The great empire of Estee Lauder originates in the small kitchen of the Lauter couple (later it was decided to change one letter in this surname), where Este prepared her first cream. Now, the share of her company, which included many subsidiaries (including Clinique, Aramis, Origins, MAC and Bobbie Brown), account for about half of the entire US cosmetic market.
Before the marriage, Este was named Mentzer. Her father was a native of Ukraine, his house near Chernivtsi has survived until now, Este even visited this place, already in old age. Este's mother, Rosa Schotz, was ten years older than her husband, therefore she carefully watched herself and little Este dreamed of being like her mother. Their family lived poorly, Esta was the youngest of seven children.
When the girl was six years old, her uncle, the dermatologist John Scotz, moved to them. Creams of uncle's cooking Esther tried on herself and, surprised by the effect they produced, caught on to create creams on their own. Later, with the help of Uncle Este, he will compose the formulas of his first four creams and realize his purpose. By the way, in spite of the fact that they cooked creams on an ordinary home plate, several beauty salons became interested in this product, becoming the first buyers of the future perfume-cosmetic empire Este Lauder.
Married a girl went out and did not finish school. Her husband, Joseph Lauter, was an accountant by profession. He supported the initiative of his wife, and in 1933 the couple gave their first announcement about the sale of cosmetics "Lauter Chemists" to the telephone directory.
Their marriage lasted nine years, but the relationship of the couple reached a deadlock and Esta, taking the initiative, filed for divorce. Nevertheless, in 1942 life again pushed the spouses and this time they lived another forty-one years together.
The first company Lauder was a small restaurant in Manhattan, which they converted to a small factory. At nights, work was in full swing at this factory - funds were being created that Este sold during the day.
From the very beginning of their family business Este decided to achieve the prestige of their products. Because she refused to sell in pharmacies and small supermarkets. Este was sure that the prestige of the product is determined exactly by the place where it is sold. This strategy of promotion and distribution of goods was a decisive step that determined the direction of development of the whole company for many decades.
Este Lauder had two sons - Leonard and Ronald, their, like their wives, active Este with ease added to the family business. All her relatives loved and respected Esther, and she was too generous to them.
Este very much appreciated the comfort of home, so she tried to bring it to the work of her company, because soon the offices of her employees began to resemble home offices.
The company Eté Lauder grew more and more. To warm the interest of buyers to their products, Este began to give away free small samples of creams for free. Many of its competitors openly ridiculed this idea, but it worked - women were pleased to try Estee's creams, receiving detailed advice about its products and soon the company's sales increased significantly. Este managed to calculate that such actions lead to the formation of women's affection for her brand, sincere admiration for the products, and consequently - women will advise this cosmetics girlfriends, attracting all new customers to the company. Now, with the easy hand of Este, the distribution of free samples has become a common thing for almost all perfumery and cosmetics companies.
But despite the magnificent marketing moves, the main trump card of this resolute woman always remained high quality of her creams. In order to persuade the owner of the prestigious Saks department store, located on Fifth Avenue, to take up the distribution of her products, Esther ... undertook to improve the complexion of his daughter. With own eyes seeing the effectiveness of the proposed Esta creams, the owner agreed.
The company's revenues continued to grow. Este spent all her money on the further development of her business - she invited experienced specialists to cooperate, opened research laboratories, boutiques and bought out brands of recent competitors.
Este chose for her company the concept of "Fast and Effective", believing that a woman does not necessarily have to spend a lot of time to care for herself. This slogan met with strong support from customers, being extremely effective.
Este's legends are made up of legends. Who did not hear about her eccentric act when Este broke a bubble of her new spirits, publicly calling her name!
Another innovative move by Este was the idea of wearing lipsticks in comfortable metal containers. This innovation was to the taste of the discerning secular ladies.
Este carefully thought through her own image, spending a lot of money on it. Until advanced years, she dressed brightly, making a choice in favor of bright colors and an unusual cut. In addition, this active lady constantly moved from America to Europe, settling the affairs of the company.
In the 50s, Estee Lauder took the third place in the US market, behind only such brands as Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. Este did everything possible to ensure that her brand was associated with the customers with luxury, elegance and sophistication. So a small family company began to turn into a real empire. The great empire of Este Lauder.
She managed to promote her goods even to the market of the Soviet Union: in the eighties her products appeared on the markets of Leningrad, Kiev and Moscow.
Such a success of her business Este explained her own unshakable faith in the manufactured goods.
From the cases Esther departed after the death of her husband, already at a very old age. Her eldest son Leonard was elected CEO of the company. Later, the case went to the grandson of the founder - William Lauder. He already talked about his plans for the company's policy on the market: it was decided to take a course for younger customers. In addition, William is going to abandon the policy of "absorption" of small brands and, leaving in the past the grandmother's main strategy, to enter the mass cosmetic market. Well, time will show what will come of this venture.