Adore Beauty sales soar but Black Friday ‘overperformance’ hurts profits

Harry Booth

24th Feb 2026

Online beauty retailer, Adore Beauty is aggressively pursuing the growth of its customer base as the company attempts to lift its faltering profits.

The company said its “overperformance” during the Black Friday, Cyber Monday (BFCM) period contributed to a 120-basis-point decline in its gross profit margin to 35 per cent in the first half of the 2026 financial year due to discounting.

But an 8.7 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue to $111.9 million led to a record underlying EBITDA for Adore Beauty of $4.1 million, a 14.5 per cent increase on the prior comparable period.

Ikou, the premium skincare brand in Adore’s portfolio, had one store open during the period. Adore reported that it grew its revenue “across all channels”. 

Adore Beauty’s CEO, Sacha Laing, said the results were a product of the company’s customer-led strategy.

“We cost-effectively acquired new customers at the fastest rate in four years whilst halving acquisition costs with record levels of marketing efficiency,” he added.

“Importantly, operating leverage, growing owned brands, and disciplined cost management delivered record earnings despite margin pressures arising from exceptionally strong Black Friday period sales.”

The company’s growth strategy saw the opening of 10 new stores in the six-month period, with a further six planned before the year ends. Its emphasis on customer acquisition took the company’s active customer count past 850,000, with the company’s 509,000 loyalty members accounting for 78 per cent of sales.

The success of Adore’s omnichannel strategy was evident from the growth of its app, which now contributes 35 per cent of e-commerce sales, and has taken another 10 per cent of the sales mix from Adore Beauty’s website and other online channels.

“While retail trading conditions remain challenging, improving the quality of revenue remains a priority for the business,” Laing said.