When stores began opening after COVID-19 restrictions, Benefit Cosmetics “expected to see a lot of people return to stores quite quickly,” said Ursula Casserly, ecommerce manager at Benefit Cosmetics UK.
In reality, she said, the return to stores was “a steady incline rather than immediate.” But in 2023, the retailer saw consumers move back into stores for a more interactive, immersive experience, she said. Online, though, one trend gained a lot of traction among Benefit Cosmetics consumers: TikTok Shop.
“We’re seeing a huge increase in sales for our Benetint, which is a really original product of ours. It’s been around for many years,” Casserly said. “That has been influenced by the popularity of TikTok and TikTok Shop. We’ve also seen a big success with the launch of our pore care line, which was six products.”
Benefit Cosmetics joined TikTok Shop while the marketplace was still in beta. The ecommerce expansion for the social platform launched in the U.S. in September 2023. As of Q4 2023, TikTok Shop sales accounted for 4% of Benefit Cosmetics’ direct-to-consumer sales. Casserly said Benefit Cosmetics’ goal is to grow that to 10%. Similarly, DTC sales represent about 4% of total business, she said.
Benefit Cosmetics’ parent company, LVMH, is No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Europe Database. The database ranks the region’s largest online retailers by web sales.
The benefit of being on TikTok Shop
Casserly said that although Benefit Cosmetics sometimes nudges consumers from TikTok to the retailer’s website, it encourages its consumers to shop within the app.
“It’s a dangerous place,” said Ella Pearn, Benefit Cosmetics UK’s senior digital public relations and influence manager, joking about how easy it can be to spend on TikTok. Pearn said the hashtag “TikTok made me buy it” being viewed tens of billions of times is a testament to TikTok Shop’s influence. (Videos posted using the hashtag had 77 billion views as of November 2023, CNBC reported.)
“Instead of adding hurdles to the buying process, TikTok has created a platform that allows its users to seamlessly complete orders without leaving the app,” Pearn said. “Then, with everything in one place, they can stay exactly where they want to be and funnily enough that is TikTok. Social commerce is certainly the future.”
Still, Casserly said the average Benefit Cosmetics customer on TikTok Shop skews “a lot younger.”
“The average spend is probably a little bit less because it’s a new way of shopping, so there is some nervousness around purchasing through there. But we are seeing that start to grow,” Casserly said. “There’s a lot of offering on there that isn’t necessarily brands you would see on websites as well. There’s a lot of TikTok-grown beauty brands that have a lot of success through TikTok Shop but not necessarily in other marketplaces. That’s another difference. It’s a different group of competitors.”
Benefit Cosmetics displays its products on TikTok Shop, where it has sold more than 96,500 items.
Advertising versus organic posts on TikTok
Benefit Cosmetics began using TikTok in March 2020, Pearn said, well before TikTok Shop launched its beta. The retailer then “started advertising with brand campaigns relatively early on, when the costs were relatively pricy. We took part in a number of brand campaigns with the one-day max format, possibly Q2/Q3 of 2020. That brand activity’s always been there. Then we sort of moved to working more with influencers, which has always been a natural step for Benefit as a brand.”
Benefit Cosmetics is “very much in digital media. It’s our largest outlet,” she said. She said Benefit Cosmetics most heavily invests in TikTok, with plans to continue growing that investment in 2024. The other top digital media channel is Meta’s platforms, she said.
One of the benefits to being on TikTok, she said, is that the “for you” page can show content from anyone, anywhere. And although some brands have found success in organic TikTok posts, as opposed to in-app ads, “there’s certainly a method to the madness of the TikTok platform,” she said.
In addition to using the TikTok Shop for sales, Benefit Cosmetics has a TikTok page to teach consumers about its beauty products and tools.
Historically, she said, Benefit Cosmetics would primarily use social media ads to target consumers interested in beauty products. The brand would then create lookalikes based on those users. TikTok, though, allows the content to be from anyone on anything, versus other platforms that use attributes to target consumers, she said.
“We’re still learning and still defining what that really looks like for us,” Pearn said. “You can create something you think is going to work incredibly well and then it doesn’t. After a decade of what has been meticulously staged, edited, polished content that’s been heavily curated across all social media platforms, we really find ourselves in a bit of a creative renaissance. TikTok has paved the way for that and for a new, much more authentic style of content. It’s leveling the playing field, and even things like livestreaming that TikTok offers makes that incredibly exciting.”
She said that makes both organic and paid TikTok content more accessible. Benefit Cosmetics previously used Instagram livestreaming when that functionality was new, but “we never saw the same results as we see on TikTok.” The brand also has livestreamed on the television network QVC, she said.
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