Orveon is the new owner of three of Shiseido America‘s iconic cosmetic brands—bareMinerals, Buxom and Laura Mercier.
Carney Nir, the Vice President of Global E-commerce & Site Experience at Orveon Global, plays a pivotal role in developing and optimising the company’s e-commerce presence.
Her primary responsibility is to lead the development and enhancement of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) strategies that facilitate global growth and elevate the consumer experience.
Before joining Orveon in 2022, Carney held the position of executive director of North American e-commerce at Estée Lauder. During her tenure, she spearheaded e-commerce strategies for the Aveda brand, as well as overseeing the implementation of their online loyalty program.
Carney’s professional journey began in Australia, where she co-founded Outergold, a premier online beauty store.
Carney will be speaking at the upcoming Online Retailer Expo & Conference, which is returning on July 19 and 20.
Returning to the ICC Sydney, this year’s Online Retailer will be lasering in on the topic of tech’s role in the future of retail.
With a premium roster of local and international talent discussing the industry’s most pressing topics, there will be unique opportunities to hear from some of the most accomplished and inspiring names in the business.
Retail Beauty caught up with Carney for an exclusive Q&A ahead of the event.
Can you share your journey and how you became involved in the beauty industry, specifically in the e-commerce and digital experience realm?
I started my career working in the music industry in Australia! My roles were always within the e-commerce and digital marketing space, and I learned so much from this industry. The music industry was truly going through a digital acceleration before many other industries and so I really learned early on how to use technology to develop meaningful connections with fans (and later consumers). While I was in Australia my friend and colleague Bridget Rusk and I co-founded an online beauty store called Outergold, which was born from our frustration at not being able to get some of the beauty brands we saw on international travels in Australia. We both moved to the US sometime later and closed the store, but that beauty industry experience came in very helpful as I started at The Estée Lauder Companies, where I ran the North American Ecommerce sites for Aveda. Since November last year I’ve been at Orveon Global, a collective of three beauty brands (Bare Minerals, Laura Mercier and Buxom Cosmetics) where I oversee the Global E-commerce and Site Experience teams.
What are some of the key responsibilities and challenges you face in your role as VP of e-commerce and digital experience at Orveon Global?
In my role I’m responsible for leading the digital acceleration of our business. I oversee the digital product, commercial, merchandising and customer service teams and support our talented teams around the globe in accelerating our owned website footprint, as well as supporting our digital retailers. My team is responsible for building the right tech stack to support our e-comm business, developing the strategic building blocks to help us deliver our goals, develop the product roadmap, and support the teams in executing the right tactics to have meaningful connections with our consumers. The biggest challenge is that we are essentially a startup – we are trying to accelerate while at the same time building the right infrastructure to ensure our future success. The most exciting – and challenging – thing, is prioritising what we’re going to do first.
How do you approach developing and executing successful e-commerce strategies for brands like bareMinerals and Laura Mercier?
The fundamentals of marketing have not changed – serving the right message to the right consumer at the right time. We think about technology as an accelerator to find these consumers and serve the right messages to them at scale. We have also been leaning into AI in a much bigger way to help us serve more personalised experiences for our consumers.
What role does digital experience play in enhancing customer engagement and driving sales in the beauty industry?
It’s hugely important, particularly in an industry like beauty where we are selling Complexion products. It’s really difficult to sell foundation to a new customer online, so we’ve invested in tools that help make that experience easier, such as Virtual Try On, Shade Matching tools and Quizzes. We’ve also been leveraging new forms of technology to help us tell a more engaging brand story, such as the Metaverse store we recently launched for Laura Mercier. I am excited to share more about these digital strategies I’m employing to enhance customer engagement and the future of tech in retail at the Online Retailer Conference and Expo on July 19th at ICC Sydney.
In an ever-evolving digital landscape, what trends or innovations do you find most impactful for e-commerce in the beauty sector?
For Beauty AI tools such as Virtual Try On are so important because it really allows the customer to have the try on experience they would normally expect in a store. But we also don’t forget about more ‘traditional’ experiences – our highest converting tool is still live chat! Our beauty artists are incredible and do such a great job in educating on our products – we really use technology to give more people access to their knowledge.
Can you provide examples of successful digital marketing campaigns or initiatives that have significantly contributed to the growth and success of the brands you oversee?
We were recently one of the first beauty companies to launch on TikTok Shopping here in the US. We’re so excited about the possibility as it connects content and commerce without consumers leaving the TikTok app. We are seeing really exciting growth in new customer acquisition and product views from non-followers and are really thinking about this channel as an important part of our acquisition mix.
What strategies or approaches do you employ to stay ahead of competitors in the highly competitive beauty industry?
A lot of our product roadmap is driven by feedback from our own consumers about what they like/don’t like on the sites, so we really leverage our own data first and foremost. We are also very lucky to work with partners such as Shopify, TikTok, Half Helix and Tryzens who have allowed us to participate in Betas and Pilots that have allowed us to be amongst the first-to-market in a number of initiatives and new enhancements.
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