Uplink: new marketplace links independent beauty players and services

The digital platform is a subscription service run by the Indie Beauty Media Group (IBMG), which also owns Beauty Independent, an online publication aimed at beauty entrepreneurs.

Through the Uplink service, users are able to access solution providers for a range of service needs and discover vendors for retailing their products.

It just one of a boom being seen in products and services designed to support B2B beauty at the independent, niche brand level.

Indeed, as our US Editor Deanna Utroske has noted and in confirmation of the rising potential of this category for the beauty industry, the growing Indie Beauty Expo (IBE) show has just become a B2B only event​.

The show is closing the consumer discovery portion of its IBE events to ‘better focus on the business needs of exhibiting brands’.

Evolving indie landscape​

The consumer interest in discovering smaller, niche brands has been growing in line with the rise of the power of the internet in consumer behaviour.

Smaller brands are able to reach consumers more easily thanks to e-retail, and build up something of a cult following through social media. The rise of influencers on platforms like YouTube and Instagram has meant endorsement to consumers is now no longer limited to big name (and expensive) celebrity endorsers: brands can leverage promotion in much more affordable ways thanks to the reach of online influencers.

As well as retail and marketing, it seems with launches like Uplink, the digital world is now offering indie players better access to networks of service providers available to work on the smaller scales and tighter timeframes demanded by these brands.

The Uplink service already boasts a roster of well over 500 solution providers, across 6 functions: manufacturing; PR and influencers; strategy, marketing, and branding; logistics, distribution, and sales; business operations; and tech.

It has also launched a live event: Uplink Live. This is a new show from IBMG which has been developed to help entrepreneurs and brand innovators navigate the supply side of the industry and, in turn, help keep the indie movement competitive.