How Australia’s fastest growing beauty brand won over BIG W customers with Retail Media

How Australia’s fastest growing beauty brand won over BIG W customers with Retail Media

Shelley Sullivan, CEO MCoBeauty

Luxe for less beauty brand MCoBeauty is tapping retail media to help underpin its rapid growth. A partnership with BIG W and Cartology for its latest Candyshop campaign delivered 157,000 new customers and a 286 per cent sales lift, with ecom sales more than doubling. As a result, Candyshop is now the top selling brand across BIG W and Woolworths – and CEO Shelley Sullivan has three tips for a winning retail media strategy.

What you need to know; 

• MCoBeauty continues to lead the beauty market as the #1 cosmetic brand in BIG W, with its latest exclusive Candyshop campaign driving 157,000 new-to-brand customers and a +286% sales uplift across BIG W

• Good advertising gives back to the customer. It surprises and delights them or inspires and educates. There has to be value 

• Harnessing customer insights and learning from data helped inform an engaging campaign that attracted new customers to Candyshop

I’m proud to say that we have  spent the past four years delivering the latest beauty innovations at affordable prices to build what is Australia’s fastest growing beauty brand. Throughout my career, whether it be in building ModelCo through to launching MCoBeauty in 2020, what has constantly guided me is being deeply connected to our customers and listening to what they really need. This approach was also the foundation of our successful retail media strategy. 

The launch of Candyshop, exclusive to BIG W, saw MCoBeauty develop  an innovative and integrated retail media campaign that has seen Candyshop become the top selling cosmetics brand across BIG W and Woolworths. We have enjoyed a strong connection with grocery and everyday needs customers and our exclusive collaboration with BIG W was built on a strong synergy in delivering value for shoppers and grounded in customer insights.

Listen and know your customers 

By listening to our customers and what they need, we partner with retailers to provide innovative media solutions that effectively capture their attention, meet their needs and stand out against the competition. 

Our deep connection to customers enhances our sense of community and the result of this is in customer loyalty which is a huge priority for us. We’ve spent years building trust through consistency in our products and how we connect and engage with them. With a clear focus on understanding who our target market is and then using this insight to better plan our retail media campaigns, we have a perfect customer-centric approach to every touchpoint that we have with our MCoBeauty shoppers. 

You will always find our team analysing the performance of every campaign, and retail media has the ability to provide us with deep insights on campaign performance, for insight into how we can refine strategies for future plans and execution. Our key advice for success? Listen to your customers and listen to what the data is telling you. 

For brands: Advertising is give give 

It’s important to add value back to customers, whether that’s through our products, their experience through our brand, or how we show up for them throughout their shopping journey. Our goal is to create a seamless experience for shoppers while harnessing the power of retail media to enhance our overall marketing strategy and customer experience. 

We really focus on engaging content to break through the noise and capture shoppers' attention. This gives back to our customers. It educates them on our product benefits, shows them application tips for their favourite (or new-to-be favourite) products and highlights the beauty trends they need to know. We take this content and use it throughout our marketing strategy, from influencer marketing to retail media, to boost our brand visibility, and connect with customers where they’re most engaged to drive sales. 

Exclusive to BIG W : Candyshop drives brand growth 

Earlier this year, we launched our first exclusive collection with BIG W called Candyshop. The launch was supported with a comprehensive retail media campaign featuring clever creative and content designed to attract attention from our target market. We were also really strategic with how we showed up in the digital world using first party insight to target adjacent categories. 

The shared campaign, tied in with our own above-the-line marketing, resulting in exceptional success, with some of the collection selling out almost instantly. Over the launch period alone, the brand achieved 69 per cent growth and a +286 per cent sales uplift, while Cartology’s media assets delivered more than 9.6 million impressions, 129 per cent ecommerce sales uplift, and 157,000 new-to-brand customers.

Through a strong partnership with BIG W and Cartology, we were able to deliver a really successful campaign and positive customer experience online and in-store for shoppers. A lot of planning went into the execution across each step of the customer journey to reach the right audience, meaningfully. 

Retail Media is a key focus for MCoBeauty 

Integrating retail media into our media plans has become a key focus for us. By creating tailored campaigns that align with the shopping behaviour and preferences of consumers, we can effectively boost brand visibility and drive conversions. We’re also closely aligned with retail partners to ensure our messaging is consistent across channels and resonates with shoppers at the point of purchase for a seamless experience of the MCoBeauty brand.  

With Cartology and BIG W, we can build strong connections and trust with shoppers, while driving great results for our brand. There’s a wide range of customers allowing us to tailor our offerings and marketing strategies to meet a variety of customer needs.  

My three pieces of advice for building a retail media strategy.  

1. Collaborate with retailers and retail media partners to get to know your target audience through the rich insights they have and tailor your campaigns to align with their shopping needs and behaviours. Work together on promotions and campaigns to solve a brand challenge, drive visibility and enhance the customer experience.

2. Use content and eye-catching visuals. Add value back to your shoppers through content that entertains and inspires to highlight the benefit of your products.  

3. And finally, don’t be afraid to be disruptive. Stand out from the crowd. Do things differently. Partner with your retail media provider to push the boat out and innovate. Test and learn, but always start with your customer.