New Concept?

 Talk going around that the next direction for her business might be into make up.  This may be part of the discussion(s) with Kris Jenner since make up as a concept is part of the overall Kardashian business plan.  It did give Kylie $1.2 Billion when it sold 51% to Coty.  Kim sold part of her SKKN (20% for $200 Million) to Coty as well.  As of June neither was known to be happy about how they felt the direction each brand was being managed.  

Make up can be very lucrative.  Quite.  Forbes has an article of just how lucrative it has been for some people.  People like Hailey Bieber (Rhode to elf for up to $1 billion but the deal has other founders and is said to be stretched over years).  I also saw a list (Forbes) almost 30 people who are either billionaires or mega millionaires through make up.  Some inherited the business (think the various Lauders). 

But is that a realistic (meaning good) idea, now?

I'm not quite so certain.  

Why make up?  Many wear it, sure.  But it is a market segment which has a lot of competition already.  Granted there are always new people coming in to use it and some are always looking to try the new.  But there are many who stick with what they already like and love.  They know it and aren't into change unless forced into it (hello ebay).  That's the bigger market nut you really need to crack to pull ahead instead of focusing on the people who are always chasing the latest hot new trend as they are less likely to stick with you past the first purchase.

Another way to think about competition is how the really large companies may have several lines.  Think about Estee, they own Estee, Clinique, MAC, Smashbox, Bobbi Brown and others.  Coty has CoverGirl, Rimmel, Max Factor, Hansen, Kylie (51%) and others.  Revlon has Revlon, Almay, Ultima II, Elizabeth Arden and more.  L'Oreal has Maybelline, NYX, Lancome, Yves St. Lauren and others.  Note the "... and others."  They are covering many different market segments so they can try to pry someone away from what they are currently using.

What's the demographic?  Not a clue.  The thing about fruit spread or candles or mulling (what ever) is that it can be a good gift as you can give it to almost anyone.  Make up?  much harder as skin type may complicate things as it does vary.   It is very personal.  Or if she only goes into say lipstick, that ... can potentially be a problem as it comes off as incomplete (no blush, foundation, bronzer, eye shadow).  

Distribution.  Think about the whole thing with the fruit spread, wine and other consumables.  It was the very very limited quantity available for sale.  Full stop.  For anything to be really successful, it needs full time production, warehousing and then shipping to control costs.  But she didn't do that for spread.  Candles can be a limited run like the spread but make up?  Nope.  People will not be nice if their shade of (what ever) is out of stock.  They want it and they want it NOW!  (and if they don't get it, they will likely vent on social media to warn others and then move on to a different company).  This is really a you are fully in or not at all.  

How will she get it out to make it available?  Don't know.  Make up is kind of funny in that you can't always tell if a color on their screen is true on your screen before you even get it on your face before you start looking at how different it is in this or that type of lights.  This is why there are a couple of chains to sell all brands of make up in a brick and mortar location.  I don't know how easy or not it is to get into a place, be it an only make up shop or counter within a department store (or even down scale would be drug store) but it would mean having to really ramp up the quantities and have a good distribution which works.  Other locations means less profit to the person because those stores want their cut.  

Having written that, someone like Bobbi Brown - she was known within the industry for decades for her knowledge and experience inside and out before selling to Estee.  She then sat on the sidelines as per non compete contract until that was up.  And she came out with her new brand.  She sells on line but also has a few stores which only sell her products.  She clearly knows more about make up than probably most of the people who sell it.  My guess is even if she has no college marketing or financials classes, she has the knowledge of the industry to be able to make good thought out plans of what is likely/not likely to be profitable.  

Control.  

Meghan comes off as not exactly known for dealing well with people trying to tell her things.  She is good about surrounding herself with experienced people.  But then they leave.  

Trends in financial markets.  

If you believe that there will be a large market crash sorta kinda soon, there will be fewer people looking to buy luxury items when they are worried about buying food, being able to pay the rent, the phone bill and power bill.  Make up may be viewed as essential but they may be more likely to stick to known and possible cheaper product to eek through until their money flow is more cash flow positive.  She goes for the luxury not basic market so based on past pricing, it would be unlikely to be mid or low range pricing.

And the market for buying the company making the cosmetics may be cooling.  It's not what it was.  Coty sold their share of SKKN back and was said to have taken a loss of $71 Million.  And there have been some legal things going on about the Kylie sale with claims that the numbers were overstated and potentially not accurate tax returns.  

This might not be the best time to move in a potentially fickle direction like make up but what do I know?  I'm not some marketing whiz kid.  And who knows, it might not even be make up but something else.  Time will tell us.