One of Britain’s most prominent online beauty retailers is exploring options to raise new funding through a process that could lead to an outright sale.
Sky News has learnt that Beauty Bay, which is based in Manchester, has appointed advisers to undertake a strategic review.
Sources said a process to seek new investment was likely to kick off this week.
Beauty Bay sells more than 200 brands on its platform, including Ariana Grande, Clinique and MAC.
It also has an own-brand product range.
The company is owned by brothers Arron and David Gabbie, who founded it under the name Fragrance Bay in 1999.
The strategic review comes during a period in which challenging market conditions, including inflationary pressures and fragile consumer confidence, are impacting numerous retailers.
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A source said Beauty Bay was seeking a buyer or investment partner to help stabilise and drive the business forward as it looked to grow and expand its ‘By Beauty Bay’ own-label product offering.
The Gabbies had targeted a stock market flotation of the business several years ago, before launching a separate sale process in 2022, which did not result in a transaction.
Interpath, the advisory firm, is working with Beauty Bay, which employs 65 people and claims to have sold products to 5 million people, on the process.
The company declined to comment.
