Glossier Runs Real-Time Supply Chain and Marketing Analytics with Estuary

The Challenge: When Growth Meets Data Bottlenecks

Glossier, the community-driven beauty brand that revolutionized direct-to-consumer cosmetics, faced a data challenge that threatened to slow its meteoric rise. After expanding from their original e-commerce roots to over 600 Sephora stores across the United States and international markets in 2023, their data infrastructure hadn't kept pace with their business transformation.

Brandon Besash, who leads data and financial systems at Glossier, managed a lean team of two responsible for the company's entire data pipeline, from extraction to business intelligence. However, their existing data infrastructure has become a bottleneck, particularly during critical periods like Black Friday, when the company generates significant revenue.

"Due to our previous service provider’s pricing model, we got to the point where we were concerned about enabling new data flows," Brandon recalls. "There always became this cost-benefit analysis of 'is it worth it to turn this on?' We went from an ethos of 'turn everything on' to being hyper-cognizant about what data the teams actually needed and would contribute value."

The Breaking Point: When Costs Spiral and Speed Matters

Three critical pain points pushed Glossier to seek a new solution:

1. Runaway Costs with Zero Added Value

Their current data platform had served them well, but costs were increasing year-over-year with no corresponding increase in value. Two connectors alone, their email marketing provider and ERP, consumed 65-70% of their monthly data integration spend.

The situation became untenable when Glossier attempted to implement their ERP’s new updated endpoint with a more normalized schema. "The cost was astronomical," Brandon explains. "It was our most expensive data endpoint, which led to us not turning on the data extraction process..."

2. Surprise Bills That Shocked the Budget

A routine engineering update to their Shopify ecommerce stores updated a million historical records, resulting in significant unexpected charges. "That's just the normal course of business for an e-commerce company constantly adding new digital features," Brandon notes. "But we were penalized financially and operationally; the data sync delayed our intraday sales data."

3. Speed Limitations During Critical Moments

During Black Friday and peak shopping periods, when teams needed hourly reporting to optimize ad spend and site merchandising in real-time, Glossier’s previous data platform’s 20-minute sync cycles meant they were constantly falling behind. "Time during that period is precious," Brandon emphasizes. "Every 10 minutes of delay impacts our ability to pivot strategies when it matters most."

The Solution: Estuary Delivers Speed, Savings, and Simplicity

Glossier's evaluation of Estuary began with their two most expensive and problematic data sources: their email marketing provider and ERP. The results exceeded expectations across every dimension.

50% Cost Reduction with Better Performance

"We're seeing at least 50% cost savings for those two connectors," Brandon reports. The clear, predictable pricing model eliminated surprise charges.

"Estuary's pricing is very clear and easy to understand. I'm not getting surprised at the end of the month."

From Hours to Near Real-Time

The email connector syncs that took 4 hours with the previous data platform are now complete in minutes with Estuary. The ERP integration, previously unused due to a cost-benefit analysis, now runs in real-time, unlocking critical inventory and supply chain data for the first time.

Unlocking Previously Inaccessible Data

The ERP connector provides real-time visibility into inventory transactions, purchase orders, and shipments across its entire supply chain. "This is a data source we could not work with ever before, just because we couldn’t justify the additional cost versus having the team use the ERP," Brandon explains. "Our operations and supply chain teams can understand when 10,000 units will land in our warehouse without being bottlenecked by traditional ERP reporting."

The Impact: Transforming Operations Across the Organization

Hours Saved Weekly on Reporting

The CRM team no longer needs to use their email platform for core email reporting, eliminating system discrepancies and saving hours weekly on operational reporting. "The team can now spend more time diving into insights and value-add analysis instead of the operational lift of extracting and formatting data," Brandon notes.

Executive Visibility Without Complexity

Weekly reports to executive team members and senior leadership now pull from a single source of truth, eliminating the confusion of mismatched numbers between systems. Performance metrics for email campaigns, lifecycle analytics, and supply chain operations are readily available without specialized knowledge of source systems.

Beyond Technology: A True Partnership

What sealed the deal wasn't just the technology but the partnership approach. "The support has been incredibly responsive and helpful," Brandon emphasizes. "The support team is very approachable and answers both complex and basic questions while offering advice for future-proofing connections. "

When Glossier needed faster processing for their email data, initially scheduled for Q3, the Estuary team delivered it in just two weeks. "I feel like you're actually listened to," Brandon says. "I'm sure we're not their biggest account, but it feels like we have a voice."

Looking Forward: The Next Phase of Data Excellence

With the success of their initial implementation, Glossier is planning to migrate additional critical data sources to Estuary, starting with Shopify. The goal? Achieve accurate real-time data during their crucial Q4 period, when a bulk of annual revenue flows through their systems.

"If we can get streaming data during Black Friday, when teams are looking at hourly reporting and making split-second decisions on ad spend and merchandising, that's the gold star," Brandon explains. That goal is within reach with Estuary's Snowpipe streaming connector offering one-second latency.