The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. Education has always been our lever, for our team and for our customers. What the judges said: Jock is creating business and a living wage for Aboriginal communities. Today, the customer is all-ruling. He is a very successful restaurateur. Earnest Hargon had been adopted into the family as a youngster when his mother married a Hargon. "Because you watch your cost of goods double, and you can't go to the customer and say 'sorry, we need to double the price of the product'. Nicole Reed, It could have been the Jo Horgan x NGV Women in Design Commission but as ever, it is Meccas name in lights rather than Horgans. J.H. Right now were at the lucky stage of wonderful open horizons for our dreams, hopes and aspirations to fly so we can find the fertile ground within which they can land. Then it comes back to the disciplined march of being able to roll it out and execute it effectively across your suite of stores to make sure the innovation touches every customer and sweeps up every brand in some way, shape and form. Nicole Reed, Circumstances gave me the stepping stones to an entrepreneurial outcome, she says. Beauty is meant to be fun and fabulous and empowering. That gave me the confidence that I could problem-solve, she says. Dr. Joseph T. Horgan in an undated professional portrait. J.H. Over time it became clearer and clearer what you are, what you are not, what your customer proposition is and should be, what you should double and triple and quadruple down on, and as competition enters a market, it makes you focus even more on your differentiators and how you create the tightest, most compelling relationship with your customers. Petes job at BCG gave me real independence and the space to be an entrepreneur. J.H. There is a great humility to her, underpinned by great positivity., Horgan and NGV director Tony Ellwood. Horgan resides in Melbourne, a stone's throw from the original Toorak Road store, with her husband (and co-chief executive of Mecca brands) and their two children. I give them permission to fail fast and fail forward, and permission to be really ambitious and take considered risks. I wake up every day and say, Gosh, isnt there so much to do, isnt there so much opportunity to grow and build and expand and so much opportunity to improve what were doing in the here and now.. That includes financial literacy, positive psychology, health and wellness. WWD and Women's Wear Daily are part of Penske Media Corporation. : The Sydney store is about 18,000 square feet, three times the size of our biggest store and nearly eight times the size of our average store. Jo Horgan has completely redefined the Australian beauty landscape, championing retail innovation and delivering the ultimate beauty experience to her customers. : What I try and do day in and day out is to show that it is possible to run a female-empowering business in a positive, upbeat, fun way and demonstrate that you dont have to take on the traditional stereotypes of how to run a business or how to lead. Jason South. Horgan insists that she is not on the same level as the likes of Sherman or Neilson. J.H. Its pretty incredible, what shes done, said Mickey Drexler, the renowned retailer who headed up Gap and J. J.H. Jo Horgan founded Mecca Brands with one store front in 1997. Wendy Hsieh & Dr Chao - Cheng Yang. J.H. I dont know. Based in Central NY, with its abundant supply of top-of-the-line milk, Byrne Dairy works with local family farms to give our customers nationwide the best dairy products each day. To fill 4,000 square meters successfully you have to be curious by nature, beauty obsessed, willing to test and trial and willing to go out there to find the beauty truffles and nuggets hidden wherever they may be. But hold on to your hat, Dorothy. So if a customer wanted to buy a number of different brands, she or he would have to walk from counter to counter. Looking at Horgan now, it feels preordained that she would be here, at the top of a beauty empire that has all but toppled the department stores and has left LVMH-owned Sephora in the dust. And I do say so far, because Im now looking at the next 25-year horizon and knowing whats possible gives me enormous confidence for what Mecca can achieve in the next 25, with all of the learnings and brand relationships we have, and with the ambition, grit and determination that we have to redefine the way beauty is presented to consumers. Mary Horgan. Today, Mecca operates 109 stores in Australia and New Zealand and has a 25 percent share of Australasias 4.2 billion Australian dollar prestige beauty market; its business has grown tenfold in the last eight years since archrival Sephora set up shop and doubled over the last three years of COVID-19 despite its home-base, Melbourne, being under lockdown for longer than any other city in the world. Its possible she was referring to herself, using the royal we, but more likely still that she sees Mecca as indistinguishable from herself. Three times over the course of our conversation, politely inquiring members of her inner circle try to wrap us her up. The most Horgan families were found in USA in 1920. It brings me sinful amounts of joy and pride to announce that come April, you'll be able to find @gotoskincare in ALL AUS AND NZ MECCA STORES!! That hurt too, but as Horgan says: You cant have a holiday without fragrance.. She is clear on what she wants, but its all done very elegantly, very determinedly, out of the spotlight. So building and driving our signature line business has not been a priority. Thats what I want to lean into., And then Horgans face lights up. He was born February 22, 1940 in Big Rapids the so See Photos. For many women buying makeup in a department store can be an intimidating experience, and Jo Horgan was no different. Go and ask the team and they will know them. I ask a team member who laughs, nodding. She adopted a brand-agnostic approach and hired passionate staff who sold products on their merits. She lived a long, wonderful and happy life. In July, 2013, Sharon Horgan rode her bike across London and visited the offices of Channel 4, the British broadcaster, to pitch a comedy called . A Victoria Supreme Court sided with Jo Horgan's business that the Unilever-owned cosmetics brand had acted unlawfully when it walked away from an exclusive deal with the retailer due to Covid-19 restrictions. Noah Cyrus Confidently Freed the Nipple in a Showstopping Mesh Look for Milan Fashion Week, Woody Harrelson Slams COVID Set Protocols as Nonsense, Urges Hollywood to Stop Forcing Vaccination: That's Not a Free Country, McDonald's Franchisees Say Cardi B And Offset Meal Broke 'Golden Arch Code'. There are other ways in which we invest in our teams. Southern Utah. 1.73m. You need to have boots on the ground to know the market. You can bring your whole slightly flawed, slightly zany, slightly learning-as-you-go self with all of the optimism and joy and curiosity and slight astonishment of where you are with you. With skin, we have semi-private booths, where you can have boosters, half-hour walk-in sessions, but we also have three skin care rooms upstairs, where we do everything from injectibles to dermal therapies to peels. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover Jo's connections and jobs at similar companies. Owned by French luxury goods multinational LVMH, Sephora now has 13 outlets in the country. Using funds from the sale of her house, Horgan, then 29, opened a small store in South Yarra in Melbourne in 1997, selling cosmetics by cult brands such as Nars, Stila and Urban Decay. As audacious as the goal may sound, dont bet against her, say those who know Horgan best. Youre receiving the Beauty Inc Pete Born Impact Award. December 7, 2022, 9:30am. She is phenomenally thoughtful, he says. Horgan is still surprised by her success and admits she once got the giggles when she saw her co-chief executive title on a business card. Contact Number It means we need to frame our approach differently and say if we have an offer that appeals to customers and that customers love, which seems to be the case, then it is our responsibility to take that more broadly. And thats great fun, great fun. As she clasps her hands in front of her face with eyes wide, I ask if she can tell me anything about the store, apart from the fact that it will be positively enormous. Even if they dont buy anything. Horgan sees it as a chance both for the artist to be exposed to a wider audience, and for her customers to be exposed to the artist. We want to be the worlds most loved beauty destination, said Horgan, during a wide-ranging interview with Beauty Inc. Weve learned over the last 25 years that if your customers absolutely love what you do and how you make them look and feel, and they want to be part of that community, you will prevail. . I cant really be philanthropic, to the same degree, without Mecca firing on all cylinders.. How do we change the game in digital. Its incredibly exciting and exhilarating and slightly astonishing to look back on an action-packed 25 years of events, activities and incredible milestones. And when they are ready, they will come back. 1-800-899-1535 | Our Stores: 1-888-645-5542. Its website gets nine million page views a month. The beautician was a neighbour of the Horgan family. Mecca has been very successful in creating and delivering new ways for ANZ consumers to experience beauty and an equally strong e-commerce presence.. Imagine the best product offer, a beautiful environment and my best beauty friend next to me taking me from zero to expert in one session thats how I wanted to experience cosmetics myself, Horgan says. She also created the HBO comedy series Divorce (2016-2019). "It's pretty heavy going. They include Mecca's Jo Horgan, Decjuba's Tania Austin and Megan Wynne, a one-time occupational therapist who's now running the $1.5 billion human services giant, APM." It was built on quality, great editing of the brands she carries and hard work., Despite her success, Horgan hasnt lost her touch with shoppers and its this that has led to her incredible success thus far and will continue to pave the way as she moves forward. Jo Horgan with husband and business partner Peter Wetenhall. Selling her home to help raise funds, she opened her first Mecca boutique in the city's upmarket South Yarra suburb, selling cosmetics from cult brands such as Nars, Stila and Urban Decay. Were taking an agile approach, because were very cognizant that the beauty landscape is ever changing at warp speed and its our job to predict where its going and to make sure we can continually adapt and evolve to always be ahead of the market. Our ability to trade them into Meccas broader offers has been another silent winning lever. Thats what were meant to offer our customers, so if we cant live that ourselves, what are we doing? Now that youve achieved the goal to be the biggest in ANZ, whats next? We were clear about what we wanted to offer. Theyre running bigger businesses than most managing directors in Australia and it is our responsibility to prepare them for that and make sure they will thrive. Email. We had to pivot and pivot to the point of pirouetting through the pandemic. Mecca Brands founder Jo Horgan never set out to be a pioneer. Now, Mecca boasts products from 150 brands in more than 100 stores . "Given the sheer size of the industry, Mecca has a market share of less than 3%, despite its 70-plus stores," she says. But at the same time, she never wants it to be about her. Our philosophy is to try many different things in a small way and see what sticks, and once you really understand, then fire the massive cannonball. Remy Rippon 5 Apr 2018. Australian entrepreneurship Jo Horgan turned a love of makeup into 87-strong chain of cosmetics stores. Do you see these as the first step to conquering other markets by raising brand awareness? Horgan is quick to remark that, whatever the focus she gives to M-Power, her philanthropy is fuelled by her business. Twenty years after launching Mecca Cosmetica, Jo Horgan is sitting pretty at the helm of a booming beauty business. John left Cork to come to Perth with his Protestant wife. The "Real Housewives of New Jersey" husband told Page Six exclusively at BravoCon . Mermaid-Core Beauty Looks at Milan Fashion Week Spring 2023 We bring our managers and sales team together twice a year and get extraordinary speakers, like Julia Gillard, Australias only female prime minister. Right from the outset, I was really clear on what Mecca was, she says. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Jo is quietly powerful, he says. I loved cosmetics I thought there was a real space for them that should be fun and entertaining. So, having the brands become the baseline of your offer and it is what you do to bring them to life, the experience, the team, the content and the way in which you know your customer and how sticky you can make your relationship with your customer, that becomes the differentiator. The British-born, Perth-raised English literature and communications graduate was working in the marketing . His Restaurant Orana in Adelaide was set up for the sole purpose of starting a foundation to help make native foods mainstream, while commercialising the raw ingredients and paying fair prices to producers. AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Mother who killed her five children euthanised, Alex Murdaugh jailed for life for double murder, Zoom boss Greg Tomb fired without cause, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, US sues Exxon over nooses found at Louisiana plant, Sacred coronation oil will be animal-cruelty free. Mecca was one of the first beauty businesses to embrace e-commerce, launching an online store in 2001, and mecca.com.au is one of the largest players in the online beauty market. Then we said, can we expand this through to jewelry as adornment, so were doing piercings, solderings, engraving. We also need to integrate digital into the in-store journey, and blur the lines between physical and digital. Whatever you can do to make each experience exceptional, that is your gift not just to the customer but to the world. Instead of markedly putting up prices Ms Hogan had to cut her profits. See Photos. We were clear we didnt want to cannibalize existing business, which we havent. Ms Horgan says that she was attracted to L'Oreal more out of an interest in marketing than makeup, and that working for the company turned out to be a crash course in business and entrepreneurship. Many of them are running businesses that might be $5 million, $10 million, $50 million doors. That is pretty irreplaceable. The cheer might be a touch relentless, but there is no denying that the formula has worked. J.H. I think I had very lofty ambitions that I wanted to create a new customer experience, but it wasnt about being a pioneer. Are they an important part of the strategy for global differentiation? A few years after she started, the value of the Australian dollar dropped, making it far more expensive for the company to buy the international products that its customers wanted.