WBA launches No7 Beauty Company
Walgreens Boots Alliance is taking an expansive new approach to its owned beauty brands. The company is launching No7 Beauty, under which all of its owned beauty brands will be collected, including No7, Liz Earle Beauty, Botanics, Soap & Glory, Sleek MakeUp and YourGoodSkin.
Positioned within WBA, No7 Beauty will have access to more than 100 million worldwide loyalty members, enabling optimized digital marketing and personalized solutions. It also will be positioned to develop omnichannel strategies with WBA retailers and other retail partners via direct-to-consumer, e-commerce, mobile apps and more.
“The launch of No7 Beauty Company, a new consumer-packaged goods business within WBA, allows us to reinvent how we manage and drive further growth for our beauty portfolio,” said Annie Murphy, senior vice president, global chief commercial brands officer for international retail. “No7 Beauty Company will use the combined strengths of our world-leading brands, our dynamic supply chain, and our unrivaled track record for product innovation.
The company has seen success with its beauty brands, both in its own banners — Walgreens in the United States and Boots UK in the United Kingdom, among others — as well as in other retailers, including Walmart, where WBA’s brands have sold well online.
Murphy told WWD that the recent launch of No7 Advanced Retinol 1.5% Complex Night concentrate saw consumers breaking waitlist records, and No7 Beauty’s chief marketing officer told the magazine that TikTok has helped the brands make inroads among consumers in the United States, where awareness of WBA’s beauty brands is lower than in the United Kingdom.
The company also said No7 Beauty is hitting the scene with bold sustainability goals. The company expects that by 2030 half of its global sales will come from healthier and more sustainable products and services. It also plans to reduce its overall impact from new products to half compared with 2019 by 2030, while also doubling its value created for society.
Several of the No7 Beauty brands have undertaken efforts to increase its social impact, including No7’s “Unstoppable Together” campaign and Soap & Glory’s hygiene poverty-reduction effort The Better Bathtime Initiative. The brands also have committed to creating a cruelty-free beauty industry.
No7 Beauty also will be powered by consumer insights, accompanying the launch with the release of an inaugural report, “Beautifully Informed,” which offers insights on today’s beauty shopper and their behaviors, coming trends and the drivers that will help shape the industry.
Also as part of the launch, WBA Consumer Healthcare Futures and Global Sourcing have been introduced to underpin and drive the ability for WBA’s brands to grow and compete.
“The launch of No7 Beauty Company will enable us to make our beloved and trusted brands accessible to even more customers round the world, as a force for good, underpinned by best-in-class global sourcing and accelerated levels of innovation,” said Mark Winter, managing director for No7 Beauty.