Birchbox

In 2015, size of the beauty Industry in the US was estimated to be around $80 billion (sales). L’Oréal, Unilever, Procter & Gamble were some of the top multinational players dominating the market. But since the turn of the century, there was an unprecedented emergence of beauty start-ups catering to specific needs of customers. Camillo Pane, the CEO of Coty, a beauty brand said “Brands are created at the speed of light,” he said. “The beauty industry is becoming increasingly complex. Our instinct is to dislike complexity. But we either embrace it, or we’re not going to be around.” Brand loyalty had become elusive than ever. Understanding buying behavior and preferences of customers remained a Holy Grail. Any brand having access to such data had a competitive edge.