M&S dives deeper into beauty with Benefit link-up

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 20, 2022

As M&S continues to evolve from a purely own-brand-focused retail giant into more of a department store, it’s boosting its beauty offer in a new deal with Benefit Cosmetics.

The launch forms part of the retailer’s ‘Brands at M&S’ strategy of curated third-party ranges “that complement its existing offer”.

Prestige brand Benefit Cosmetics — which is the UK’s most popular upscale make-up brand according to NPD Group figures — will be available in some of its stores and online from the autumn season.

Online orders will be available for delivery as well as customers being able to be collect them from 700 stores. But only five destination stores will get a Benefit Cosmetics counter, complete with beauty experts on hand as would be expected at a department store counter.

Last year, around 15% of M&S Clothing & Home customers shopped beauty, which represents an opportunity for growth by encouraging cross-category shopping through various initiatives and through M&S’s loyalty scheme, Sparks.

Tara Singleton, Head of Beauty at M&S, said: “We are so pleased to be welcoming Benefit Cosmetics as our latest partner as we continue to introduce dynamic third-party brands to complement our own beauty offer, helping us become more relevant, more often for our customers. Beauty plays a big part in our ‘Brands at M&S’ strategy as we know brands such as Benefit Cosmetics inspire loyalty and repeat purchase around their cult products and therefore play an important role in how and where customers shop. Bringing these brands to M&S.com and selected stores, will give customers – both existing and new – more reasons to shop with M&S.” 

And that “more reasons to shop” with the business is key as retailers focus ever more heavily on drawing in consumers and answering as many of their needs as possible to create a one-stop-shop option.

The Benefit link-up follows M&S having launched Clinique products in-store and online earlier this year.

The company said that over the past 12 months, M&S Beauty “has been evolving at pace to be more relevant, more often to its 22 million customers through exclusive own brand products (including Apothecary which has grown to a £20m brand in just two years) and complementary third-party brand partnerships”.

As well as Clinique, the retailer also sells Aveda, Origins, REN, Emma Hardie, Eve Lom and Prai.