The future of Dibs Beauty is all about retail expansion.
Founded in September 2021, the brand famous for its two-in-one blush and bronzer sticks, has grown through influencer marketing and social shopping strategies. It has also received funding from consumer-focused private equity firm L Catterton. Ask Dibs’s co-founder and CEO, Jeff Lee, why everyone wants to sell beauty online and he has a deep answer: “People have an emotional attachment to it.”
We caught up with Lee recently on the sidelines of Retail Brew’s Rewiring Retail: Mastering Data, Inventory, and the Online Customer Experience in New York City about tariffs, AI, and the holiday season.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What can you tell us about changes that you’ve made at Dibs Beauty because of tariffs?
You control the panic. That’s the first thing. It’s emotional more than anything. When the tariffs are changing constantly, all you can do is the best, which is—first of all, plan. Get as much inventory as you can and just scenario-plan. That’s all you can do.
How much inventory would be enough?
There’s never enough inventory, but we had a lot of it come in. And actually it’s raw materials that matter a lot as well. So there’s a lot of hidden nuance to what the tariffs are carrying with them, creating a lot of supply-chain shocks beyond just price, you have to anticipate that for your supply chain.
What can you tell us about Dibs Beauty and its prep for the holiday season?We definitely believe in this customer, but the customer is pressured, so we want to make sure we’re offering value for them. They’re really careful, they are still spending the dollars, but they’re watching for every single dollar.
Any other hot takes for this holiday season?
Well, No. 1, it’s going to start earlier than ever. And No. 2, it’s going to go longer than ever. I think everyone saw Amazon Prime extend that period, and they’re going to do the same for the holiday. And No. 3, the messaging is going to be different. It’s going to be a lot more about putting the customer first, rather than just simply an appeal to the discounting.
Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know
Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.
Why does everyone want to sell beauty online?
Beauty is an emotional thing, and it’s been part of civilization. I always say, if you go back to ancient Egypt, the thing that they found in the tombs 4,000 years old was makeup. People have an emotional attachment to it, and it’s something that’s so easy, that you pick up and transform your own self in a personal way. So that’s part of the reason why beauty has become so popular online. But for us, we really believe that beauty is truly about an emotional connection with the customer as well.
Your take on AI in retail?
A healthy CPG business should be optimizing their user reviews, but I really caution against doing a full 180 and completely ripping apart the things that have worked for you, because early on, the AltaVista CEO said that they were going to win in search. Now it’s Google. We haven’t found a true winner yet, and I think it’ll be some time before we find that one great solution that replaces all search for customers discovering brands.
And beyond search?
We’re very careful with generative AI, I have to say. And so it’s got a beautiful advantage in that it helps us lay out the groundwork for creative and all the marketing that we do. But do you use it to deliver a finished product? That’s something we’re still kind of holding our hands at. Because you have to have a human touch in that final sign-off as a brand.