon.

In an interview with WWD, Melis del Rey, Amazon general manager of U.S. stores, beauty, baby and wonder technology, said Clinique is a brand that Amazon consumers have been actively trying to find.

“We see a few of their core products being searched always,” she said. “Launching Clinique on Amazon Premium Store is a delight for our customers. We have now a really broad and diverse customer base and after we have a look at our customers, they’re ultimately the shoppers of Clinique.”