The RealReal, the popular online and brick-and-mortar luxury consignment store, is winding down its beauty business to focus on its core operations.
 
The company is reallocating resources from its direct business, including beauty, to grow its luxury consignment business. As part of this, The RealReal will be selling through existing inventory and discontinuing the beauty category.

Factors that Influenced the Decision

According to a spokesperson, the beauty category is a small piece of The RealReal's marketplace, and the company will continue to prioritize its efforts on growing its luxury consignment business. The company's recent move comes as it faces increasing competition from players like Moda Operandi and Farfetch.
 
Additionally, The RealReal has been grappling with shareholder demands for profitability, and as recently appointed CEO John Koryl told Wall Street analysts last month, achieving profitability will take time and energy. The company has already laid off roughly 230 employees and closed several flagships, neighborhood stores and consignment offices.
 
The RealReal's decision to wind down its beauty business comes as beauty retailing landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. While the company's assortment had initially featured clean beauty brands like Ellis Brooklyn, Pai Skincare, and Babo Botanicals, the competition has intensified, and many players have dropped out. Birchbox, for example, was reportedly weighing options, including bankruptcy, late last year.
 
As part of the winding-down process, The RealReal has been offering double-digit discounts on beauty products on its site.

Other Beauty Brands that Shut Down

The past year was a challenging one for the beauty industry. As a result, many beauty brands did not make it to the end of 2023.
 
Some brands were shut down in order to relaunch under new names, while others suffered from dwindling sales. Whatever the reason, these five brands did not survive.