PORTFOLIO COMPANY NEWS
February 9, 2016 - David Olsen, former Net-a-porter global vice president and beauty guru, first heard about Cos Bar through a 2012 television commercial for Target, which was promoting partnerships with small businesses. At the time he thought Cos Bar was "really cool" and now he's heading up the luxury beauty retailer and ready to lead its next phase as its new chief executive officer.
Olsen is perhaps best known for building Net-a-porter's beauty business into a go-to online shopping destination with a curated selection of luxury brands. He succeeds Lily Garfield, who is now founder and chief merchant, and his appointment follows an undisclosed but "significant" investment from private equity firm Tengram Capital Partners in December. The plan for Cos Bar is to triple the store footprint in the next five years. Cos Bar's projected sales for 2016 are $25 million, according to industry sources.
The retailer occupies a niche space in luxury beauty, selling some of the brands you can find in specialty chains, like Bobbi Brown, Clinique and Deborah Lippmann, and some, like Clé de Peau Beauté and La Mer, which are mainly sold in large specialty stores. Yet Cos Bar's business differs from department stores in that store associates are hired by Cos Bar, not by the brands.
The company's store rollout is expected to result in the chain totaling about 50 locations at the end of five years. The e-commerce plan includes adding at least one warehouse, click-and-collect services and next-day delivery nationwide, Olsen said. Today, e-commerce makes up about 2 percent of Cos Bar's business. The goal is to increase that number to 15 or 20 percent. Cos Bar is also planning to up its branding through an expanded social media presence, instructional videos and store loyalty program, according to Olsen. The business may gradually expand its brand assortment, but not dramatically, he said.
Garfield started Cos Bar in Aspen, Colo., almost 40 years ago. Her son, chief operating officer Oliver Garfield, has been with the business for more than 10 years. Cos Bar currently has 14 locations that were all hand-selected by the mother-and-son duo.
"Lily and Oliver have done an incredible job using their industry knowledge and their gut picking the first 14 or so locations that we have," Olsen said. "We're going to couple that art with a huge amount of data science to really hone in on the best possible locations. We're going to combine the art of the Garfield's with the data and science of a third-party company."
"We're looking for opportunities in larger markets where we know the luxury customer exists," said Tengram partner Rich Gersten.