ELF Beauty CEO says TikTok Live feedback shapes product launches

ELF Beauty CEO Tarang Amin says he goes on TikTok Live to ask customers what they want from the brand. He told host Bob Safian that the company used to launch many products and hope they'd sell, but now it goes straight to its community for guidance. His CMO "terrorizes" him by putting him on TikTok Live, he said, because the audience isn’t shy.

During one appearance last year viewers pushed for a cheaper alternative to a $38 bronzing drop from another brand, typing, "No, boss man, we want them now." Amin left the call "a little traumatized," then called his R&D head and learned a bronzing drop was scheduled 18 months out.

The team moved faster and introduced the product six months later. ELF, which owns Hailey Bieber’s clean-beauty brand Rhode, is known for budget-friendly items like $5 concealers and $11 setting sprays. The company reported a 38% increase in net sales in its latest quarter to $489.5 million, and its stock is up about 20% in the past year.

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