Company name: Curate Beauty – www.curate-beauty.com
Co-founders: Samantha Freedman and Margot Vitale
Sum up the business: Curate Beauty is a wholesale marketplace platform, designed for retailers looking to buy indie beauty and wellness brands for their retail spaces at wholesale prices.
The Founders
Curate Beauty was founded by Samantha Freedman, 31 and Margot Vitale, 28 who have backgrounds respectively in beauty journalism and luxury retail. They have used their eye of innovation and extensive industry experience to reimagine the buying process.
The Motivation
To enable more retailers to stock independent brands, without the hassle involved in wholesale. The founders both witnessed and experienced the current antiquated and inefficient buying system, and were inspired to create a simple and digital process to help small businesses thrive.
Current Progress
Curate Beauty launched at the end of January 2020 and currently has over 60 beauty brands and a wide selection of over 600 products. We offer all categories of beauty including skincare, haircare and makeup as well as supplements, hair accessories and beauty tools. The brands on site are all independently owned and are looking to reach new and innovative stockists across the UK.
Our site looks much like a traditional DTC eCommerce site and allows retailers to buy across multiple brands at wholesale pricing in one checkout. We’ve partnered with a payment processor called SplitIt that allows retailers to pay for their orders over three months, but guarantees payment for the beauty brands, helping with cash flow.
How Did it Come About?
Sam started a consultancy and buying business called Just Add Beauty just over two years ago, but found as she added new clients and new brands the admin became overwhelming. She met Margot, who helped streamline the logistics and finances and together they decided to digitise the process of beauty buying, to fit better into today’s retail environment.
The site was in development for six months, and launched at the start of 2020. Clients now include fitness studios looking to upgrade their changing rooms, lifestyle, beauty and fashion boutiques adding a complementary beauty category as well as beauty salons looking for niche and innovative brands.
Plans For The Next 6 months?
Reach out to as many stores, fitness studios, and even hotels, restaurants, and co-living spaces to sell the concept. We need to make sure they understand how the services we provide can increase their sales by improving their offerings and making their work easier and more efficient.
What Inspires You?
We’re lucky enough to meet some of the most amazing brand founders – from both the retail and beauty side. It’s so inspiring listening to their stories of how and why they started their businesses, sharing contacts and providing invaluable advice for future-proofing success.
Anything Interesting You Have Learnt From Running The Business?
A huge amount! Starting a business means you have to be confident and successful in areas that perhaps you hadn’t thought about before. But being on this rollercoaster of a ride together has taught us a lot about the importance of support. Having a partner can help make you feel more confident in the times when you feel a little uneasy, and can make celebrating the wins more fulfilling. Luckily we have a great partnership and extremely complementary skill sets. Margot handles all of our finances, logistics, and tech updates, while Sam focuses on sales, marketing, and brand management.
For more information, contact [email protected]
