👉 Background: In 2002, MCoBeauty’s founder, Shelley Sullivan, started a beauty brand called Model Co. But eighteen years later, she realised that there was a bigger opportunity to offer accessible beauty products - and MCoBeauty was born.

‍👉 What happened: Since then, MCoBeauty has become the best-selling beauty brand in Woolworths supermarkets and Big W. Back in 2022, DBG Group, took a 50% stake in MCoBeauty in 2022. Now, it will buy the other 50% for a reported $500 million — and that would mean the deal values MCoBeauty at $1 billion.

‍👉 What else: MCoBeauty’s strategy has been to identify viral beauty products and dupe them at an affordable price. As a result, it has managed to take market share from L’Oreal, Rimmel and Maybelline. Not bad for just 4 years of duping.

What's the key learning?

💡Dupe culture is where products are copied and sold at a lower price point than the original.

💡We see dupe culture in a whole range of products: water bottles, furniture, fragrances, and especially cosmetics. In fact, dupes account for about 40% of MCoBeauty’s products. But, what’s interesting is that 60% of young customers would actually prefer the dupe over the OG product.

💡The bigger winner here? MCoBeauty and other dupers. The biggest loser? The brands and companies that spend millions of dollars developing a new product… only for it to be duped and sold for 20% of the price.