When Emily Weiss founded beauty-brand Glossier her goal was simple: create an online platform through which women could connect and share their beauty routines and preferences with one another. Weiss wanted to bring a more personalized element to the experience of finding beauty products, and believed a forum that allowed women to more easily seek out suggestions and support was critical. 

Glossier grew out of Weiss’ blog Into the Gloss, which highlighted the daily beauty routines of contemporary celebrities, models, and makeup moguls. The blog’s intention was to give individuals a first-hand look into the bathroom “top shelves” of women like Karlie Kloss and Bobbi Brown and gain inspiration for their own collections. Additionally, Weiss included a commenting function that enabled women to swap stories about utilizing different skin care and makeup products. When unique monthly views of the site surpassed 1 million, Weiss realized that there was an opportunity to begin designing a line of products based on her readers’ knowledge. This was the driver behind the launch of Glossier.

Since its inception in 2014, Glossier has relied on two things to set itself apart in the already crowded $250 billion beauty market. The first is its brand identity. Weiss has carefully maintained a unified look and feel across its website and advertisements. For example, there is a distinct focus on showcasing diverse women and infusing a “millennial-facing voice” into its marketing and messaging......

Questions: 

1, What is Glossier’s key customer analysis tool? 

2. What, if anything, should major cosmetic competitors such as L’Oreal or Estee Lauder do in response to Glossier’s success? What actions can Glossier take to protect itself against these moves?