There are thousands of hair and skincare products that line the shelves of drugstores and beauty retailers. Yet, BeautyStat founder Ron Robinson says there are ways for a beauty brand to stand out.
To punctuate Black History Month, ESSENCE caught up with the cosmetic chemist who has created beauty formulas for industry giants including Estée Lauder, Lancôme, Revlon, and Avon, to share tips with Black beauty entrepreneurs who want to get ahead of the competition.
Having transcended the BeautyStat blog, the home to detailed product reviews and trend forecast, into a buzzy cosmetic brand with two SKUs that includes the triple-patent Universal C Skin Refiner that improves skin tone and hyperpigmentation, and sold out within minutes of its GMA debut, Robinson knows a thing or two about creating a brand and beauty products that will stick out from the crowd.
Here, Robinson discusses the elements that make BeautyStat different.
What is BeautyStat?
“We started as one of the first beauty influencer agencies and popular beauty blog. And literally over the past 11 months we evolved into what we think is a beauty brand with breakthrough skincare technology,” said Robinson
Why is BeautyStat a game changer in the beauty industry?
“Everyone, is looking for a product that will address the evenness of skin tone and hyperpigmentation. And everyone likes vitamin C products, but it’s known to be [an] unstable [ingredient]. So, we found a way to stabilize it, and we patented it. Competitors are using vitamin C that is unstable. People are buying refrigerators and storing their product to maintain the stability of them. A lot of products, they stop working and ours does not,” said Robinson.
How important is research when it comes to trumping the competition?
“It’s very competitive out there. Fortunately, beauty is a growing category, and there’s enough consumers out there for people to win and do well. My recommendation to a beauty entrepreneur is to gain something or launch something that has some sort of exclusivity to you, via patents or partnerships. Do your consumer research, and make sure that you’re answering a big need in the marketplace. You want to be different, but you want to be on par in terms of level of quality and presentation. Make sure it’s high quality,” said Robinson.
What are the three skills that assisted you in launching a successful beauty business?
“One thing is my ability to listen. I listened to the negative feedback and I took it to heart. Sometimes entrepreneurs don’t want to hear the constructive criticism and honest feedback. I listened and I think that’s what propelled me.
The other thing is persistence. I’ve been at this for a long time, and I think as long as I saw some growth in some capacity, even if it wasn’t overnight, I still stuck with it. A lot of people say they admire that I don’t give up. And I think the third thing is my network. I have a strong network of people that support me and are honest with me and I cultivate that network and I try to help.”