Today in our focus Glow Recipe 🍉 , a K-beauty brand, that has experienced remarkable growth, reaching $300M in revenue for 2023 up 88% YoY. Let’s reveal how they did it!

1. FROM L’OREAL TO K-BEAUTY CURATED PLATFORM

Christine Chang and Sarah Lee, founders of Glow Recipe, left L'Oréal Korea in 2014, pooling $50,000 to launch their company. With experience from L'Oréal's entrepreneurial setup, they honed marketing skills, understanding operations and supply chains. It gave them a head start.


Before becoming a beauty brand, Glow Recipe was curated K-beauty platform (by the way, was profitable from month 3), promoting Korean innovations and at the beginning they had 8 brands on their board. Scroll their Instagram, witness the evolution — from promoting others and growing fan community, to launching their own products after 3 years.


Chang and Lee foresaw K-beauty as a trend, providing them with a platform to boom in the market later. In 2014, sheet masks were a fresh concept in the USA, and they seized the opportunity.

2. FRUIT-INSPIRED LINE

Three years after Glow Recipe debuted its first fruit-inspired products with Sephora in 2017, the Watermelon Glow Jelly Sheet Mask, retailing for only $8, sold out multiple times over upon launch. It received rave reviews from skincare enthusiasts and beauty editors alike.

Following this initial product launch, Glow Recipe generated $4 million in earned media value — a measure of social media engagement — up from $869,000 the year prior when it operated solely as a retailer.

Strategically brilliant, Glow Recipe crafts products with both an emotional component (fruit-inspired) and a functional edge (science-backed ingredients). This combo delivers a visual and sensorial hook, reinforcing the promise of efficacy.



Check out the Hero Watermelon scent on the table—a hit with fragrance fans eager to try all the different products. When a new star-fruit arrives, it's a big deal, and everyone wants to dive into the excitement of a fresh scent.

3. “SCROLL-STOPING” PACKAGING

While their early packaging might have been ready-mold, the brand's core DNA, still evident today. Watermelon Mask, one of the star-product, has custom special wavy glass packaging from the beginning. Before launch founders did, mouth-full numbers in iterations: 1620 formulas review (sleep mask was new category at the market), 49 packaging updates (you see the result for today) and 8 trips to Korea (to review all the process). Enormous, right?

Unlike most brands, “the go-to-market strategy is established before the products are finished,” Lee said. Glow Recipe keeps the words “scroll-stopping” and “shelf-grabbing” in mind while thinking about how the product will live on social media before development.

Glow Recipe integrates recyclable glass packaging into its products, offering an elevated aesthetic at affordable prices, usually $50 or less. Teaming up with TerraCycle, the brand introduced a no-waste recycling program. In 2021, they debuted their first refillable product, the Plum Plump Hyaluronic Cream. Customers can request a recycling envelope to easily collect and recycle their Glow Recipe products.

4. KEEP IT ORGANIC PACKAGING

Embracing the glow gang mentality, Glow Recipe's community flourishes with influencers who align with the brand's philosophy and story. Yet, the beauty market is saturated, so how does one stand out and capture their excitement? The secret lies in keeping it organic.


In the early days, Sarah and Christine dove into individual outreach, personally following influencers to understand their skincare concerns and beauty appreciations. Two intense weeks crafting 600 personalized emails – 300 per each. The result? A remarkable 30% response rate from cold emails, some even meeting for coffee during travels. Glow Recipe nurtured a network where friends supported one another.

Glow Recipe hosted brand trip for influencers and boost sales in 185%

In Feb 2023, Glow Recipe wowed six mega-creators in Jackson Hole, testing the Plum Plump Moisturizer against Wyoming's winter for four days. It wasn't just promo – a lavish experience with spa days and snowmobiling splashed across social media.

Despite the cost, Glow Recipe nailed it. A 25% Amazon traffic boost, a $3 million media surge, and the Plum Plump cream topping sales charts with an 80% jump. The travel-size cream on Amazon saw a 185% sales surge.

Glow Recipe's influencer game is top-tier, emphasizing real connections without paying for the trip.

5. STICK TO CULTURE FIT

Glow Recipe taps into feel-good macro trends like diversity while riding the wave of micro-trends, such as permanent TikTok videos. Brands that authentically stand for their beliefs earn audience trust.

Glow Recipe's "Dew You Anonymous Open Casting" flipped the beauty industry script, selecting models for the Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops campaign solely based on personality, not looks. With 2,500+ applicants responding to the Instagram call, the brand, committed to real beauty and clean formulas, partnered with a DEI specialist. They stripped applications of names and ages for impartiality. Out of the diverse pool, 10 passionate Dew Drops fans emerged as the fresh faces of the campaign.

Glow Recipe not only embraces but transforms significant macro trends into creative campaigns that truly stand out, challenging conventional beauty standards.

My Top 5 Takeaways:

1. Feel the market, looking for great Insight. Back in 2014 K-beauty and Sheet mask were a fresh concept. Founders foresaw trend and grab the opportunity.


2. Full experience from product, people feel very selfie and enjoyable. rational: new Innovative formula, backed by science, result-based
— emotional: Fruits-ingredients, jelly-textured, pleasant-scented, shelfie look.


3. Custom “Scroll stoping” packaging from the first launches. Refill options.


4. “Organic support” make community want your product. People believe in people. Or invest thousands in ads and it does not guarantee the success. 


5. Stick to culture-fit. Stand for your values, it’s a big driver to be up-to-date.
    

   

All yours,
Orchidea Team