E.l.f. Cosmetics Taps Twitch For Livestream Shopping

Need to Know 

• E.l.f. Cosmetics is now the largest beauty brand to launch a branded channel on the popular streaming platform, Twitch.
• The new channel, “e.l.f. You”, is specially designed to empower women and girls in gaming.
• The channel will also be sued to host influencers and tailored shopping segments.
• Livestream shopping has become increasingly popular since the pandemic began last year, with some cosmetics brands seeing up to a 60% increase in sales.

Analysis

E.l.f. Cosmetics has become the first beauty company to have a branded channel on Twitch, with the launch of “e.l.f. You”, which debuted yesterday evening. The channel’s theme, “Game Up”, focuses on the intersection of gaming and makeup and will be targeted to empower female gamers. 

Twitch, a global streaming platform popular among Generation Z users, draws in more than 140 million monthly users. Users are now spending more time streaming on Twitch than Youtube, Facebook, and even TikTok. 

Due to previous partnerships and livestreams on the Twitch app, there’s already been “37,000-plus hours of total E.l.f. content watched on Twitch, in addition to massive social media coverage,” says Kory Marchisotto, CMO at e.l.f. Beauty. 

“Launching a Twitch channel is another demonstration that anything is e.l.f.ing possible,” adds Marchisotto. “We are always looking to blaze new trails when it comes to connecting with our current and new fans and believe Twitch is our next frontier—it’s interactive, engaging, authentic, and live.”

The “e.l.f. You” program will “further e.l.f.’s purpose pillar of empowering others by promoting and supporting up-and-coming female gamers and their squads to embrace their bad-ass-ness”, as well as aiming to create a more inclusive environment for women and girls in gaming.

“What motivates us most about our Twitch channel is the opportunity to inspire and support female creators. Together we can empower and inspire so many,” added Marchisotto.

From now until June 6, the beauty brand is challenging gamers to show their best makeup routines and looks via TikTok, for the chance to win a number of prizes, including the opportunity to host a stream on e.l.f.’s Twitch channel.

Livestream shopping is taking the retail world by storm, and cosmetics companies are some of the first to reap the benefits. 

Iconic brands like L’Oreal and Estee Lauder are using platforms such as Livescale, Twitch, and even Instagram to host regular livestream shopping and makeup tutorial events, see sales grow by up to 60%.  

E.l.f., which stands for “eye, lip, face”, is one of the first online beauty brands and is 100% vegan and cruelty-free. Last year, the brand focused its efforts on AI personalization on its website, which resulted in an 18% increase in customer click-through rate.