Think of the fanciest mask you discovered on Net-a-Porter or the cherry-red lipstick you picked up in the checkout lane at Sephora. These products caught your eye for a reason. Yes, you had the good taste to pick them out, but someone else had the good taste to stock them in the first place. That person is called a beauty buyer, and their job is basically to shop, though it’s a little more complicated than that.
A beauty buyer must know which products would be hits before they were, because we basically turn them into trends. As a beauty buyer, you’re basically the ultimate influencer.
If you want to get ahead of the curve on emerging beauty brands, you can’t get much better than tapping up the beauty buyers making the decisions for some retailers.
It’s our job to be in the know; so if there’s a trailblazing product making waves or an emerging trend taking off, we’ll sniff it out — often months ahead of the rest of the world
Alongside being some of the first people to hear about smart beauty innovations, we spend our days exploring the beauty space and swatching products. Sounds like the dream right? But there’s a lot more to being a beauty buyer than that.
We crunch numbers, extrapolate data and forecast global trends to ensure our customers can always get their hands on the ‘good stuff’. This means bringing overseas brands to our customers, and locking down the next Bright Young Thing before it even hits your radar.
What Does the Job of a Beauty Buyer Look Like?
I’m a beauty buyer so it’s my job to be ahead of the beauty curve.
The job of a beauty buyer is very much a balance between data analysis, and sourcing new, cutting-edge brands to add to our roster. I’d say the job is walking the fine line between mastering the numbers side of the business — being informed on why a particular brand or line is performing a certain way — and knowing when to follow your gut on something new that might just be the next big thing!
I spend time working closely with the brands we stock ensuring that we have products that are reflective of the customers we serve. I am also on the look-out for new innovative brands that we know our beauty customers will want to get their hands on.
Range planning and stock management is a crucial part of the role. What I find most exciting is analyzing the live customer and sales data to build out order quantities and then watch it fly off the ‘virtual’ shelves.
How Do I Keep on Top of the Trends and Where do I Look to Find Emerging Brands?
I constantly look at beauty-related articles, social media, and trend forecasting sites. When you know where to look, there’s a whole world of up-and-coming beauty brands to discover. TikTok is my newest vice — it’s where the next gen are and they are the ones in the know. It also helps to have friends overseas who are just as beauty obsessed as you are — often it’s someone in your network who might put a new brand on your radar that is gaining traction in their country, and then it’s a case of deciding whether it’ll see the same success for Beauty N Glam.
What Determines the Brands You Choose to Stock?
It’s a combination of many things, including trend research, customer behaviors and market insights, but we love to see passion and excitement from the brands that we stock. It is so rewarding to see customers getting excited about the new brands we are bringing in.
I also get feedback from our Sales team on the brands our customers are frequently asking for.
What are the Key Qualities You Look for in New Brands? What Makes Them Stand Out?
I look for brands that have a fully developed brand identity that’s unique to them and different to anything already in the market, as well as for a pipeline of interesting innovation and product development coming in the future. We love brands with a strong brand story, as well as a unique selling point within the market.