Industry Voices - Elizabeth Grant Company

In this segment of the Industry Voices we talk to Margot Wiz of Elizabeth Grant. Elizabeth Grant Skin Care is a 70+ year old Canadian company focused on producing highly advanced luxury skin care products. 

1.  Tell us what is the essence of Elizabeth Grant, how did it become a company? 

The essence of Elizabeth Grant Skin Care is to strive to do it better, for women ( and men) to enjoy growing older. Something is interesting in society that women feel the pressure when they turn 40 they somehow “disappear” in what seems like value, appeal and respect when they hit that decade. But with us, we are three generations of women, 35, 67 and 97 who have all had our trials and tribulations with ageing, but also have embraced the journey. We have always said, it is a blessing to grow older, but that doesn’t mean you have to look older once you become a Torricelumn™ Girl or Torricelumn™ Guy. The company began when my grandmother, Elizabeth, suffered from bomb blast damage in WWI, which severely damaged the left side of her face. Elizabeth was a makeup artist at Elstree Studios in London, England, and all she wanted to go back to work. She was on a search for something to repair her skin and that’s when she discovered and formulated her miracle proprietary blend of ingredients, know as Torricelumn™, which she has been selling for over 70 years. 

2. What strategies have helped your company during COVID? 

For us our business has primarily been through television shopping networks, so when Covid19 hit, and all retail shutdown our customers were comfortable knowing where they could already purchase our products safely, with no contact. Since we are our own manufacturing facility we also immediately changed over our facility to a skeleton staff, enforcing a strict covid19 policy and switched our manufacturing facility to manufacturing Health Canada approved hand sanitizer; which we supplied to front line workers, and people in need. With any challenge in business and life, you have to be nimble and plan ahead in terms of supporting your day to day business and support the curve of hurdles that come your way. It's also about ensuring the health and well-being of your staff and team around you. 

3. What is your approach to product sales and how is it different than most companies? 

Since we are a television shopping brand we make products to order from the channels, with direct sales to the consumer we know exactly how much we need to sell because we have made a finite amount. Our platform is educational-based live television so we have the ability to educate and entertain while inspiring the customer journey. Most companies are retail-based, having to pay for the space they are in, testers, advertisements, and invest in a product life cycle. Because we plan with the channels monthly we can forecast the production needs, understand the product life cycle, invest in the customer journey without the heavy overhead and retail investment cost.
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4. How does Elizabeth Grant want to contribute to the Cosmetic Market? 

We have been in the industry for over 70 years, 10 international countries, and helped to launch a beauty category known as serum. My grandmother Elizabeth created the first serum on the market with our Essence of Torricelumn. Including in the 1950s when it was very unusual for a woman to not only run a company but to start one. She truly was a pioneer helping to open the doors for many women, and makeup artists alike to have a platform to chase their dreams. We will continue to help women and men, chase their dreams but more importantly embrace the ageing journey because it's important to look in the mirror and love what you see, vs to be told how to feel. Our goal to help contribute to the cosmetic market is for anyone to have the confidence to approach it but also to have the confidence to be who they are within it. 

5. What is your advice for companies considering pursuing Home Shopping Networks? 

Have a product that you feel will make a difference to a customer, and don’t take the customer for granted. You may go in with what you think is a sure thing, and it quickly becomes the opposite. But that doesn’t mean you had a bad idea, just a bad approach. 

 The Elizabeth Grant Team