Estée Lauder introduces new strategic vision to boost sales

USA – The Estée Lauder Companies, a global leader in prestige beauty, has launched a strategic vision, “Beauty Reimagined,” amid a 6% decline in net and organic sales for Q2 FY25.

The initiative aims to put the consumer first and rapidly expand ELC’s portfolio presence in consumer-preferred, high-growth channels, markets, media, and price tiers to participate in key growth opportunities in prestige beauty.

Stéphane de La Faverie, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Today, we are excited to launch Beauty Reimagined, a bold strategic vision to restore sustainable sales growth and achieve a solid double-digit adjusted operating margin over the next few years as we aim to become the best consumer-centric prestige beauty company.”

La Faverie emphasised the need to transform its operating model to be leaner, faster, and more agile. 

ELC plans to adopt more competitive approaches to procurement to expand profit recovery and growth.

This includes further consolidating spending, strategically re-evaluating key supplier relationships, improving supply chain network efficiencies, and outsourcing select services.

 Q2 2025 Results

Net sales declined 6% to $4.0 billion, and organic net sales decreased 6%.

Skin Care sales dropped by 12% due to challenging retail conditions in the Asia/Pacific region and the company’s Asia travel retail business. 

Operating income from skincare declined mainly due to reduced net sales, but lower sales costs and careful expense management balanced this.

Makeup sales declined by 1% due to challenges in the Asia/Pacific retail environment and the company’s Asia travel retail business, which impacted Tom Ford. 

Makeup operating results decreased, driven by $258 million of goodwill and other intangible asset impairments relating to Tom Ford and Too Faced.

In addition, net sales from MAC and Smashbox declined due to their weak performance in the eye and face subcategories, respectively.

Fragrance sales grew by 2%, driven by strong performance from ELC’s luxury brands, particularly Le Labo, which achieved double-digit growth across multiple regions.

Hair Care sales fell by 8%, primarily due to Aveda’s performance. This reflects ongoing weakness in the salon channel and the timing of shipments.

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