Beauty

A newly-inked EU-U.S. trade deal could complicate the calculus of exporting cosmetics and beauty products to America. Use of the “First Sale” clause might blunt the impact, but also reshape the retail channel mix in the process.

With margins across categories already thin, the latest mercurial wave of tariffs is asking fashion and beauty brands to really evaluate the tools they have to respond. This means downstream optimisation to start, but also exposes the large panel of upstream levers that may need to be pulled in the longer term.