E.l.f. Beauty Raises Full-Year Outlook Following 51% Net Sales Surge in Fiscal Q2 2027 Driven by Rhode’s European Expansion and Digital Growth

E.l.f. Beauty Inc. has officially raised its full-year financial outlook for the second consecutive quarter, fueled by a remarkable 51% increase in net sales during its fiscal second quarter of 2027. The impressive financial performance, which spans the period ending September 30, was heavily bolstered by the high-profile European launch of Rhode at Sephora stores, alongside a robust rebound in unit sales for the company’s flagship e.l.f. brand.

Total net sales for the quarter reached $520.8 million, marking a substantial acceleration from the $343.9 million recorded during the same period in the previous fiscal year. According to Chief Executive Officer Tarang Amin, this milestone represents the company’s 31st consecutive quarter of continuous net sales growth—a rare streak of consistent expansion in the intensely competitive global beauty and cosmetics industry.

Main Facts and Financial Performance Overview

The quarterly financial report reveals widespread momentum across multiple sales channels and geographical markets. E.l.f. Beauty reported strong sales velocity across both traditional brick-and-mortar retail partners and digital e-commerce channels, registering gains in both domestic U.S. markets and key international territories.

Chief Financial Officer Mandy Fields detailed the breakdown of the growth during a subsequent earnings call with investors and analysts. Organic net sales for the core business rose by approximately 35%. Meanwhile, Rhode—the buzzy skin-care and lifestyle brand acquired by e.l.f. in August 2025—added roughly 16 percentage points to the company’s total growth rate during the final month leading up to the transaction’s anniversary on August 5.

Within Digital Commerce 360’s industry tracking, E.l.f. Beauty maintains a strong digital footprint, ranking No. 328 in the Top 1000 Database, which indexes North America’s leading online retailers by annual web sales. Additionally, the company holds the No. 327 position in the joint Digital Commerce 360 and ReFiBuy AI Commerce Rankings, reflecting its early adoption and integration of artificial intelligence tools across digital retail operations.

Chronology of Expansion and Digital Dominance

The trajectory of e.l.f. Beauty over recent quarters highlights a calculated strategy of strategic brand acquisitions, targeted digital platform launches, and aggressive international scaling.

Following its strategic acquisition of Rhode in August 2025, e.l.f. successfully preserved the brand’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) momentum while simultaneously orchestrating major retail rollouts. A prime example of this digital-first marketing power occurred when a limited-edition collaboration between Rhode and influencer Alexandra Leclerc generated an online waitlist exceeding 200,000 consumers, with inventory selling out almost entirely within the first hour of release. Despite this high demand, company executives noted that customer acquisition costs for Rhode have remained stable and efficient.

Connected commerce—the company’s internal term for sales generated through digital and online platforms—accounted for 31% of total sales in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, according to CEO Tarang Amin. Within the United States, the core e.l.f. brand secured its position as the top-performing and most-searched cosmetics brand on Amazon. Simultaneously, e.l.f. Cosmetics climbed to the No. 2 spot within the burgeoning cosmetics category on TikTok Shop. (For context, Amazon currently ranks No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database, which tracks the world’s 100 largest marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value.)

E.l.f. Beauty has also increasingly leveraged these digital ecosystems as test markets for entirely new product categories. In October, the company launched e.l.f. Pop, a brand-new fragrance and body collection, exclusively across Amazon and TikTok Shop, with additional scent expansions scheduled for rollout later in the fiscal year.

Physical retail partnerships have mirrored this digital success. In July, the company debuted e.l.f. Hair, featuring an accessible six-product assortment priced at $10 or less, launched as an exclusive with Target. Amin reported that the hair care line has already broken into Target’s top 20 hair care brands, noting that approximately half of the line’s initial buyers represent brand-new customers entering the e.l.f. ecosystem for the first time.

International Breakthrough: Rhode at Sephora in Europe

The single largest catalyst for the quarter’s international outperformance was the strategic September launch of Rhode across Sephora stores in 19 European countries.

Described by CEO Tarang Amin as “the biggest launch in Sephora’s history,” the European retail introduction instantly propelled Rhode to become the top-performing brand carried by Sephora within the European market. Furthermore, Sephora executives have reported that Rhode boasts some of the strongest repeat-purchase rates ever observed by the beauty retailer. Despite this massive initial footprint, executives highlighted that Rhode is currently distributed in only about 40% of Sephora store locations worldwide, leaving significant runway for future geographic expansion.

Driven largely by this European retail blitz, e.l.f. international net sales skyrocketed by 165% in the second quarter. By comparison, U.S. net sales grew at a steady 25%. On a trailing 12-month basis, international markets now account for approximately 25% of e.l.f.’s total net sales, up from roughly 20% reported by Digital Commerce 360 in May. Despite this impressive growth, management acknowledged that legacy beauty industry peers typically generate around 70% of their total revenues outside of their home markets, underscoring the vast long-term international potential remaining for the company.

CFO Mandy Fields added that the core e.l.f. brand experienced meaningful momentum and market share gains in its largest established international markets, specifically highlighting Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Updated Guidance and Forward-Looking Projections

Reflecting confidence in its multi-channel strategy, e.l.f. Beauty adjusted its full-year expectations upward. The company now projects fiscal 2027 net sales growth to land between 22% and 24%. This marks a notable upward revision from the 18% to 20% projected during the previous quarter, and a significant leap from the 12% to 14% growth forecast originally issued in May.

Looking ahead to the second half of fiscal 2027, e.l.f. anticipates net sales growth to moderate to a range of 7% to 10%. Management expects third-quarter performance to sit comfortably above that range, while fourth-quarter growth is projected to dip below it. Fields attributed the anticipated fourth-quarter normalization to challenging year-over-year comparisons against last year’s aggressive expansion milestones. These included e.l.f.’s major shelf-space expansion at Ulta Beauty, its retail launch with dm in Germany, Rhode’s introduction at MECCA in Australia and New Zealand, and Naturium’s initial nationwide rollout into Walmart.

Even with the expected moderation in the back half of the year, Fields emphasized that the projected 7% to 10% growth rate remains far ahead of the broader beauty industry, which continues to expand at a modest low-single-digit rate.

Broader Impact and Industry Implications

E.l.f. Beauty’s latest financial results offer a compelling case study in modern beauty retail resilience and omnichannel execution. By successfully marrying digital-first agility—evidenced by dominance on Amazon and TikTok Shop—with high-impact physical retail partnerships like Sephora in Europe and Target domestically, the company has managed to defy broader macroeconomic headwinds facing discretionary retail sectors.

The successful integration and scaling of Rhode demonstrate the viability of e.l.f.’s acquisition-led growth strategy, proving that indie darlings can be successfully scaled globally without sacrificing brand equity or driving up customer acquisition costs. As e.l.f. continues to encroach on categories outside of traditional cosmetics—such as hair care and fragrance—legacy industry giants are increasingly forced to reevaluate their own digital marketing, social commerce, and international expansion playbooks to keep pace with the rapidly evolving consumer landscape.