11. Placing a spotlight on South Africa's Beauty on TApp led by Mathebe Molise CA(SA)

Beauty on TApp is a South African beauty retailer founded by former investment banker Mathebe Molise.

With a strong focus on customer education and efficient delivery, Beauty on TApp successfully pivoted to an eCommerce model in 2016 and has since grown from stocking five beauty brands to over 60 by 2022. 

Two years after the launch of the eCommerce site, the team doubled down on their efforts, introducing a more user-friendly website and 25 additional brands. Amidst the 2020 pandemic, the company was strategically positioned to meet the needs of consumers moving towards self-care at home.

As of 2022, Mathebe still held a full-time job, underscoring the calculated and responsible approach she took in her entrepreneurship journey.

The company culture emphasises authenticity, growth, and efficient service delivery, both online and in their mall shop.

In 2021, they ventured into manufacturing with their own beauty brand, Pastry.

Mathebe envisions Beauty on TApp becoming a global African beauty shopping destination.

00:00 Introduction to Beauty on TApp

00:22 The Beginning of Beauty on TApp

01:01 Pivoting to eCommerce

01:22 Building Trust and Educating Customers

02:26 Growth and Expansion

03:00 The Impact of the Pandemic

03:37 The Journey of Mathebe

04:18 The Importance of Team Culture

05:29 The In-Store Experience

06:58 Launching Their Own Beauty Brand

07:20 The Future of Beauty on TApp

08:13 Conclusion

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Transcript

0:00

We're placing a business spotlight on the Beauty on TApp business based in South Africa. Beauty on TApp is a 100% women owned South African beauty retailer, specialising in skincare, haircare and self care products. They make the majority of their revenue from the e-commerce store, but they also have a shop at the mall of Africa where people enjoy the in-person experience. Let's rewind to the beginning. Back in 2015 Mathebe Molise leveraged the foundation. She had built as a Chartered Accountant and an investment banker to launch a mobile app that helped users search for beauty services in their local area. Services are listed on the application included makeup artists, braiders and skin therapists. They also had a beauty brand directory, which helped uses search for niche, beauty brands available. Within 12 months of launching Mathebe, realize that monetising a directory style business model was going to be extremely difficult. And decided to make the first of two critical pivots in the beauty on TApp story to date. In 2016, she pivoted and launched an e-commerce website for everyone to shop online and get foster delivery. It's important to note that that early started with five beauty brands. As months went by their online skincare, haircare, and self care products continued to expand. And the community continued to grow with the added convenience of a one-stop beauty shop. Mathebe had a disciplined focus on building trust with beauty on tech customers, by delivering as fast as possible. Having an open communication line and having trusted payment options. So I think with a lot of beauty brands, they kind of sell the beauty of the product, you know, um, and they don't necessarily educate people in a really, really simple way. So we've always kind of focused on educating people and having highly engaging content for people. Infographics, videos, stills of pictures as well. So I think our marketing strategy has been really different to most, uh, brands in the beauty industry. But I also think that our thing is efficiency. We make sure that we deliver as fast as possible. I always say there's no need to wait for your beauty products for a week. So we always make sure that we pack as fast as possible. So our thing is efficiency as well. So I always say that guys, you know, we're a small fish in the bigger, you know, scheme of things. They're much bigger E-commerce websites. What is it that's bringing people to our website? And so I think from the education aspect, all the way to delivering fast is what has really differentiated us in the market. More than two years after launching the e-commerce site, the retail business model proved commercially viable. The beauty on TApp team doubled down on their learnings and in 2018 launch version, two of their website for customers to enjoy a better buying experience. The improved website and the team's continued focus on educating fans and customers triggered the next growth spurt resulting in additional 25 brands being added to their site by 2020. Bringing the tally up to an impressive 30 brands. At this time they committed to delivering products ordered within three working days. The timing of the range expansion just before the fatal pandemic hit and early 2020 could not have been better from the perspective of the business positioning. The buying behavior of consumers, move to self care at home and Beauty on TApps user-friendly website and the efficient delivery offering was perfectly placed to delight customers. Between 2020 and 2022 the Beauty on TApp community of customers and fans affectionately called Besties by Mathebe. Enter team continued to grow, and this led to the growth in the online offering to more than 60 beauty brands in 2022. Most being in the skincare category. Before I continue with the story. I want to share a fundamental fact about Mathebe's transition from an employee at a big corporate to an entrepreneur. Mathebe only left her full-time job in 2022 more than seven years after starting video on TApp. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur understanding the reality of materials, transition, which was calculated and responsible is essential. We often read the romanticized version of entrepreneurship, but I believe people need to be more calculated. Like Mathebe has been. Okay. Back to the story. We can all agree that the beauty on TApps growth is impressive and inspiring. But none of this is possible without Mathebe's. Is amazing team fueled by a solid culture. So I think for me it's always been important that everyone brings themselves to the office. Um, I always say that like people bringing themselves means you're getting different thoughts around the table and different ideas. So in terms of like dress code and so on, I kind of pretty much allow everyone to wear what they want. Um, but we have a very, very fun culture. Um, you know, we have our month-end lunches. Um, you know, when I bribe them, I always say, I'm bribing you guys. I have croissants here. So we have a very, very fun culture, but it's really important to also remind people that it is still work. Um, and so I'm very panantic about, um, you know, progressing people's careers. Um, so things like, um, half-year reviews on performance and asking people where do you wanna be in a certain number of years? Um, that's really important. So, you know, on top of having fun and, you know, letting people bring themselves to the company, um, I also really preach that I want their careers to grow and I want them to grow outside of beauty on type. I always say, you're still here in five years. You've done something wrong. Um, so, you know, I encourage you. Them to grow and you know, ask them, you know, what is it that you wanna do? What can I do to make you reach those goals? So we have fun. I'm also very, very strict. Also popped into their mall of Africa shop to talk to their store manager, Siebel, CSO, to ask around what the culture is like and the business as a whole. I was there when this brand started, so that was 2015. So the, the business was online for most of its life. We went into retail last year and I would say one of the things that our customers love and that what we love that stands us apart from other beauty stores is the experience that we offer where a lot of stores are. The concept is wait to be approached. In terms of customer service, we use the stance of approach the customer first and offer advice and help. We also offer professional skincare advice. We offer, you know, consultations. We've got a somatologist and aesthetician in store, and that's how we differentiate ourselves from the other stores. I think it's the passion of the business. It's the passion of seeing it grow. It's the passion of seeing the company grow. The passion of seeing, um, the business succeed. It's the passion of seeing customer's happy. I mean, we pride ourselves on customer service, both online and in store. We get raves reviews about on our online customer service and in store. So that's just basically what it is. A quick fun fact. Sibusiso is actually Mathebe's brother. So it just proves the family members can actually do business together. When we invest in creating an environment that enables people to empower themselves, beautiful things can happen. And back in 2021 Mathebe and her team walked the walk and carried out the second, most significant pivot in the Beauty on TApp story to date. They launched their very own South African beauty brand called Pastry. Pastry is a proudly South African manufactured, affordable range with active ingredients, that targets specific skin concerns that Mathebe is directly involved in creating based on the helpful feedback from her Besties. So what's next for beauty on TApp. Mathebe is not playing any games. Oh, I want Beauty on TApp to own the beauty industry. I want to, you know, I wanna kind of like have. A beautiful offering for people, but make it as affordable as possible for people. I want people to be able to walk into a beauty store and feel special, but know that I can afford whatever I wanna buy in here as well, starting from our students all the way up to our, you know, high-power corporate ladies. So for me it's really important to build a really, you know, um. A really South African or probably South African beauty company, um, and to take it out into the continent. So I want beauty on tap to be the next beauty superpower of the world. Um, and hopefully that's gonna happen. I think we making inroads, so I really wanted to be an authentically African beauty shopping experience for our besties. It's kid at the Beauty on TApp team of 16 people will never lose the passion for the love of all things, beauty. And they will keep bringing their Besties community the best in beauty.