Good afternoon. Thanks for coming today. My name is Anna Lizzul. I am the lead analyst at Bank of America on e.l.f.. I am pleased to be joined by Chairman and CEO, Tarang Amin, SVP and CFO, Mandy Fields, and Head of IR, KC Katten. Tarang has been CEO of e.l.f. Since 2014 and has over 25 years of consumer products experience through building brands, leading innovation, and assembling high performance teams. Mandy joined e.l.f. Beauty in 2019 with over 16 years of finance experience and was previously the CFO of BevMo!. Tarang, Mandy, and KC, thank you so much for being here today.
Thank you so much, Anna.
Tarang, I wanted to remark on the amazing success the company has seen in the last year. The stock has doubled since we initiated coverage in September 2022, despite a more challenging macro environment and high inflation. The company has now seen an impressive 16 consecutive quarters of net sales growth. Can you talk a bit about what has fueled e.l.f.'s success over the last year?
Sure. Well, thanks for having us, first and foremost. Let me turn off my phone. I would say, you know, the key drivers of our success, really the three fundamental drivers, first and foremost, is our value proposition. We make the best of beauty accessible to every eye, lip, and face. Second is our powerhouse innovation, our unique ability to bring things that are previously were only in the prestige marketplace and make them accessible at these great price points. The third is our marketing engine. We know how to engage consumers. We're the number one brand amongst Gen Z. We're increasing the number of consumers we get in millennials, Gen X as well, and we have a unique engagement model that delivers very high ROI that are in turn are fueling a lot of our sales growth.
Great. e.l.f.'s engagement with consumers is really a key driver to your success with innovation. e.l.f. has its Holy Grail products, which are priced at a significant discount to competing products from prestige beauty brands. You've stated in the past plans to have one to two new Holy Grail products each season. Some of these products have resonated very well with consumers, which includes your Power Grip Primer. Can you talk a bit about your innovation pipeline and how you are balancing innovation in cosmetics versus skincare?
I'd say our innovation approach on these Holy Grails, these products that we got inspiration from prestige or our community, our ability to bring them at these great price points. I'd say the other big thing about our innovation is it's not a one-hit wonder model where we launch one thing and then next year have to go figure out how to anniversary. We're building these franchises for the long term. I'll give you an example of back in 2019, we launched our Poreless Putty Primer. It was an incredible primer product that compared at $10 compared to a prestige item that was $56. That was an incredible hit, we continued to expand on the Putty franchise. We did Putty Blushes, Putty Bronzers, really created a new category there. Same with our Camo Concealers.
We did our Camo Concealers, our hydrating Camo Concealers, Camo CC Cream. We tend to build these franchises over time. Power Grip's our latest example. We launched Power Grip more than a year ago. We recently followed that up with our Power Grip Primer with niacinamide, which has proven to be almost 100% incremental. It's not only being able to uniquely get these products at these incredible values, but follow them up with additional innovation, which in turn has kind of driven our overall business as we look forward.
Yeah. I would just add to that, you know, I have looked over time, to Tarang's point, Poreless Putty Primer launched in 2019. Well, as I look at the different classes of innovation, the 2019 launch class, 2020 launch class, 2021, each of those classes have continued to grow over time. To reiterate, Tarang's point of not just having a one hit wonder, it's not about just a one item. It's about how do we build these franchises to have sustained growth over time.
That's great. e.l.f. operates as a mass cosmetics company providing prestige quality products to your customers. Who do you now see as your main competitors in the space? Are these primarily other mass cosmetics companies, prestige brands, or emerging brands in beauty?
You know, if you look at it just from a pure market share standpoint and how we measure that, you have the top three competitors ahead of us certainly are people that we're watching, that we admire a great deal, but also, you know, see as competition. You know, our innovation continues to set us apart from that. Our value proposition, our innovation, and our ability to engage our consumers in a very authentic way. I think that, you know, our Super Bowl ad was a great example of that. We had Jennifer Coolidge, really use our Power Grip Primer and got into sticky situations. That is something that e.l.f. can uniquely own, and our community had been raving about Power Grip Primer and how sticky it is.
We thought, "What a great moment to bring in this sticky Power Grip Primer with the stickiest celebrity out there right now." I mean, Jennifer Coolidge is everywhere, and we were able to pull that together and have that ad ready to go in less than three weeks. I think that's another superpower of e.l.f.'s that keeps us kind of separated from competition, is our ability to move with speed. Not just speed on the innovation side, because we can produce items and have it out to market in as little as 26 weeks, but also in our ability to make decisions quickly. A great example of that is TikTok.
Like, our ability to, you know, test and learn on TikTok very early on, this is back in 2019, when Kory Marchisotto, our CMO, came and talked to Tarang and myself about TikTok. She's like, "We gotta go do something on TikTok." Tarang and I said, "Well, what's TikTok?" Well, now four years later, we know what TikTok is. Four-time TikTok billionaires. It's not just one vehicle, it's not just one item, but it's all of those things working together that really have driven our success.
Yeah. I would add, I mean, you know, on the topic of superpowers, I think what really sets us apart from the competition, I mean, as we talked about with innovation, we're really known for this prestige quality at incredible prices. What we think sets us apart from the innovation is what we call our superpowers of, with e.l.f., we really think it's the only brand that consumers can get that prestige quality at incredible prices, but products that are also clean, cruelty-free, vegan, and now we're the only beauty brand to be Fair Trade certified.
I think we've seen over time, different companies can try and launch, you know, lower cost or lower price point products, but can't do it at our level of quality, or they'll launch clean products, but can't do it at, you know, can't be Fair Trade certified. We really think it's kind of the confluence of those factors that really sets our competitive moat. Our consumers tell us it's important because our consumers value that. They want brands that are clean, they want brands that are vegan, they want brands that are cruelty-free. It's really the importance to consumers of those factors that drive those superpowers as well.
You also have white space opportunities in new categories such as mascara, lip color, and skincare. Can you talk about the market opportunities in each of these categories, and how are you balancing your new shelf space gains with e.l.f. Cosmetics and e.l.f. SKIN?
Each of those categories, the categories that you named, mascara, lip, foundation, we have less than a point of share across those categories. They do illustrate a huge opportunity for us. We call them conquesting categories where we don't have that kind of top share like we do in primers or concealers, but categories that are important to our consumer, and we need to innovate in. We have our Lash 'N Roll mascara that we just launched this season, doing very well for us. We had our Big Mood last season, we're seeing share growth in these categories, but they're so large and really, you know, dominated by a few players that it will take time.
Just as in skincare, it's a great opportunity for us over the long term. You will continue to see us innovate in those categories. In fact, we just launched our O FACE lipstick. I have it on today in the color No Regrets. It's a fantastic line of lipstick. I think that we're gonna see a lot of success there as well.
In terms of your balance, I think what gives us the ability to conquest is we have such strength in our core segments. If you think about our mart, we have the number one or two position across 12 key segments, very high share positions, and we continue to innovate on those. It gives us the ability to go into some of these other categories where we're not quite as developed, and that's all really net new for us. It's a good balance between kind of the core, which makes up more than 50% of our business, as well as the ability, not only mascara foundation, but also skincare. Skincare is a huge opportunity for us that we just entered a few years ago, and we're seeing really great momentum.
Great. I also wanted to touch on pricing. You were able to raise prices a year ago in March 2022, and you were very transparent with consumers on this price increase. You maintained your entry-level price points while raising prices on other products. Despite these price increases, you continued to gain share in the color cosmetics category. Can you talk a bit about how e.l.f. balances pricing versus market share growth, and do you think there is more room to take pricing in this environment?
Absolutely, yeah. I mean, I think, you know, we've proven over time that we are a brand that has pricing power. You know, to your question, I think we've taken two major price increases in the history of the company. The first was in 2019, really in response to tariffs, and then more recently in March of last year in response to some of the elevated transportation cost headwinds that we've seen. I think both the executions on those went better than we expected.
You know, I think in this environment, one thing that's notable is that in the most recent price increase we did, while we took price up on two-thirds of our SKUs, we left a third of the SKUs unchanged, and where we left unchanged was really those opening level price points, those $2-$3 items that are really great entry points for the e.l.f. brand. Even the price increase that we've taken, I think what served us well is the really surgical kind of SKU by SKU approach of looking at, you know, our Poreless Putty Primer is a great example. I think when we originally launched it was $8. We've taken it from $8-$9, from $9-$10. It compares to an iconic prestige primer that's $52 now.
Still, even with the price increase, there's a really significant gap relative to that prestige inspiration. I think we've proven we're a brand with pricing power. It's not a lever we pull lightly, though. I think, you know, one thing that's driven our success is really our value proposition, we always wanna ensure that we're maintaining that incredible value for consumers and that there is, you know, a price point and an entry level for e.l.f. to go to.
I'd say as much as we do have pricing power and are reluctant to take prices up unless there's an external view, we've successfully taken up our average unit retails over time. nine years ago, if you looked at e.l.f., our average unit retails were about $2. On color cosmetics, we're now closer to $6, we've done it the right way through innovation mix. Products like our Halo Glow Liquid Filter, while higher on a price point for e.l.f. at $14, the only thing it compares to that's anything like it is a prestige item at $44. We have this price umbrella on this business because how we compare to prestige, that allows us to mix up the brand over time without risking kind of the overall value proposition, particularly the entry points that consumers often come to us with.
Great. e.l.f. also has several avenues of growth ahead. First, you have significant white space opportunities and expanding shelf space with retailers like Target, Walmart, and the drugstore channel. How are you balancing some of the shelf space gains, and how are your conversations with traditional retailers going as your company continues to grow?
Yeah. We're very excited about some of the shelf space gains we picked up. We talked about for this spring, particularly in Target and Walmart, gaining shelf space. It was the first time in almost four years that we've gained space in Target. It, it was really great to see that. I think our consistent performance over these last four years has really led to that, in addition to being the most productive cosmetics brand carried at Target and Walmart. When I say most productive, that's $ per linear foot, e.l.f. is the most productive brand within those retailers. That also helps to spur those conversations and further the case for why e.l.f. should have more shelf space. I think the more important point is that we're focused on driving productivity at shelf.
If you think about Target as an example, last year we grew 20% at Target, and we had no shelf space gains. It was purely driven by productivity, being able to, put the surround sound around our innovation through our marketing efforts and really drive that consumer into the stores. That's what you're gonna hear us really talk more about, really be focused on. Because when we look at shelf space expansion, it's really been a steady contributor from, net sales growth standpoint. Year after year, we're picking up shelf space with a subset, in a subset of doors with our retailers, and it's been pretty consistent, I would say, over these last four years. We like to see that. There's a little bit of an annuity value to that.
You don't have to worry about, oh my gosh, I'm cycling this big peak or that now I gotta worry about the valley. It's been very consistent. I like that. The better thing that I like to focus on is how are we going to continue to invest our marketing dollars in the right way, continue to see those ROIs, make sure consumers know about the fantastic innovation that we're launching every year.
Right. You're also looking to further penetrate international markets such as the U.K. and Canada. How are you balancing your growth domestically while also looking to expand further abroad? Where do you see the greatest opportunities for e.l.f. internationally?
Internationally, I'd say we're still in early days. It's only about 12% of our business today. If you look at some of the leading beauty players, it's not uncommon for them to have more international sales than they do in the U.S. I think there's really a significant runway of opportunity. Our international sales today are really primarily in the U.K. and Canada, and we've seen incredible results there. We're a number seven brand in Canada and number eight in the U.K. in mass cosmetics as compared to our number four position in the U.S. We know that we're a brand that resonates. We really have international opportunity. As we look to white space internationally, I'd say, you know, Western Europe from a retail perspective is still wide open.
I think there's countries that we now through Keys Soulcare have a relationship with Douglas, and I think there's a lot of area of opportunity in Western Europe. Then I'd say from a digital standpoint, I think we're also seeing incredible results internationally. Our business in India is a great example with Nykaa, a very small piece of our business, but we're seeing incredible results. India's, you know, top 20 e-commerce market. I think there's a, you know, English-speaking country with really strong value focus. You know, e.l.f. is a brand that resonates and was a very requested brand by Nykaa. I think we're excited about the results that we're seeing there.
Also challenging our international team to think about are there' other Nykaa's in the world of where we, you know, countries that we can penetrate and, you know, through digital. I'd add, though, I think what served us really well internationally is really taking a disciplined and methodical approach. I don't think you're gonna hear us launch 30 countries over the course of a year. You know, I think kind of seeding demand, you know, Canada and the U.K. are a great example where we really have business with two retailers in each of those countries. That methodical, kind of sequenced approach has really served us well. You know, I'd say more recently, we're excited, we hired a new Brand GM of International. She has over 30 years of experience in the beauty space.
I think, particularly excited about just kind of the new level of focus and discipline that she can continue to bring to the business to really tackle that white space opportunity that we see.
Great. Since e.l.f. is a digitally native brand, would you expect internationally to launch first on e-commerce and then move into brick and mortar eventually?
I think it depends on the market. I think Canada is a great example of us launching first from a retailer standpoint. We were in Target when they had stores in Canada and then moved over to Walmart when those stores closed. And then more recently launched in Shoppers Drug Mart, which has really worked well for us. But then the follow-on to that was to launch e-commerce in Canada. Versus what we did in the U.K., we had a U.K ., first, and then we launched our relationships with Superdrug and Boots. I really think it depends on the market. Ultimately, we would have both. We would have our e-commerce presence and a strong retailer partnership in those countries.
Great. Gross margin has expanded nicely so far this year. As you further expand into higher price and higher margin products, especially with e.l.f. SKIN, how do you see gross margin evolving from here?
Yeah. You know, there is opportunity in gross margin we've talked about. We've talked about carrying this 1,000 basis points of headwinds in our gross margin. Half of that, roughly half of that is tariffs. We know that because we source from China, we're subject to tariffs on about 80% of our products. At the 25% level. Unless there's some resolution there, those are kind of with us until they're not. On the other side of that, the other half of that is really driven by transportation costs, increases that we've seen, FX volatility that we've seen. Some of that will resolve, you know, over time, and we've already started to see some of the transportation costs improve.
FX continues to bounce around a little bit, but we are hopeful that that also will be a bit of a tailwind in the coming years. It's not just in gross margin that I think we have opportunity. If I think just more broadly about EBITDA margins, you know, in our non-marketing SG&A spend, I think there's an opportunity for us to continue to be disciplined, to grow those expenses at a slower rate than we're seeing as our sales growth and yield additional leverage from an SG&A standpoint as well.
Great. Let's talk about e.l.f.'s marketing strategy. e.l.f. has been spending more each year on marketing, at just 7% of sales in fiscal 2019, 16% of sales in fiscal 2022, and you expect to spend between 17% and 19% of sales on marketing in fiscal 2023. Mandy, you had a very entertaining Super Bowl ad last month featuring Jennifer Coolidge, which you mentioned earlier today, and your Power Grip Primer. e.l.f. has been very effective with its social media marketing on TikTok and Instagram. How are you planning to balance your traditional versus digital media investments, to reach your core younger consumers while also bringing in new demographics?
Okay, I will answer that question. Yes, we did have a fun ad with Jennifer Coolidge, and it was a lot of fun to see come to life. As we think about our marketing investments, you know, I like to think about this as a flywheel. Right now we have strong sales growth. We've been able to invest behind marketing and digital. We said we're gonna be at the higher end of that range this year, just given the sales momentum we're seeing. Then seeing EBITDA growth. Our outlook for EBITDA, our latest guidance is 50% growth on EBITDA at the top end. If we can continue that flywheel, you know, I would say that our ROIs that we're seeing are very strong.
It would tell us that we should continue to invest behind our marketing and digital. We will continue to do that as long as we can keep that balance of investing, but also making sure that we're expanding our EBITDA margins. Really, we're seeing success across the board. It's not just, like I said earlier, not just one vehicle that we're seeing success or high ROIs, but it's across social, PR, our influencers, all of the vehicles that we leverage, we're seeing strong ROIs with.
Can I add too? I think in addition to the strong ROIs we're seeing, I think the other thing that's given us confidence to take that marketing range up over time is really just looking ahead at the massive awareness opportunity we see. You know, we haven't given a native awareness levels in some time, but there's still a double-digit gap in our awareness levels relative to the legacy color cosmetics brands. You know, Anna, to your point, I think we've galvanized this, you know, incredible following among younger Gen Z consumers. I think there's still a big opportunity for us to reach more Gen Z consumers as well as reach more millennials, Gen X, even start targeting kind of that even younger generation, Generation Alpha. There's still just such a big opportunity we have to bring new consumers to the e.l.f. brand.
You have such incredible interactions with some of your consumers on social media with TikTok and Instagram. Do you pay any of these influencers to promote your product?
No. It's a very small percentage, if any, that we pay to these influencers. What you will see is some collaborations, right? Last year we did Mikayla, who is a major beauty influencer in Dunkin' Donuts. That was a partnership collaboration that we did. A lot of what we, what you see on social is organic. Those influencers wanna seem like experts to their audiences. What better way to appear to be an expert by telling them, "Hey, don't waste your money on a prestige item. You can get e.l.f., and it's just as good, if not better, for a fraction of the cost." That really gives them authority in the beauty space, really encourages their followers, we get a lot of growth that way.
That's excellent. I'd like to turn also to the digital side of the business. e.l.f. is a digitally native brand with a strong sense of engagement from consumers. You do a great job of rewarding consumers with your Beauty Squad loyalty program, which has about 3.5 million members. I think it's important to note that about 70% of e.l.lf's dot com sales come from Beauty Squad loyalty members. Can you talk a bit about Beauty Squad, the benefits for your members, and the data that you receive from Beauty Squad that helps aid your decision-making at e.l.f.?
We've had real success not only with our national retailer business, but on our digital business. I think in the quarter Q3, our digital channels were up 75% from a growth standpoint. What we're doing is definitely working. First and foremost is our core site, elfcosmetics.com. It will always be the hub, regardless of what overall penetration we have on digital. It's how we attract consumers, how we draw them. The best vehicle we have for our elfcosmetics.com site is our Beauty Squad loyalty member. As you said, they drove over 70% of our sales. Higher AOV, they shop more frequently. The other thing they provide is they're also a rich source of first-party data. That first-party data we're able to use in a few different ways, first and foremost in our media decisions.
As we talked about the high ROIs we're seeing overall in our marketing investments, Beauty Squad's been a key enabler, both everything from look-alike targeting to other sources of inspiration. Beauty Squad members go beyond just helping us with media, though. They often get first exposure to our new items. They're important feedback loop in terms of making sure we're getting the innovation that they're looking for, the ideas that they're looking for, and the level of engagement that they have with the brand is off the chart. I'm happy to say Beauty Squad grew over 20% in the last year, and our aspiration is to continue to grow that to fuel our overall digital business, not only elfcosmetics.com, but also we're seeing really great success on Amazon, on some of the other e-tailer sites that KC mentioned here.
It's gonna continue, and obviously, being a digitally native company, that's always gonna be first and foremost in terms of importance, even though we have expanded quite a bit with national retailers.
Is Beauty Squad available to all your customers both domestic and abroad?
It's right now available in the U.S., soon will be available more broadly within the U.K. and Canada, and then really any market that we go to. Related to that, you know, we have had pretty good effort on our e.l.f. app as well. I think we just passed over 1 million downloads. I think it was recently awarded, I think, one of the top 50 apps on the App Store. It's a good digital hub for us. The entire consumer experience comes to life on that app, including virtual try-ons, a lot of our tools to help consumers find the right product for them, but also be able to engage, including you can scan receipts and get your Beauty Squad loyalty points for even purchases you make at Target, Walmart, Ulta Beauty, and other retailers.
Over time, that will continue to build, particularly as we leverage that data, for even greater personalization.
That's great. It's certainly very unique compared to a lot of your peers in the space. One of the things I appreciate most about e.l.f.'s business is its asset-light business model and its very scalable supply chain. This also brings together cost, quality, and speed. Can you talk a bit about your third-party manufacturing in China and how this provides an operational advantage for the company as it continues to grow?
We have a unique supply chain. It's something we've honed for the last 19 years. We're different than many of our competitors in usually the dichotomy you have between either your own manufacturing, where if you're vertical in a particular area, you can have some advantages, certainly on quality, or outsourcing completely, where a lot of times, while you can get good costs, particularly if someone specializes in a particular area, there isn't any real incentive for that manufacturer to invest in quality systems because they don't know if they're getting another PO from you or not. The way we've configured our supply chain is we have a team in China, in Shanghai. It's not a sourcing operation, but 88 employees with full multifunctional capability.
Our GM in China built up Mary Kay's export operations from the ground up, a longtime J&J vet. Our head of quality ran P&G quality for oral care for all of Asia. Our head of sourcing, Six Sigma Black Belt from GE. We have an incredible world-class team there that works very closely with like-minded suppliers. Many of these suppliers have been with us from the very beginning. While it's asset light in that we don't own those assets, we have a high degree of control over them, where it's our quality people in those facilities, it's our workshops on the manufacturing that they follow. It's created this real advantage we have on this best combination of cost, quality, and speed. Not only in that combination, but it's also highly resilient.
We went through the pandemic, supply interrupt, container imbalances, lockdowns, being able to supply our customers at a 95% customer in-stock level. It's a pretty robust system and really connects quite closely with our innovation model. Our labs are co-located in our main headquarters in China, and our ability to get prototypes in as fast as one-two weeks is really driven by our ability to do our own development and then partner with the right suppliers in a way that is able to attain the quality and cost that you see.
That's great. Do you have different relationships depending on the type of product that you're producing?
We do. Important for us is also having multiple sources for each product. We do have our main suppliers have capability in certain areas of specialty that we partner with them on with our team. Again, it's really not only been able to advance the overall model that we have, but continues to evolve and grow as we enter new segments, namely skincare, where we've brought on additional expertise, both internally and with our supply base as we conquest that category.
I think it's important to note, I think, KC, you mentioned earlier as well that you're now Fair Trade certified. Is that right?
That's right. We're the first beauty company that's been Fair Trade certified. A lot of, you know, KC talked about our superpowers, but they come directly from our consumers. One of the reasons why we're number one amongst Gen Z is we meet the values they care about. We were one of the first mass brands back in the day that was 100% vegan and cruelty-free. That's a very important set of values for our consumers. As we look to the future, there are a few things that are, you know, of increasing importance to consumers being clean. We're 100% clean in terms of our formulations, sustainable, and then Fair Trade certified. People wanna feel good about the products that they're buying, not only for the quality and the price, but also the values that that company stands for.
For us, we've always believed in doing right by our community and empowering our community, but also making sure we're doing right by the workers who make our products.
As a leader in the beauty space for Fair Trade certification, how did you have the motivation to get that certification for e.l.f.?
Well, I mean, I think it goes back first and foremost to our consumers and the values that they hold dear, and what our employees hold dear. We wanna make sure we're making the right impact. I mean, I think we've made tremendous progress on an ESG front. I think, KC, remind me, I think we're like seven out of 80 consumer good companies by Sustainalytics. We're well-known within that regard, so this follows kind of within some of those practices. In addition, I think one of the things we've always done is we've always disrupted and led within beauty, and I think there's a huge opportunity what that certification means over time, not only to consumers, but the communities we serve.
Great. e.l.f. also has a strong liquidity profile with potential for additional small scale acquisitions. You've moved from being a single brand company to a multi-brand house with the acquisition of Well People in February 2020, and you also have partnered with Alicia Keys later that year to create a lifestyle beauty brand now known as Keys Soulcare. What are your aspirations for Well People and for Keys Soulcare, and do you see any other opportunities for e.l.f. to acquire small brands or expand with partnerships similar to the one with Alicia Keys?
Sure. I'll take the first part, and then I'll pass it over to KC, as she leads our corporate development team, to talk more on the M&A side. Well People, I'll start with, Well People we acquired back in February of 2020, and Well People is plant-powered beauty. The cleanest of clean, just like top tier from a clean standpoint, EWG-certified SKUs. Acquiring Well People really taught us a whole lot about clean, what it took to have a clean beauty brand. To Tarang's earlier point, e.l.f. is now 100% clean because of what we learned from Well People. We were able to take those Well People formulations, put them into our supply chain, and then apply those learnings over to the e.l.f. brand as well. We have gained a lot of capability from that acquisition.
For Alicia Keys and the Keys Soulcare brand, that brand is still in early days. About 2 years old now. We're really focused on building awareness behind that brand. It really hits a sweet spot in the beauty space, really focused on wellness, taking care of oneself, the soul. I think there is a market for it, a space for it's just really about bringing consumers in and building that awareness behind that brand.
Yeah, I mean, with regards to additional acquisitions, I mean, I'd say our first and foremost focus is on really investing behind our own brands and the opportunity we see. I mean, we still see so much white space in just our core color cosmetics category, looking to skincare, looking to international. I'd say that's where our first and foremost focus is. Outside of that, I mean, we do have appetite to add additional brands to the portfolio over time. I think we have this vision of really being a different kind of beauty company, though.
I'd say it's, you know, we're really looking for brands that align with our values, our culture, and I'd say while we're still probably seeing a little bit of a disconnect in valuations on the private market side, where I think there's still a scarcity of assets that have kind of the combination of strong top line growth and also strong profitability. Just given where we are on our public journey, I'd say there's still a scarcity of assets. I do think that we remain interested in the potential to add additional brands that can maybe expand our capabilities into other categories of beauty or complement our retailer relationships or, you know, I think there's a number of different ways that we can kind of look to acquisitions as a tool over time.
You know, as Mandy Fields and Tarang Amin will speak to, there's, you know, I think our first and foremost focus is really on kind of building out the opportunity that we see behind the e.l.f. brand.
Great. In terms of Well People, you know, since you acquired that brand in February 2020, where have you taken that brand so far in, you know, the past three years? Where have you expanded distribution? Has Well People also helped e.l.f. expand distribution on the e.l.f. Cosmetics and e.l.f. SKIN side? Where do you see Well People and Keys Soulcare going from here?
Yeah. When we acquired Well People, they were in a subset of Target doors. We were able to expand its presence within Target, a pretty big expansion just this past spring. In addition, we were able to get Well People into Ulta Beauty in a subset of their doors. We're also taking Well People to key retailers that are making a stand on clean beauty. H-E-B, a regional grocer in Texas, a number of others that we're that really are leaning into clean. We've been able to successfully expand the brand, not only from a distribution standpoint, but also from a product assortment standpoint. We took Well People, was previously only in color cosmetics, we were able to take it into skincare as well and kind of expand the brand, as well as relaunch.
Just by one of the big advantages we have in our operating platform is just replatforming Well People onto the e.l.f. platform, I think we saved about 50% in COGS that we're able to reinvest back in the brand and be able to continue to grow it. Keys Soulcare, I'd say distribution partners for Keys Soulcare in the U.S., Ulta Beauty is our lead partner. In Canada, Sephora Canada is our first entry into Sephora, in any of the Sephora banners with Keys Soulcare. In Western Europe, Douglas, throughout a number of countries in Europe. As Mandy said, we're still building awareness. We feel, again, we're building this company for the long term, and as we look at the long term, we see increasing consumer interest in wellness and soulfulness.
We couldn't have a better partner in Alicia Keys in terms of what she stands for and what that means. We're committed to that brand long term. I think you'll continue as much progress as we're making on Well People and Keys Soulcare, a lot of our earnings calls, you'll continue to hear us mainly talk e.l.f. SKIN and e.l.f. Color, as those are the bigger drivers of our business, at least in the medium term, and where we still have a tremendous amount of white space.
Great. We've talked a lot about growth at e.l.f., especially over the recent past, and how does that tie into your compensation for employees?
We're quite unique in our compensation approach. We put it on our banner of one team, one dream, which really connects our entire employee base and drives a great deal of engagement. Short term, you know, we believe in being competitive on base salaries, but we'll never be one of the higher payers on base. We're a very performance-driven company. Short term, every single employee in our company is bonus eligible, and that bonus Target can go from 0% to 200%, but we all get paid out the same percent in terms of your target. Short term, that's based on the Adjusted EBITDA target the board provides each year. If we do well, we can often do up to the 200% short-term bonus.
If we don't hit it, we can hit zero. So a very much performance orientation towards making sure we're hitting those short-term targets. The other thing that we're unique in our space in is we grant every single employee equity in the company. It's a real big belief of ours that we want our employees well-aligned to the long-term interests of our shareholders, so we make each of them a shareholder. For perspective, we have about 350 employees. Over the last five years, we've granted about $80 million of equity in a stock that I think's tripled or quadrupled in value.
It's a real wealth creation opportunity for our employees, who leads to a high degree of engagement, both in terms of our short-term results, making sure we're all aligned on the overall Adjusted EBITDA of the company, but more importantly, in terms of the long term. What company are we building for the long term, and what value are we driving? It's been a really important part of our not only compensation, but how we tie together that one team, one dream approach. The last thing I'd say is, back to high performance. We do a lot on high-performance teamwork. Every single person, in terms of building passionate relationships, encouraging healthy conflict and mutual accountability, have a high-performance team coach on retainer.
We do a lot of training on how to give feedback, that propels this culture where people can do well, but there's also an expectation of continue to perform, continue to learn, continue to grow. I think it's been a key part of our. We often don't talk about it, but it's a key part of our overall formula for success.
Great. On that note, we are just about out of time. Tarang, Mandy, KC, thank you so much for being here today.
Thank you so much for having us. Thanks for having us.