Recently, NYX Professional Makeup, a beauty brand under L’Oréal, announced that it will end its operation of the Tmall overseas flagship store on June 21, 2024, and will no longer accept new orders.
Public information shows that NYX, founded in 1999, is a professional cosmetics brand from Los Angeles, USA, and was once one of the fastest-growing cosmetics brands in the United States. However, it is little known that the founder of the brand, Toni Ko, was only 25 years old when she created NYX.
At that time, Toni Ko started her cosmetics brand dream with $250,000 in startup capital, opening the first NYX cosmetics store in California, USA. She made her first fortune within a year solely with a single makeup pen, earning $2 million.
It was the professionalism of NYX in the field of cosmetics and its influence among social media and young consumers that attracted L’Oréal, which was undergoing digital transformation, to acquire NYX for $500 million in June 2014. It is understood that in 2013, NYX reported net sales of $72 million, an increase of 46% over 2012. Sales for the 12 months ending May 31, 2014, reached $93 million, up 57% year-on-year.
After joining L’Oréal, NYX, together with L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline, and Garnier, has supported L’Oréal’s mass cosmetics division. NYX has also been praised in annual reports. According to L’Oréal’s 2023 financial report, the mass cosmetics division achieved strong growth of over €15 billion, setting the best growth performance in more than 30 years, with sales of cosmetics increasing by 16%.
In the thriving North American market, NYX, in its twentieth year since its founding, finally made its official entry into the Chinese market. In November 2019, at the second China International Import Expo, L’Oréal debuted NYX and another cosmetics brand, URBAN DECAY, in China. At that time, statistics showed that over the past 12 months, more than 1.6 million Chinese consumers purchased NYX cosmetics products through various cross-border e-commerce channels.
Therefore, at that time, Félix Faure, the CEO of L’Oréal China, also stated that the arrival of NYX and URBAN DECAY would be a strong complement to L’Oréal China’s cosmetics brand portfolio.
In 2020, NYX officially entered Tmall International Import Supermarket. During the 2021 Tmall “618 Mid-Year Shopping Festival,” NYX became the number one cosmetics brand in Tmall International’s direct sales volume. Its flagship products, including the 16-color eyeshadow palette #03 Earth Palette, setting spray, and 6-color concealer palette, all ranked first in three categories of Tmall International sales.
Over the past few years, NYX has gained considerable attention in the domestic market through joint marketing with beauty bloggers, celebrities, and professional makeup artists, as well as collaborations with brands like RIO Cocktails and Barbie movies. However, compared to other brands under L’Oréal, its marketing activities are relatively single and not closely aligned with the local market.
However, recently, according to an announcement from NYX’s Tmall overseas flagship store, the brand’s store will cease operations on June 21 and will no longer accept new orders. Currently, the store has 178,000 followers and participates in the 618 promotion as usual. Product prices range from ¥50 to ¥300, with the highest-selling product being the 40-color Utopia eyeshadow palette, ranking 14th on the eyeshadow bestseller list; the 16-color Denim palette also ranks third on the imported eyeshadow praise list.
In addition, NYX’s overseas JD.com flagship store opened in March 2021, with 609,000 followers, and is currently operating normally without any closure announcement. The customer service of the store also stated that there are no plans to close the store for now, but there are few SKUs available, with two products showing “out of stock.” NYX’s Douyin store is currently “empty.”
As for the clearing of NYX’s Douyin store and the closure of its Tmall overseas store, whether it is a channel adjustment or an exit from the Chinese market, CHAILEEDO immediately contacted L’Oréal China for clarification. However, they only replied, “Due to strategic adjustments, the Tmall platform is closing.”
