Bluemercury Grows Its Indie Beauty Brand Roster

Bluemercury is deepening its commitment to emerging beauty brands.

Starting today, Dune, Redmint and Henne Organics will join the retailer’s The Cache assortment both online and in 21 stores. Similar to Sephora’s The Next Big Thing and Ulta Beauty’s Sparked, The Cache is Bluemercury’s program aimed at offering customers what’s cool and trending in beauty. Introduced in October last year, its first cohort of brands included U Beauty, Plantkos, Ourself, Ziip and Irene Forte Skincare. Three to six brands are added to the assortment every three to four months.

“We consider ourselves to be a best-in-class brand curator,” says Stephanie Keene, director of merchandising at Bluemercury. “We’ve partnered with smaller brands before to bring them to market like with BalmLabs, Esker and Solawave. The Cache is a dedicated space where we could formalize this for customers and introduce them to new, highly coveted brands.” 

Brands interested in joining the assortment are primarily evaluated on their distribution strategy, product efficacy and packaging. Similar to Sephora and Ulta, Bluemercury is looking to nab exclusives for The Cache with brands that aren’t yet widely distributed. Ourself’s skincare, excluding its Lip Filler, Lip Conditioner and HA+ Replenishing Serum, was exclusive to the Macy’s-owned prestige beauty retailer for the initial month it was available in The Cache lineup.

None of the brands launching today are exclusive to The Cache. However, Keene says the retailer’s buyers are negotiating more exclusives with the next cohort. Bluemercury uses Adit, a retail matchmaking service owned by Beauty Independent parent company Indie Beauty Media Group, to assist with sourcing brands. 

While The Cache assortment is currently merchandised in a small fraction of Bluemercury’s 178-store fleet, the retailer plans to extend its reach. Keene says, “The Cache is a major company priority. We’ve seen a lot of sales success from it. We are definitely going to expand the number of doors, it’s just a matter of when.”

Sejal Patel, founder and CEO of skincare brand Plantkos, views The Cache’s limited door count as a plus for emerging beauty brands as it allows them to strategically test their products and deliver educational support inside a large-scale retail environment.

“Being part of The Cache has given us visibility and the credibility of being in a national retailer without the pressure of launching in hundreds of doors at a time,” she says. “It also has allowed us the opportunity to visit many of the stores, engage with store associates and learn what is working and not working with our brand as far as messaging and customer attraction is concerned.”

Patel reasons Plantkos’s clinically tested skincare for melanated skin and her credentials as a pharmacist helped secure the brand’s placement in The Cache last year. Along with Bluemercury, the brand is carried by ​​The Detox Market, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Goop and Thirteen Lune. 

At stores, The Cache brands are displayed on a table with a placard introducing them to shoppers. No more than six products are allowed per brand due to tight shelf space, says Keene, although a brand’s online assortment occasionally exceeds six products. As brands enter the assortment, brands that preceded them will move off the table and into a Cache wall display.

The long-term store strategy is still being refined, but Bluemercury intends to keep emerging brands in stores under The Cache banner for at least six months. After six months, high-performing brands would ideally transition into the retailer’s main assortment of almost 200 beauty brands. 

“We definitely believe in the brands that we launch and we want to nurture the partnership to strategically grow them to graduate per se from The Cache,” says Keene. She mentions U Beauty and Ourself as Cache brands that Bluemercury is hoping to expand.

The Cache has a landing page on Bluemercury’s website, and Keene says it’s pulsing out content in a “big way” to draw customer attention to it. Brands in the assortment are frequently featured in dedicated email blasts and on Bluemercury’s Instagram feed. Unlike with Ulta’s Sparked program, brands have to contribute to marketing costs to be in The Cache assortment. Patel describes the cost as “affordable” and worth the expense for the return on investment to Plantkos.

Patel says Bluemercury buyers have paid close attention to Plantkos, which isn’t always the case for a smaller brand at a sizable retailer. They’ve held monthly meetings with it to discuss its sales performance and sort through how best to build its business. Patel emphasizes, “Not many buying offices take the time to do this, and it is so helpful as a new brand as we try to navigate our path to success.” 

The partnership has helped Plantkos hone its demand planning skills and understanding of EDI (electronic data interchange) compliance. “If an emerging brand has the chance to be a part of The Cache, I say take it,” says Patel. “The program will provide a unique opportunity to learn how to be successful at a national retailer with more one-on-one attention.” 

Bluemercury is increasing The Cache as the retailer has experienced positive momentum. Macy’s net income dove almost 55% during the third quarter last year as middle-income shoppers were squeezed by high inflation, but Bluemercury notched a 14% bump in comparable-store sales from the same period in 2021. 

The retailer’s sales are bolstered by the strength of prestige beauty in the United States. According to the market research firm The NPD Group, U.S. prestige beauty sales totaled $27.1 billion in 2022, and every major prestige beauty category registered double-digit growth. Prestige beauty sales overall in 2022 rose 15% from the previous year.

For the holiday season, Bluemercury reports all categories were strong, but color cosmetics and fragrance were standouts. Keene says they continue to gain traction with customers in stores.