On 15th April, CEW welcomed Nort Janssen, founder of revolutionary online beauty business www.latestinbeauty.com.
Heralding from an entrepreneurial family, Nort always dreamt of creating his own business. At the age of 33, he left a high profile career with Proctor & Gamble to pursue his dreams. While there were many challenges along the way, Nort’s confidence in his vision was unwavering and his hard work and dedication eventually paid off.
Having worked on beauty accounts such as Boots, Nort had a firm understanding of the beauty market and spotted a gap in the market for beauty loving consumers who wanted to “try before they buy’ -  a previous barrier to success for the online beauty industry. 
Nort developed the ‘beauty discovery box’ concept to allow leading beauty brands to connect with consumers via gorgeous beauty boxes filled with sample sized products. Customers have the option to ‘build their own box’, or to select from various pre-selected collections. Once customers have tried and tested their selected beauty products, many go on to make repeat purchases of the products they’ve grown to love.
With 80% of brands choosing to continue to work with Latest in Beauty, it’s a testament to the success of the Latest in Beauty business model. Nort’s business strategy consists of: Generating Awareness, Encouraging Trial, Driving Purchase and Repeat (encouraging repeat purchase).
From the beginning, utilising PR and marketing to leverage brand awareness has been integral to the brand’s success.  Strategic partnerships with leading women’s consumer publications have helped to bolster credibility, while helping to generate interest in the website. Today, Latest in Beauty is a great success story with more than 200,000 members.
During his presentation, Nort paid tribute to CEW for believing in his concept from the beginning. Latest in Beauty continues to create the CEW Awards Finalist and Winners boxes, which prove popular with its customers. 
Nort has shared his insights for others wishing to set up their own business:
     •  There’s never a ‘right time’ to go into business – just go for it
     •  Find the right customer for your product or service and get under the skin of what appeals to them, so you can target them effectively 
     •  Pull vs. push marketing is more effective as it ensures that your audience is more engaged, while helping to reduce product wastage
     •  An excellent team supporting you is essential to success
     •  Working in partnership with others will help to leverage awareness 
     •  Ensure you have a solid financial plan, but be prepared to make a loss 
     •  Don’t be afraid of competition, it can help you to more clearly define your brand’s USP
     •  Don’t get frustrated if things take more time than you had anticipated; it’s all part of the journey
For further information on Latest in Beauty, contact [email protected]. 
CEW’s Mentoring Series - where leading executives offer insights into beauty industry issues and inspiration for professional growth.
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