Born from an idea whilst searching for the best mascara to use to an app now with 80,000 products and 17,000 brands. Beauty Buddy was created by two sisters Wendy & Tracy and today Nicole chats with co founder Wendy Slattery on how they have created what they call the “Trip advisor” for beauty products, where consumers who have used the brands whether they love it or hate it they rate it. Which allows consumers and brands to get real feedback from real people. They discuss the initial research they did and how they engaged with people that really made them see that they had an idea that was viable and useful. To a whirlwind trip to New York drawing on every and any connection to meet advisors and investors, creating a minimum viable product without spending millions.



KEY TAKEAWAYS


We’ve all been the overwhelmed customer going into a store. When Wendy and Tracy went into a store and asked the assistant if a makeup brush was worth the money, they were told “I don’t know, I only work here Saturdays”. The pair then went online and googled the item, all that came up was sites trying to sell the product, nothing about if it was good or not. So that’s when they thought wouldn’t it be great to just be able to scan a barcode and see relevant information on a product.
From focus groups Wendy discovered that in terms of product reviews, people are least likely to trust reviews on the brands own website or store. When it comes to influencers reviews it was a balance between trusting some and not trusting others. The reviews that people trust the most are those given by a friend.
The pair found success with their Facebook group for beauty product reviews but the problem was that it was impossible to keep track of. They found people asking the same questions weeks apart because the information they had got on the previous post was just too hard to find again.
Never take no for an answer. You don’t open doors with one email, you need to be calling, LinkedIn messages, everything. Just be persistent.
Beauty Buddy is currently valued at £3.6 million after the latest round of investment.



BEST MOMENTS



‘I’ve said yes to dates…but it’s in America!’

‘We know where we’re going. Either you’re interested in being on the journey with us or you’re not’

‘When you’re that small, you need to find investors who are passionate about the industry’

‘You will always make mistakes as a startup’

‘The worst you can do is fail’



EPISODE RESOURCES



https://www.thebeautybuddy.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thebeautybuddyapp

Tik tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeautybuddy



https://proto.io/



VALUABLE RESOURCES 



www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach 

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/



ABOUT THE HOST



Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line.

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM)

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme: thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist



CONTACT METHOD 



Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk

Email nicole@thebuyerandretailcoach.com

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

Born from an idea whilst searching for the best mascara to use to an app now with 80,000 products and 17,000 brands. Beauty Buddy was created by two sisters Wendy &amp; Tracy and today Nicole chats with co founder Wendy Slattery on how they have created what they call the “Trip advisor” for beauty products, where consumers who have used the brands whether they love it or hate it they rate it. Which allows consumers and brands to get real feedback from real people. They discuss the initial research they did and how they engaged with people that really made them see that they had an idea that was viable and useful. To a whirlwind trip to New York drawing on every and any connection to meet advisors and investors, creating a minimum viable product without spending millions.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS
 
<ul>
<li>We’ve all been the overwhelmed customer going into a store. When Wendy and Tracy went into a store and asked the assistant if a makeup brush was worth the money, they were told “I don’t know, I only work here Saturdays”. The pair then went online and googled the item, all that came up was sites trying to sell the product, nothing about if it was good or not. So that’s when they thought wouldn’t it be great to just be able to scan a barcode and see relevant information on a product.</li>
<li>From focus groups Wendy discovered that in terms of product reviews, people are least likely to trust reviews on the brands own website or store. When it comes to influencers reviews it was a balance between trusting some and not trusting others. The reviews that people trust the most are those given by a friend.</li>
<li>The pair found success with their Facebook group for beauty product reviews but the problem was that it was impossible to keep track of. They found people asking the same questions weeks apart because the information they had got on the previous post was just too hard to find again.</li>
<li>Never take no for an answer. You don’t open doors with one email, you need to be calling, LinkedIn messages, everything. Just be persistent.</li>
<li>Beauty Buddy is currently valued at £3.6 million after the latest round of investment.</li>
</ul>
 
BEST MOMENTS
 
‘I’ve said yes to dates…but it’s in America!’
‘We know where we’re going. Either you’re interested in being on the journey with us or you’re not’
‘When you’re that small, you need to find investors who are passionate about the industry’
‘You will always make mistakes as a startup’
‘The worst you can do is fail’
 
EPISODE RESOURCES
 
<a href="https://www.thebeautybuddy.com/">https://www.thebeautybuddy.com</a>
Instagram: <a href="http://www.instagram.com/thebeautybuddyapp">www.instagram.com/thebeautybuddyapp</a>
Tik tok: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeautybuddy">https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeautybuddy</a>
 
<a href="https://proto.io/">https://proto.io/</a>
 
VALUABLE RESOURCES 
 
<a href="http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com/">www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com</a>
<a href="http://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach">www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach </a>
<a href="http://www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach">www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach</a>
<a href="https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/">https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/</a>
 
ABOUT THE HOST
 
Buying &amp; retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&amp;S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing &amp; developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line.
Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM)
Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start &amp; scale a product business. A 12 Week programme: <a href="https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist/">thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist</a>
 
CONTACT METHOD 
 
Website <a href="http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com/">http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com</a>
IG <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/">https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/</a>
TikTok <a href="http://www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach">www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach</a>
LinkedIn <a href="http://linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk">linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk</a>
Email <a href="mailto:nicole@thebuyerandretailcoach.com">nicole@thebuyerandretailcoach.com</a>
Newsletter <a href="https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/">https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/</a>
Book a call with me <a href="https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall">https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall</a>

Want to start, scale and succeed in your product business? Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit. In this weekly business podcast, Nicole is here to empower you to "start, scale and succeed" by providing you with inspiration, motivation and insight from entrepreneurs and experts to help you in the retail industry.

This podcast includes tips, tactics and conversations that you can learn from and implement into your own business, from start up entrepreneurs that have just launched to multi million pound businesses. With tips from experts and how to’s to help your business grow to enable you to live the life you crave. From side hustle to stock market and everything in between.

Start listening and subscribe now

Want to start, scale and succeed in your product business? Buying &amp; retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&amp;S, Debenhams and Asda, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit. In this weekly business podcast, Nicole is here to empower you to "start, scale and succeed" by providing you with inspiration, motivation and insight from entrepreneurs and experts to help you in the retail industry. This podcast includes tips, tactics and conversations that you can learn from and implement into your own business, from start up entrepreneurs that have just launched to multi million pound businesses. With tips from experts and how to&rsquo;s to help your business grow to enable you to live the life you crave. From side hustle to stock market and everything in between. Start listening and subscribe now

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