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One of the most dynamic businesswomen in American history, Estee Lauder
through single-mindedness of purpose created one of the world’s most
successful cosmetics empires. At her death she left behind her a
company whose products are sold worldwide and which has tens of
thousands of employees.
Born Josephine Esther Mentzer in
Queens, New York in 1908, to father Max and mother Rose who were of
Eastern European descent, she was trained in the selling of skin care
products to local beauty salons and hotels by her uncle, John Schotz, a
chemist with New Way Laboratories. In 1930 Estee (her nickname) married
Joseph Lauter, the family changing their surname to "Lauder" later that
decade.
Estee Lauder was a late bloomer. It was not until 1948,
at the ripe old age of forty, that her legacy really was born. In that
year, she used her sales skills to obtain a counter at Saks Fifth
Avenue in New York, where she sold her own skin care products. Counters
at other well-known department stores such as Neiman Marcus soon
followed.
Her first perfume product was introduced in 1953.
Called Youth Dew, it was actually a bath oil that could also serve as a
perfume, and it was an instant success with women, who purchased more
than 50,000 bottles in the very first year. That success led to her
opening Estee Lauder counters across America and in 1960 she entered
the international market with Harrods department store in London,
England.
There followed a series of product launches that would
solidify the reputation of the Estee Lauder brand across the globe.
These included Aramis in 1965 (a line of men’s fragrances and grooming
products) and Clinique in 1968 (the first non-allergenic fragrance-free
cosmetics brand). Her company also contracted to become the world-wide
licensee for Tommy Hilfiger and Donna Karan fragrances and cosmetics.
Besides
her relentless drive, her success was largely driven by her sales
philosophy that held that in order to make a sale, it is necessary to
actually make contact with and engage the prospective customer. In fact
whenever her product line was introduced to a new retailer, Estee
Lauder would show up to counsel the store’s staff on how to sell her
products, and its customers on how her products could help them. As
regards the latter, she stated that “in a perfect world, we'd all be
judged on the sweetness of our souls. But in our less than perfect
world, the woman who looks pretty has a distinct advantage and,
usually, the last word".
Two marketing innovations can be
specifically attributed to her. After her success was achieved, she
liked to socialize with the rich and famous, and would often give them
sample of her products so that they could spread the word. More
importantly, she introduced the concept of offering customers a free
gift with every purchase of one of her cosmetics.
Estee Lauder
continued to work for her company until well into her 80’s. By the time
of her death in 2004 at age 97, her cosmetic company’s reach extended
into almost every country in the world, earned billions of dollars
annually and controlled almost 45% of the U.S. cosmetic market in
department stores.
Her genius was recognized through the
receipt of numerous awards. These included being honored by the
American Business Women’s Association as one of the 10 Outstanding
Women in Business. And in 1998, Estee Lauder was selected by Time
Magazine as one of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the
20th century. Quite the legacy for the child of immigrants who grew up
living in a small apartment above her father’s Queens hardware store.
---------- The author, Michael Rupkalvis, operates the MineralMakeupShoppe website. The site is devoted to discussions of a new mineral
makeup product,
which is a pressed all-natural mineral makeup that, unlike other
mineral makeup products, has no messy, loose powders with which to deal.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
