She was just 21 years old when she paid $12,000 to set up Australia’s first beauty e-commerce website from her garage.
Kate Morris, from Melbourne, was a university student working behind a cosmetics counter when the idea to launch her own business sprung into mind in 1999.
And fast forward 18 years, the founder of Adore Beauty has turned her cosmetics website company from two brands into a $28 million dollar beauty empire.
Founder of Adore Beauty Kate Morris cosmetics company into a $28 million beauty empire
Then then-university student was working behind a cosmetics counter when the idea to launch her own business sprung into mind in 1999
The global beauty website has since blossomed into more than 200 brands, with 12,000 products up for sale.
Working behind the Clarins counter, she saw an opening in the online market after noticing most women found department stores ‘intimidating and unpleasant’.
‘When I explained to other people what my job was, so many women would pull a face and talk about how they hated having to go into a shop to buy beauty products,’ the 39-year-old entrepreneur told News Corp.
‘They found it to be an intimidating, high pressure sales environment and they’d come home with products they felt they had been bullied into purchasing.’
At the age of 21, she paid $12,000 to set up a beauty e-commerce website from her garage
The website has since blossomed into more than 200 brands, with 12,000 products up for sale
She said shopping for make-up was supposed to be a ‘fun’ experience but she soon realised women were feeling the opposite.
And so, the businesswoman decided to create a disruptive beauty shopping experience by starting an online cosmetics store.
But she struggled to get her company off the ground because the big cosmetic brands didn’t believe e-commerce was going to be a hit in the beauty industry.
‘As a 21-year-old, clueless and broke uni student, I was trying to convince the entire established beauty industry that e-commerce was big,’ she said.
She said shopping for make-up was supposed to be a ‘fun’ experience but she soon realised women were feeling the opposite
The businesswoman decided to create a disruptive beauty shopping experience by starting an online cosmetics store
And it wasn’t until 2014, she closed her biggest deal with Estee Lauder Group, which owns popular brands such as Clinique, Bobbi Brown and MAC.
Major retailers David Jones, Myer, Sephora and Mecca Cosmetica have been going head-to-head to win over consumers by offering free sample testers in-store.
Keeping up with the beauty market, Ms Morris said her website also offers goodie bag promotions, which includes travel-sized product testers.
She explained the website allows shoppers to speak with make-up artists and beauty therapists via live chats so they can get the best possible advice with purchases.