The RealReal Is Exiting the Beauty Business
The RealReal is winding down its beauty business, WWD has confirmed.
The resale site is renewing its focus on its luxury consignment business and reallocating resources from its direct business, including beauty.
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“We’re prioritizing our efforts on growing our luxury consignment business. With that, we have been deemphasizing the direct side of our business, including our beauty category, which is a small piece of our marketplace,” a spokesperson told WWD. “We’ll continue to sell through the existing inventory and sunset the category.”
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On Wednesday, beauty products on The RealReal’s site all had double-digit discounts, including brands such as Ceremonia, In Fiore and Doctor Rogers Restore.
When the company first started testing the beauty waters in 2018, its assortment featured clean beauty brands like Ellis Brooklyn, Pai Skincare and Babo Botanicals. Since then, the beauty retailing landscape has shifted dramatically. Players like Moda Operandi and Farfetch have added to the competition, while others have also dropped out. Late last year, Birchbox was said to be weighing options, including bankruptcy.
In addition to an unforgiving landscape, The RealReal has also been grappling with shareholder demands for profitability.
As recently appointed chief executive officer John Koryl told Wall Street analysts last month, “I have no illusions that The RealReal’s path to profitability will be achieved overnight or with only minimal effort. Rather, these types of accomplishments take both time and energy.”
The company laid off roughly 230 employees and said it would be closing flagships in San Francisco in Chicago, two neighborhood stores and two consignment offices. As of its last financial results for the quarter ending Dec. 31, losses shrank to $39 million, down from $52 million for the same period in 2021.
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