Australia’s Mecca to Debut in Europe With Bestselling SPF Cream
LONDON — Australia’s largest prestige beauty retailer, Mecca, is making its first foray into Europe and the western market with the launch of its number-one bestseller, a multitasking SPF cream from its in-house label, Mecca Cosmetica.
To Save Face SPF50+ Superscreen will launch on Monday in the U.K., and is a milestone for the retailer, which was founded by Jo Horgan in 1997.
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The sunscreen, which is made in Australia, will be sold direct-to-consumer on Mecca’s new U.K. site, and retails for 35 pounds.
The plan, according to Marita Burke, the company’s “chief Mecca-maginations officer” is to roll out related SPF products, such as a serum and body care, in the next six to 12 months.
In an exclusive interview, Burke said Mecca is launching with To Save Face “because it’s our best product, and we want to put our best foot forward into this market. SPF is becoming a category with quite a lot of momentum behind it because we are all acutely aware of the damage the sun can do.”
Burke added that the active skin care people are using now is making their skin even more sensitive to the sun.
Launching with a single sunscreen will give Mecca a “really good sense of how well our product can stack up against the needs of the U.K. customer, who is very similar to the Australian customer in many ways,” Burke said.
It’s a key moment for Mecca.
The retailer celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, while Mecca Cosmetica, a collection of high-end essentials developed in tandem with in-house experts and consumers, turns 10 years this year.
It has 109 stores in Australia and New Zealand and a 25 percent share of Australasia’s 4.2 billion Australian dollar prestige beauty market.
Late last year, Horgan told WWD Beauty Inc. that Mecca’s goal is to be “the world’s most loved beauty destination.”
She added that if Mecca has an offer “that appeals to customers and that customers love, which seems to be the case, then it is our responsibility to take that more broadly.”
Horgan suggested that it was time to explore new hemispheres, and described Europe in particular as a “thriving market. We would clearly have to consider it along with other markets. That’s the phase we are in,” she said.
To Save Face offers broad spectrum SPF50+ UVA and UVB protection. Mecca describes the cream as “practically weightless” and with no white cast. It was designed with makeup-wearers in mind, and can double as a moisturiser as it’s almost undetectable on the skin, according to the company.
Key ingredients include Vitamin E; Glycerin; Maritime Pine Bark extract, an antioxidant; and Sodium PCA, meant to hydrate the skin.
“In Australia, SPF is a way of life. It’s like brushing your teeth in the morning. We wear it our entire lives, ant it’s a daily step within our skin care routine,” Burke said. “The reason we launched [To Save Face] was because we were all pretty tired of the clumpy, gooey, gluggy products that we were putting on our skin.”
She added that To Save Face was the result of much in-house research and many consultations with Mecca customers who had been asking for an SPF that could work harder, and disappear into the skin like a moisturizer.
“And so, over time, we found ourselves developing a product that was actually more than the SPF. It has an ability to sit underneath makeup, which made it the perfect primer” Burke said.
Burke declined to detail Mecca’s sales targets for the U.K., but noted that the SPF category here is in double-digit growth. “I do think that there is need for SPF that can actually deliver on the skin care benefits,” she said.
Asked about a further rollout in Europe, Burke said Mecca sees the U.K. as a testing ground and wants to gauge the product’s popularity here before moving into other markets. “Ultimately, we see this as a launch across the U.K., and the EU,” she said, adding that the plan — eventually — is to feed more Mecca Cosmetica products into Europe.
“There are a number of top sellers in Australia from the Mecca Cosmetica line that I think the U.K. would embrace. I think there is a real opportunity here,” she said.
The U.K. is one of Europe’s most competitive beauty arenas. According to Euromonitor, it is the second largest European beauty market after Germany, and is in the top 10 worldwide.
Sephora reentered the market with a long-awaited opening in March, while Harrods has launched a new, stand-alone beauty concept called H Beauty, which has stores in cities including Edinburgh, Bristol and Newcastle.
Boots, meanwhile, has ramped up its beauty offer in major retail hubs, while Space NK is also in expansion mode, having opened its biggest unit at Westfield London, not far from Sephora, earlier this year.
The beauty floors at retailers such Harrods, Selfridges, Fenwick, Harvey Nichols and Liberty are buzzing with customers of all ages seeking new products, and personalized experiences across a range of price points.
Asked whether Mecca might eventually open a physical store in Europe, Burke said “never say never,” although the focus for the moment is direct-to-consumer, online distribution.
To support the launch, Mecca has set up a local website and fulfilment centers. Mecca will also benefit from the new Australia-U.K. Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect on May 31. It eliminates tariffs on more than 99 percent of Australian goods exports to the U.K.
The To Save Face launch won’t be splashy. Burke said Mecca plans to rely on a group of brand alumni living in London who are “perfectly placed to be able to bring the product to life” as soon as it lands next week.
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