The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. reported increases in online sales in Asia and in its travel retail business during the company’s fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30.
The Health & Beauty brand raised its outlook for fiscal 2027, citing improved profitability in Q1 as net sales grew 6.7% year over year to $3.7 billion.
Estée Lauder is No. 42 in the Top 1000 Database. The market research tool tracks North America’s largest online retailers, ranking them by annual ecommerce sales and more.
Estée Lauder is also No. 310 in Digital Commerce 360 and ReFiBuy’s AI Commerce Rankings. That set of rankings is available in the Top 1000 Pro with AI Database.
Why Estée Lauder raised its outlook for 2027
“The energy and determination of our teams, combined with the strength of our brands and the progress of our transformation, give me greater confidence than ever in the opportunities that lie ahead,” said Stéphane de La Faverie, president and CEO at Estée Lauder. “We are raising our fiscal 2027 outlook, reflecting both our strong start and our conviction in the future we are creating.”
The company now expects to see organic net sales growth of 4.0% to 5.5% instead of its previously forecast 3% to 5% in its full 2027 fiscal year.
In its earnings release, Estée Lauder credited what it characterized as “strong performance in the fiscal 2027 first quarter,” even as it stayed “cautious amid ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty.”
Highlights for the quarter included expanded availability through online channels, as well as successes in Asia and travel retail.
Where Estée Lauder online sales grew in Q1
Estée Lauder reported that it widened online consumer availability of its products on Amazon, where the company claimed to now have 13 brands across 17 markets. In the meantime, it also expanded to 15 brands present across 11 markets on TikTok Shop.
Its online sales encompass direct sales from its individual brands and retailers’ ecommerce sites, as well as through third-party platforms.
Specifically, the company noted online sales growth in Asia, where its new fulfillment center in China’s Hainan province opened in July, as well as in its travel retail business division.
“We delivered high-single-digit organic sales growth online [in Q1], driven by both established platform and expansion,” said de La Faverie on an earnings call with investors. “Encouragingly, online growth was also well balanced.”
He characterized growth broadly across regions.
“Asia Pacific rose double digit, while each of the other three regions grew high-single digits,” he stated. “In the U.S. and China, we gained share online with retail sales growth more than 2x faster than the industry in our two biggest markets.”
Estée Lauder’s investments in digital infrastructure
Estée Lauder, which uses Shopify as an ecommerce platform, extended use for M·A·C and Clinique brands’ sites in the U.S. and U.K. over the past quarter, as M·A·C physical stores also opened up in those markets.
Continued modernizing its digital technology infrastructure to deliver best-in-class consumer experiences with the full deployment of Shopify for M·A·C and Clinique on their US and UK brand.com, as well as the initial rollout for M·A·C freestanding stores in the US and UK.
In addition, Akhil Shrivastava, the chief financial officer at Estée Lauder, credited Shopify as a part of the company’s digital efforts, enabling what he called “superior consumer experiences, greater speed, simpler processes and improved productivity.”
“This can be seen in our Shopify deployment and the partnering with Profound, an AI marketing platform, bringing global insights into how our brands appear across AI platforms,” he stated.
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