The Reality of Scaling a Beauty Brand with Morgan Gordon of Sliick and Salon Perfect

Hey guys, welcome back to Skin Anarchy. I am so excited because today we're going to be talking a lot about the world of like salons and like, you know, waxing and a lot of body care stuff that I don't think we get to really talk about and also just building out a brand like that. I have so many questions in this area for our guests today. So without further ado, please welcome Morgan Gordon, who is the VP of brand development and marketing for salon perfect. And she is also the creator of slick. Welcome, Morgan. I'm so excited to host you. Hi, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. Yeah, I'm really excited to welcome you on the show because I mean, I have so many questions, but I want to get from you. I want to get a background if you can walk us down memory lane and tell us about your career and all the wonderful things that led to the entrepreneurship role for you. What was that like? Absolutely. So I've been in my career for about 15 years plus I started as a cosmetologist in high school where there was a program for vocational school. So I knew early on that I was really into beauty, which I think I'm really lucky to have known at such a young age. So yeah, I got my cosmetology license and I also thought, okay, I want to go to college too. And do I want to be a stylist forever? So also really lucky to have known from a young age that I loved beauty, but I really was interested in the business side of beauty and development. I loved making people feel really beautiful. So yeah, I moved to California from New Jersey and went to school specifically for beauty merchandising and marketing and business development. Immediately took a role in Los Angeles with a beauty manufacturing company that has 60 different brands. And over the past 15 years, I've worked my way from a marketing assistant to now the VP of brand development and marketing, as well as the creator of Slick within the company. So really fortunate to have found a home where I act pretty much as a founder within the company, which I'm really fortunate to be able to do. But yeah, I've worked on the professional side of beauty. I've worked on the retail side of beauty. And that's where I really fell in love. So about four to five years into my career at the company I'm currently with, I switched over to the retail side of things and just loved it so much. I loved the instant gratitude. I loved to be able to create and loved listening to the customer. It was at such an interesting time too. And my career where social media was really taking off. And that has a lot to do with the evolution of the brands that I got to oversee, the brand that I got to create. So I really always been in beauty. It's definitely a passion of mine. And I've got to have a lot of fun along the way. That's awesome. I love that you've seen so many angles. I think that's, I mean, it's very, very unique to have that, I think, perspective and especially right now where, you know, especially in the beauty industry, brands are coming up more like faster than ever right now. There's also so many brands that are, you know, they're choosing to close down. And I think, you know, it makes me wonder, right, as somebody who is kind of an outsider to that, like, what does it take, you know, in terms of like, what do you need to know before you go into a brand? And so I have, you know, I want to talk to you about that a little later in the segment, but I would love to first kind of focus on, you know, like Salon Perfect and then creating Slick. I mean, what was that journey like for you in terms of like, you know, taking a concept out of what you were already creating, you know, like kind of branching out, like talk us through that. So for Slick, that brand was created and launched in January of 2022 really quickly. So I had started working with Walmart with Salon Perfect first back in 2016. At the time, it was not a private label brand, but exclusive to Walmart and pretty much housing our professional products within the company under a retail brand. So it was great quality product at a value. And quickly, especially around that time in 2018, a specific article came out about relevancy and it really stuck with me about the need to be relevant within an industry that was already really fast paced and evolving but faster than ever at that time with social media, with celebrity brands moving into beauty, with influencers moving into beauty, with the customer becoming more and more educated and savvy on products and brand. And wanting more from brands. So really the landscape was changing so much. And I fortunately was in a position where I love change. So I was really pushing to evolve, change, take risks, take chances with the Salon Perfect brand. Solid of success there, not only with adapting and adjusting the packaging, the product offering to be more unique, starting to really build and create a brand identity to set ourselves apart and maintain relevancy. So we're moving into new categories each year where there was white space opportunities, really building a great relationship with Walmart. Every merchant I've been able to work with has been so amazing, honestly, so knowledgeable, great partners, they really lean in and the team that I work with is amazing. So we'll bring probably 100 products minimum every year to propose for Walmart to take for customers. So Salon Perfect is really like the baseline in what built the opportunity around slick to be born. So moving ahead from 2016 into 2020, we were already seeing prior to COVID a stickiness with at home hair removal and the market data. And then 2020, obviously, all Salon services moved to home. So that's where all the categories really took off. And there was more of an opportunity than ever. So even moving past COVID into 2021, we're seeing that the customer across multiple beauty categories were sticking with doing DIY services themselves, especially as beauty and innovation really evolved the technology, the quality of the product when it comes to press on nails eyelashes really was more than ever. And customers were really pushed into trying these products that maybe they were getting done at the salon and seeing how great they were and how much time they were saving them and how much money it was saving them. So there was a great opportunity to move into hair removal. And when Walmart came to us and my leadership came and said, Hey, we want to move into this category. We were in a great position because the company that I work for owns 80 to 90% of the hair removal category, but all of the professional brands. So I wanted to take a different approach. And I think timing has a lot to do with it and wanting to do things differently. I thought out of all of the categories that were moving to the DIY space at home, waxing and hair removal was probably the most intimidating. So when I thought about what didn't exist in the market and what I wanted to create, I really took time to think through something that was going to be experiential approachable, easy to use and a simple format, Sensorial, but still professional quality. So when I laid out all of things I wanted it to be. That's really where everything started to build from. So the hard wax formula is professional grade, but it requires no strips and it's a universal formula that's suited for all hair type all skin type. So you don't have to question, well, which wax do I need to use for which part of my body. And then as far as the approachability, the line is so fun. I mean, it's beautiful pastel colors. I came up with the name slick, meaning like super smooth. So I love how that translated. And then the fun with the waxes, like having fun shaped wax colors and sense and shapes where the consumer can have a lot of fun with mixing and matching the beads because again, it's all the same formula, but you can You know, create social tick tock videos and reels around melting your wax together and it's just it's just a lot of fun. So I basically took a completely different approach and partnered with Jelaine Tompkins at Walmart and she was completely on board love the concept thought it was super disruptive and innovative and exactly what she was looking for to bring into that space. So we were able to partner and bring it from concept to shelf in nine months time. Wow. They were really, really proud of. So yeah, it's it's been really fun. There's I feel like there's so much I can say about the brand. And one part I also didn't hit on is is the hero item, which is our microwave waxing kit. And that came from the concept of again, like being easy, but also sustainable. So there's no wooden sticks that you have to keep replenishing and buying and throwing out. You have 100% silicone applicator that you can wash and reuse. And also it's so satisfying and easy to clean because once the wax dries, you simply just peel it off and it's clean and it's done. And same with the microwave cup. It's not that silicone. So you can reuse it for an exactly how many beads you need. So if you only want to wax your underarms or your eyebrows or small area, you can just pour in what you need. Melted in the microwave really fast and the cleanup is super simple. So gone are the days where you have an entire tub of microwave wax that you have to sit and wait to melt the entire thing for who knows how long. Now there's just an easier, more approachable way to do it at home. That's also fun. That's I love that you I mean, I want to kind of go back because you mentioned about, you know, having Walmart really support you in this idea of like you want to bring something new to the market. And like, I think I want to dive more into that because there's so many questions I have, right? Because retail to me when I look at it and even if a new brand founder is looking at how to scale your brand, how to get. I mean, most people dream about getting into Walmart. That's the first thing, right? They dream about how can I get into a retail giant like that. But then to have the support of the retailer to then expand on your ideas. I mean, talk to us about that from a business perspective in terms of like, you know, some real insights into what does it really take nowadays to get into a place like Walmart? Like if you have an idea, like who do you talk to? Where do you start? I mean, what are the things you need to care about to even approach them? Like I would love to learn more about that from you. So I did come into the role with an established business at Walmart. But being on the desk for almost 10 years now, they really obviously the customer is at the center of everything. So definitely knowing who your customer is is really important and what they're looking for, as well as really meaningful innovation at a value. It's interesting because both brands, Ethos, Swamp Perfect and Slick are pretty much aligned 100% with Walmart's Ethos, which is providing the customer with what they're looking for, when they're looking for it, how they're looking for it, right? So from the full, if you want to shop in store, if you want to shop online, finding the latest trends at the very best pricing. So I think if you're really coming with a meaningful product that fills a white space opportunity, right? If there's a gap in the market and what you're doing to set yourself apart is also really important. So having a unique point of difference, solving a problem, offering a great value with a really meaningful and innovative product offering, again, then all supporting that with great marketing and branding is also really, really important. I mean, that makes sense, but I mean, in my honest opinion, and this is mine, and I don't know if you agree or not, but I've seen some great brands, right? And I've seen some brands that are like beautiful with the branding and the appeal, and they never make it into retail. So like, that's why I'm asking this question for our listeners, because that's where I see beauty is stuck right now, is that there seems to be a bottleneck, and there's a bottleneck for brands, because every day I feel like I open my LinkedIn and I see another brand has closed down. And when you look at the common denominator in a lot of these brands, most of them never made it to retail. And it wasn't because they weren't great brands, it was because they just never got in. So that's why I asked you, what does it take to get in? And that's the thing is, who makes that decision at the end of the day? The end of the day, it's definitely the merchants and the category advisors within the beauty department. But I think it comes back to relevancy. To be quite honest, if I hadn't completely rethought Salon Perfect, I don't think it would still be in Walmart. I guess I'll say I don't think it would still be in Walmart. So not being afraid of change and evolution, meeting your customer where they are trends are happening faster than ever. So evolving, listening to the customer coming to market with speed, it does take a lot of backing, you know, as far as like the full supply chain, it's a beast to launch and succeed at Walmart to be completely transparent. Yeah, that's what I wanted to know. That's really what I, because that's the thing is like, I feel like, I mean, I love your brand, I love Salon Perfect. I love what you've created. Obviously, I mean, that's why that's why I wanted you on the show because, you know, it's a beautiful brand. But at the same time, that's where I get stuck, right? Because I see brands like that that are killing it, right? And then it's like, well, where is that change that needs to happen either in the entrepreneurs mindset? Or you know what I mean? Like on some level, there needs to be an understanding of like, well, this is what it takes. To be at a retailer, you know, and this is what it takes to sustain yourself there. Like from the, from all the wonderful things you mentioned, like the creativity component, the branding component, the relevancy, you know, like all of that has to be moving at a certain pace. And I think that's where we don't ever hear about that, right? In the beauty industry, we don't ever hear about somebody saying that, like a founder saying, no, no, no. Yeah, I got a great product, but I had to huffle to keep up with all of this, you know, in terms of I'm in the XYZ retail. But what it takes for me to stay there and stay grounded and stay relevant, that's a whole different story that, you know, nobody really gets to tell. And that's why I wanted to ask you, you know, is that, is that part of it? Absolutely. And that's a great question. I appreciate the context there. One of the biggest benefits of the company that I work for is that it's privately owned and we work fast. The team responds really quickly and brings it to Walmart. And that has a lot to do with our growth and transaction that we've had is that we've really been on the pulse of what the customer is looking for in real time and being able to deliver that within six to nine months. And it doesn't stop. So a lot of the Salon Perfect brand is all trend driven. So this year, you know, we have a portfolio of 111 items. And I want to say easily we refresh half of that twice a year across five to six different categories. So basically not stopping innovating, but also having the manufacturing and supply chain behind you to deliver on time in full. That's that's the biggest piece really as a supplier is the reliability and dependability that Walmart is going to come to you as a partner knowing you're going to deliver, you're going to deliver in full and you're bringing them the most meaningful, innovative products that their customer is looking for at the very best value. And it's not like simpler than it is, but it's it's a complex machine. Oh, I can imagine. I mean, that sounds crazy. And it sounds, you know, very, very impressive that you guys do this because 100 plus trend led SKUs creating them and then, you know, making sure it's coming out the way you want it to like that's a lot. And I guess one of my biggest questions is like, how do you maintain all of your brand identity and what you really stand for within that environment of being very, you know, that velocity of like bringing all of these out, you know, all of these new products out, how does salon perfect stay on point with their brand, you know, during all of that. So transparently, it's been an evolution. And I know there's like the 2016 trend right now of like where you were in 2016 and Oh, yeah, I've seen those. Yeah, that was such an instrumental year. That's the year that I came on the brand. And at the time, everything was like black packaging. It was pro beauty in retail at a great price. And as I mentioned, everything was changing, like color was coming into play, social media was coming into play. There was more competition than ever. There wasn't as much storytelling on packaging. So the evolution of the brand and its identity has is really coming to fruition this year. Everything is really being unified across categories as we've changed evolved took chances with packaging with messaging with storytelling. We tried a lot of different things and really ran with what was working. So if you look at our portfolio, we tried to match the packaging for to make it really easy for the customer. So all of the nail collections are named, you know, glazed, milky, glass, glass. It's the key search term. It's the social term. And that's how we find a lot of our and develop a lot of our innovation as well. We look to social media and we see what is what are the customers calling this type of lash, you know, we've had a fluffy collection when that was like the buzzword around lashes. So really, we've tried a lot of different things. We've definitely moved into color and more away from the black packaging, which was our old identity. And today we have a beautiful range of pastel packaging really unified across all of the categories to establish a stronger brand identity moving forward after doing almost 10 years of kind of trial and error and leaning into what the customer was really gravitating towards. That's really interesting because I think you guys are like the poster child of using trends the right way. Like you're really are using them the right way. Like in the sense of like, it's yeah, you're delivering on trends, but you're delivering what people actually want rather than saying, okay, well, this trend is going on. Let me go and like use this as like a marketing play for something else. You know, and I see that a lot in skincare. I don't know if you've seen that yourself. Like I, you know, I talked to so many skincare brands on the show Morgan. So it's like for me, I'm always like looking at science and all that with that category. But like sometimes I feel like people use trends as an excuse to do something completely just wild. And I don't and I don't think that's the right way. And I, and that's why I'm not like anti trend. Like I've seen a lot of criticism online on social media. Sure, you've seen the post everyone seen the post where it's like people criticize social media trends, but it's like, but that's what that's the point. Right. Like we're all, I mean, consumerism, we're looking for things to buy based on what we see on social media. So we can't have this double edged sword in the industry. You know, I really don't like that when I see that kind of hypocrisy out there. And so it's interesting to watch a brand like salon perfect and what you've created with slick, like it's interesting to watch how that's doing it in a way where it's like, yeah, like you're giving people what they want, you know, that's the bottom line. So yeah, I mean, it's very, very exciting. You know, I want to ask you in terms of that, right, in terms of like constant innovation, constant, like, you know, coming up with something like where, where do you see the industry headed, you know, from like just your true opinion in that space of like, where do you think we're going, especially with now, you know, TikTok is so prominent, you know, Instagram is so prominent. Where do you think we're headed with the future of beauty and the way that consumers interact with beauty overall? That's a great question. I feel like within my career, beauty has evolved so much. And it's very also cyclical to in a sense where from the start of my career till now, I've seen trends that are similar come and go. I mean, within the nail category, which is one of the biggest categories for salon perfect, it's great to see the evolution in innovation and technology. But I feel like it's a great space to be in. It's interesting to see, it'll be interesting to see how the salons, the nail salons, you know, carry through and like the need for customers to, you know, want to save, especially now in this economy, time and money and the quality and innovation within nail at home. And also the self expression behind it and wanting to potentially, you know, change your nails up as often as you'd like. It's interesting. It's kind of a hard question to answer because it's changing all the time. Honestly, I feel like we've changed the brand every year, especially when it comes to marketing, which is obviously digital and socially led. I just think everything is becoming so overly saturated. And to your point, there's a new brand coming out every single day and you are seeing that some just aren't making it because you can have these really great ideas. And it's really great to see these indie brands come in and give the heritage brands kind of a run for their money. Like it's pushing, I think the heritage brands into areas and innovation that the customer is looking for that they're not tapping into. So I think there's a need for that. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how things shake out, like who makes it, who stays from a brand standpoint across all of the beauty category. I think it's always going to come down to who is not afraid to change and evolve and whatever that means from a relevancy play with AI now and social growing and new platforms. I think it's just going to be really important to make sure that you're staying on the pulse of where your customers at and meeting them there with what they're looking for. So it's kind of like a constant paying attention to your customer in a landscape that is evolving and changing quicker and faster than ever before. Yeah, no, I really, really, I mean, I like that feedback a lot. And I think, you know, and I didn't get a chance. I want to take a minute and talk about slick because I think what you've done with slick is so cool. I personally, like I've been a waxer my entire life. Well, not my entire life, but you know what I mean, like my adult life. And I really can't get like for me, shaving was always like I dread shaving, you know, and it's like there's so many other problems. So for me, seeing the evolution of waxing and like now, you know, you have options where I mean, we got the strips, right? Like early on, we had the strips and I swear I used to rip my skin off with those old products that were like back in the day when we were first getting used to like at home waxing. And so like it was a big hurdle for me, you know, as a consumer, I was like, I really want to do this and I don't want to spend the crazy amount of money I spend when I go get professional waxing. And so with slick, I think what you're doing is so awesome because you're bringing this forward, but it's for everybody, you know, talk to us a little bit about that, you know, because the branding and everything is so beautiful that it appeals to everyone. But I think the product quality you've put in is phenomenal as well. So I would love to get your take on like how that was built out, you know, like in terms of your blueprint for creating a brand like that. Absolutely. It's all rooted in, again, like professional quality products. So there's a lot of testing, a lot of vendor sourcing. We make some products in-house because it's a manufacturing company as well as work with vendors as well for formulas overseas in different countries. So we definitely did a lot of testing when it came to the hard wax formula, making sure that it's suited, like I said, for all hair and skin types. It wasn't going to irritate anyone's skin. It was going to work on fine hair and coarse hair, all different parts of the body, but then also be infused with really great skin loving ingredients that again, aren't going to irritate the skin. And that's also provided with a full system, right? So we have the pre-wax care, we have post-wax care. So you have everything you need at home, but in a really condensed, easy to use format that matches the quality of a salon. One of our recent launches that just launched last month is our pre-wax powder. So that was really exciting. And that was a great takeaway from our customer feedback. And even our influencer partner, content creator feedback, a lot of the videos that our partners were creating for the brand, they were using baby powder to prep the skin, which is definitely part of a professional waxing service. So we took that and wanted to develop something again, that's very on brand, Tudor Art Ethos, that's innovative, sensorial, so making a non-air-of-salt pump with a really fine mist for great application, as well as infusing it with a great lavender scent. So you have that sensorial aspect, but again, rooted in professional quality formula formulation is really important to the brand. So yeah, it's a lot of fun. We take a lot of time. We invest a lot of time in testing the products personally. So from the pre-wax strips to the hair removal cream to our coveted and hero item of the hard wax beads, there's a lot of time put in with testing all the products. And oh my gosh, my favorite product that I created in-house with our lab is our post wax and shave oil. Oh my gosh. I do love skincare too. So this has been exciting for me coming from lashes and nails in different categories to at-home hair removal, which is adjacent to skincare, which I've also maybe slick will be moving into, you know, body care and skincare one day. You should. No, I didn't want to. I'm sorry. I'm interrupting, but that oil, I love that oil. Yay. That makes me so happy. We already won, I think, a few awards last year for the. Yeah, you guys won ours. We gave you ours last year. I remember. I think the whole committee loved that oil. Like everybody was like unanimous voting on this. Like it was like, this was amazing. Yeah, it's a great product. That makes me so happy. But yeah, that one was really fun to make in the lab. Yeah, just taking from all of my favorite skincare brands and formulations and I have sensitive skin. So having something that's universal and so skin loving and going to be anti inflammatory and also calming and not too oily or greasy and not too dry. That's also smells really yummy. The tea tree and the chamomile and personally I love squalane oil. So having that in there was a key ingredient for me. So I was thrilled with that formulation and yeah, a lot of time and care goes into all the formulas for the brand to make sure that they really are professional grade and jam packed with the best ingredients at the best price. Like there's so much markup within beauty. Yeah. The customer is so savvy. They're so smart. They know no more than ever. I have to say this Lickenslam perfect customer is like the most savvy customer in my opinion because I think they're able to see the quality and the value and they know where they want to spend their dollars in such a saturated market where a lot of the times you're paying for either packaging or the name brand when you just want really good quality formulas. Yeah. I mean, I think you're absolutely right on the money with that. Like people are so savvy now when it comes to everything. Like not just like, you know, I think brands need to really catch up with the idea that yeah, we can look at the inky right. Like we can we can dissect the ingredients but then packaging and you know what it takes to produce the product. Like people know all this now because there's so many people educating about it on social media that like the transparency is wild at this point in the industry. And so I think you're absolutely right in what you said where if you're selling a you know a shave oil for like $90 there's going to be a huge percentage of people that say why would I why why am I buying this. You know like what's the point of me buying this and I mean I don't blame them right because at the end of the day it's like at some point brands do have to step into that accountability portion of all of this where you do kind of take on those questions head on and say okay well you know this is what it costs for us to produce this you know and this is why we're selling it and I don't see a lot of them doing that so I think this is a really great example of what you're you know what you guys have created and what you're doing. It's a great case study for those kind of brands that are trying to figure out like what is it the consumers know and where do they actually go to when they don't shop us you know that kind of thing so yeah it's really really cool. No I love it I think salon perfect and it's like I mean it's such a beautiful example of I think the beauty industry moving fast but like staying on track and I've loved all of your insights Morgan thank you so much for you know some of those questions I know we're kind of like. But I really appreciate you being a good sport and and really educating us because I think that's what we need more of. It's been so fun. Yeah no it's wonderful and for everyone listening you know make sure you guys check out salon perfect if you have not already and slick obviously I'm telling you that post shave oil is phenomenal. It is phenomenal so check it out and go you know give us some feedback you know if you've tried the products but thank you so much. Thank you.