MILAN — The word “community” popped up often in a conversation with E.l.f.’s chief marketing officer Kory Marchisotto, who touched down here as the sweetness label is expanding its footprint in Italy with the assistance of Douglas.

After launching online on the retailer’s platform a couple of years ago, the brand is extending its presence within the country with a physical rollout at 105 stores of the chain’s network. The move was sparked directly by the strong demand from consumers.

“It was time for us to offer the community what they were asking for,” said Marchisotto. “At first there was numerous the community that was asking for E.l.f. so we said: ‘OK, let’s put it online.’ E.l.f. is digital native, so for us starting online is in our DNA.” Surprised by the response and by customers actually walking into Douglas stores to ask for more from the brand, the corporate decided to scale up its presence available in the market. 

“We take all of the signals from our community, each in where we show up, where our brand is obtainable and what it’s that we’re actually making available for them. We shape the brand with it,” she added, underscoring that this approach affects also the innovation pipeline. Cue the recent launch of Glow Reviver lip oils, which she claimed were expressly requested by customers.

The 2 years of online testing in Italy also offered interesting data in regards to the behaviors of local consumers which, in response to the manager, don’t differ much from the U.S. customer base.

“I feel my biggest surprise is that [the brand] is definitely universally appealing, whether it’s the Italian consumer or the Dutch consumer or the U.K. consumer. It’s universally appealing that we make super premium products available at an accessible price point. And I assumed we were going to should possibly change more in language or the tone of voice or approach, but what we’re actually finding is that it’s exactly who E.l.f. is at its core that folks love in every single place on the planet,” said Marchisotto. 

Yet at first she thought that some E.l.f. products that became viral within the brand’s domestic market wouldn’t resonate as loudly here, ranging from the Power Grip primer.

“The Italian team here and even market studies told us that Italians don’t really like nor use primers, that was not a thing. Well, guess what? Now it’s,” said Marchisotto about one among the bestselling products available in the market, right next to the Halo Glow Beauty Wands and Liquid Filter foundation range and the Holy Hydration makeup removing cleansing balm. “That’s actually the true E.l.f. spirit, since the brand disrupts norms: what people think can’t be done, E.l.f. does it over and once again.”

Asked in regards to the goal demographic in Italy, Marchisotto said the brand is “just starting here” and it was too soon to define one. Yet she restated that the label’s tagline — “for every eyes, lips and face” — ultimately mirrors E.l.f.’s scope.

“You may’t pigeonhole us into one demographic. Sure, Gen Z loves us but they only occur to be the loudest.… We’re loved by Millennials and Gen X, and we get letters frequently from older communities, which is why we selected Jennifer Coolidge,” said Marchisotto, referencing the viral Super Bowl spot aired earlier this 12 months and the recent launch of the Dirty Pillows lip kit designed in collaboration with “The White Lotus” actress.

“Every marketing book and guru goes to inform you, you’ve gotten to search out a particular audience. I’ll inform you the other because our brand demands universal appeal since what we’re doing is applicable to everybody,” she added. 

The identical approach informs the communication strategy of the brand, which also in Italy won’t rely only on its strong impact on TikTok but on a mix of various platforms across social media, gaming, music and entertainment. “What matters to us is where the community is looking for us. We go where the community is, which is how we ended up on TikTok in the primary place,” recalled Marchisotto. “There was a hashtag ‘E.l.f. Cosmetics’ that had 3.5 million views before we even got there and that was our signal [to say that] possibly we should always be those talking with them and creating with them.”

“E.l.f. is a brand that never stops to surprise us,” said Fabio Pampani, chief executive officer and president of Douglas Southern Europe. “We immediately understood and appreciated the individuality of this American brand with its original, playful and inclusive approach, which we feel very near,” he added, underscoring the success the brand had on Douglas’ e-commerce channel and the retailer’s commitment in bringing the brand even closer to consumers by taking it into stores.

To have fun E.l.f.’s boost in Italy, the brand took over the streets of key cities with subway and tram takeovers, bus wraps and digital screen ads, in addition to plans to take the “BFF Beauty Bus” on the road, further engaging with fans with makeup stations, product demos, goodies, giveaways and live performances by local music artists. 

The primary of such activations was staged in Milan last weekend, which was followed by stops in Rome on Saturday and Sunday and in Bari — in Italy’s Apulia region — next weekend. These implementations are intended to further amplify brand awareness and to determine “E.l.f. as a real, desirable, community-driven brand for the Italian market” before eyeing a much bigger reach through possible future collaborations locally.

Overall, E.l.f. Cosmetics has been increasingly taking steps to expand its international footprint. Marchisotto said that 87 percent of the business is completed within the U.S., leaving the corporate “a really wide runway for growth” outside the country. 

“The place wherein we began was the U.K. and the response has been incredible. We at the moment are the sixth-biggest ranked brand there and that happened with us operating business from California,” said Marchisotto. “So the best way wherein we’re now leaning into global potential is opening our first overseas office in London in December and now we have already hired a major number of individuals,” she added, stressing that the brand new infrastructure “will allow us to maneuver further into global territories.”

E.l.f. also has a partnership with Douglas within the Netherlands and is already within the Indian market, where “we see numerous signals in regards to the popularity of our brand.” 

“We see the worldwide demand. Now we just must be sure that we do it right and with the fitting partners,” said Marchisotto. 

Founded in 2004 and based in Oakland, Calif., the brand is distributed by the likes of Boots and Superdrug, along with Douglas and Goal, Walmart and Ulta Beauty. Incidentally, Douglas also distributes Alicia Keys’ brand Keys Soulcare, which is included in parent company E.l.f. Beauty’s portfolio alongside W3ll People and, most recently, Naturium.

Listed on the Latest York Stock Exchange since 2016, E.l.f. Beauty posted $497 million in beauty sales last 12 months, earning it the number 63 spot on WWD Beauty Inc’s list of the top 100 beauty manufacturers in 2022.

As reported, in August E.l.f. Beauty marked its 18th consecutive quarter of net sales growth and market share gains, allowing it to boost forecasts. Net sales increased 76 percent to $216.3 million for the three months ended June 30, compared with $122.6 million a 12 months earlier. 

Consequently of the better-than-expected quarterly performance, E.l.f. updated its full-year outlook for fiscal 2024 to reflect an expected 37 to 39 percent year-over-year increase in net sales, as in comparison with an expected 22 to 24 percent increase previously. It’s now expecting net sales to be within the region of $792 million to $802 million, up from previous expectations of $705 million to $720 million. 

“What’s really essential for us is responding to our community in real time, so we’re really enthusiastic about what they’re going to inform us… We’re looking forward to understanding more about them in order that we are able to do one of the best job we are able to to serve them,” said Marchisotto. 

Asked about what customers want today, the manager made a generational differentiation. While the more mature goal is inclined toward ensuring the brand delivers on its promise product-wise by way of formulations, texture, payoff in addition to value for money, the younger generations have a more holistic approach of their purchases.  

“If we speak about Gen Z and upcoming Gen Alpha, because they’ve so many selections and grew up digital natives, they’re really trying to vote with their wallets. They need to know the values of the brand, who’s behind it, what they stand for, in the event that they care in regards to the same things [they] care about,” said Marchisotto. 

“E.l.f. is already built for that. We’re an open book. I am going on TikTok Live on a regular basis. I bring my CEO, my CFO, the C-suite talks to the community. We’re open. We are usually not in an ivory tower like most firms. We’re the community. There’s no distance between us and them,” she concluded.