e.l.f. Beauty dazzled traders when it made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange this week.
The drug store brand priced its public offering at $17 per share, but the price soared 55 percent and closed at $26.50. Net sales from the first half of this year hit $96.8 million, far oustripping the previous year’s sales of $75.19.
e.l.f. has become popular with millennials – an age group which makes up 70 percent of e.l.f.’s workforce – due to its products’ high quality and low prices. Its ranges cost between $1 and $6, and it launches new products almost weekly. e.l.f. is also a big employer of women: although the company’s founders are male, 80 percent of the staff are female.
e.l.f. came out of left field in 2004 and is slowly expanding into more and more territories – so what do we know about this little business which appears to have done everything right? Here are six facts you may not have known about e.l.f.
- e.l.f. stands for ‘eyes lips face’.
- Co-founder Scott Vincent Borba was inspired by seeing women with expensive cars buying their makeup in dollar stores to create an affordable quality brand.
- At just 31 years old, Borba had already launched Hard Candy cosmetics when he teamed up with 23-year-old Joseph Shamah, whose father helped to launch e.l.f.
- e.l.f. sales struggled until the company evolved its website, which was initially only used to showcase products, into an e-commerce site. Online sales still account for 50 percent of overall sales.
- e.l.f. gives to charitable causes, including breast cancer research and natural disaster funds, and supports PETA’s Fur Free Campaign.
- The website doubles as a social media platform for members – all two million of them.
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