Brand Sell-Off Strategy: Lessons for Aussie SMEs

Estée Lauder shopping Smashbox, Too Faced and Dr Jart+ as a bundle—reportedly for a “low nine figures”—isn’t celebrity gossip for business nerds. It’s a loud signal that even the biggest consumer brands are rethinking what they own, what they back, and what they’re willing to walk away from.

Most small businesses I speak to treat their “portfolio” like an accident: a few services added over time, a couple of product lines that stuck, and one or two offers they keep because they’ve always done it. Big brands don’t have that luxury, and neither do Aussie SMEs trying to grow profitably in 2026.

This post uses Estée Lauder’s brand sell-off news as a case study for brand portfolio management, market positioning, and the tricky question every owner faces sooner or later: Do we double down, or do we cut it loose?

What Estée Lauder’s sell-off really signals

Answer first: When a global leader sells brands it once paid top dollar for, it’s usually about focus, margin protection, and sharper positioning—not panic.

The Inside Retail Australia report (Jan 8, 2026) notes Estée Lauder is quietly shopping Smashbox, Too Faced and Dr Jart+ together, with sources estimating a combined price in the low nine figures—a stark contrast to the US$1.45 billion Estée Lauder paid for Too Faced in 2016.

That “valuation drop” headline is tempting, but the bigger business lesson is this: portfolios drift. Channels change. Customers change. And in beauty, the last few years have been shaped by:

• Direct-to-consumer and social commerce putting pressure on department-store-led models
• Faster trend cycles (TikTok-driven discovery and shorter product lifespans)
• K-beauty’s continued influence and “second act” momentum pushing legacy brands to respond
• Cost pressures across supply chain and customer acquisition

Even if you’re not in health and beauty, the pattern is familiar in Australia right now: customers are more value-conscious, ad costs are sticky, and “nice-to-have” offers are the first to stall.

The bundling move is the tell

Answer first: Bundling underperforming or non-core brands is a classic way to make the deal easier for buyers and reduce internal complexity for the seller.

Selling three brands as a package can attract:

• A strategic buyer wanting instant scale across categories
• A private equity buyer looking for turnaround potential
• A buyer with better channel fit (for example, stronger in e-commerce, travel retail, or Asia)

For SMEs, bundling has a parallel: when you try to sell or exit part of your business (a product line, a subscription, a small brand you run inside the main business), buyers pay more for clean, self-contained units.

Portfolio management for small business: stop “collecting offers”

Answer first: Your business becomes easier to market when you have fewer, clearer offers that each earn their place.

In the Australian Small Business Marketing series, we come back to the same truth: marketing performs better when strategy is tight. A messy portfolio leads to messy messaging, and messy messaging leads to:

• Lower conversion rates
• Higher cost per lead
• More discounting to “force” decisions
• A confused brand that struggles to build word-of-mouth

Here’s the practical SME version of portfolio management.

Use a simple 2x2: Profitability x Strategic Fit

Answer first: If an offer isn’t profitable or doesn’t strengthen your positioning, it’s a candidate for restructuring or removal.

List every product/service line and rate it (even roughly):

• Profitability: Gross margin, delivery cost, refunds/returns, time-to-serve
• Strategic fit: Does it attract your best customers? Does it support your core promise? Does it improve retention?

Then place each offer into one of four buckets:

1. High profit / High fit: Protect and invest.
2. High profit / Low fit: Keep, but don’t let it define you (and watch for brand drift).
3. Low profit / High fit: Fix delivery, pricing, or packaging.
4. Low profit / Low fit: Cut, sell, or sunset.

A lot of Australian SMEs discover their “most popular” offer sits in bucket #3 or #4. Popular isn’t the same as profitable.

The hidden cost: opportunity and attention

Answer first: Every extra offer adds marketing complexity, operational drag, and decision fatigue for customers.

Even if a side-offer makes a bit of money, it may be costing you:

• Focus in your content calendar
• Clarity in your website navigation
• Speed in sales conversations
• Confidence in your brand positioning

Big portfolios create big overhead. Small portfolios can create big confusion. The cure is the same: decide what you’re actually known for.

Market positioning: why “good brands” become troubled assets

Answer first: A brand becomes a “troubled asset” when its positioning no longer matches how customers buy.

Too Faced, Smashbox, and Dr Jart+ are well-known names. The issue isn’t that they’re unknown—it’s that they’re competing in a market where:

• New entrants can build awareness fast through creators
• Customers switch more often
• Retail channels punish slow movers
• Differentiation needs to be instantly understood

For SMEs, positioning slips for three common reasons.

1) You kept adding audiences

When you sell to everyone, you end up resonating deeply with no one.

Fix: Pick a primary customer type and write your positioning for them. Secondary customers can still buy—but they shouldn’t steer the message.

2) You relied on the channel, not the brand

If your sales depend heavily on one platform (a marketplace, a retailer, one paid channel), you’re exposed.

Fix: Build at least one owned audience asset you control in 2026:

• Email list with regular, useful sends
• A “signature offer” that people search for by name
• Strong local SEO presence if you’re location-based

3) You didn’t update the “why you” story

Customers don’t reward longevity; they reward relevance.

Fix: Refresh your positioning statement once a year. Not a full rebrand—just the message you lead with:

• Who you help
• What outcome you deliver
• What you do differently
• Proof that you can deliver

A useful positioning test: if a competitor swapped their logo onto your homepage, would the words still fit?

Restructure vs expand: a decision framework that works

Answer first: Expand only when your core offer is converting well, retaining well, and operationally stable.

When big companies prune portfolios, they’re often choosing fewer bets with stronger odds. SMEs should think the same way, especially in January when you’re planning the year.

Use this quick decision framework for each offer or mini-brand inside your business.

Expand when these are true

• You can explain the offer in one sentence and people “get it”
• You’ve got repeatable lead flow (even if it’s modest)
• Delivery is consistent (no constant firefighting)
• Margins are stable without discounting
• Retention/referrals are growing

Restructure when these are true

• Customers want it, but you’re not making money
• Delivery time is bloated or inconsistent
• The offer works only when you personally step in

Common restructure moves that work:

• Repackage (fewer inclusions, clearer tiers)
• Raise price with sharper outcomes and proof
• Narrow the scope (one customer type, one problem)
• Systemise delivery (templates, SOPs, onboarding sequences)

Exit (or sunset) when these are true

• It’s low margin and distracts the team
• It pulls you into the wrong market position
• It generates the wrong type of leads (price shoppers, high churn)

If you’re nervous about cutting something, try a 90-day sunset plan: stop promoting it, keep servicing existing customers well, and measure what happens to profit and lead quality.

How to apply “big brand” thinking to small business marketing

Answer first: The most effective marketing for Australian SMEs comes from ruthless clarity: one position, a tight offer ladder, and proof.

Here’s a practical checklist to apply this week.

A quick portfolio clean-up checklist

1. List every offer you actively sell (including “custom” work you routinely agree to).
2. For each, write: revenue, gross margin estimate, average delivery time, lead quality.
3. Identify your core offer (the one you want more of) and your profit engine (the one that funds growth). Sometimes they’re different.
4. Cut or pause one thing that creates noise.

Tighten your offer ladder (without becoming generic)

A simple ladder that works well for service SMEs:

• Entry: diagnostic, audit, starter pack
• Core: your main done-for-you or product line
• Expansion: retained service, subscription, add-ons that increase LTV

When you have that ladder, your content becomes easier:

• Local SEO pages point to the core offer
• Social content builds belief and proof
• Email converts and retains

Proof beats polish in 2026

Big brands can buy attention. SMEs win with trust.

Make proof a habit:

• Before/after metrics (even small ones)
• Customer quotes with specific outcomes
• Screenshots of results (where appropriate)
• “What we changed and why” mini case studies

What to do next (if you want more leads this quarter)

Estée Lauder’s brand sell-off story is a reminder that focus is a strategy, not a constraint. If a multinational has to prune to stay sharp, smaller businesses definitely do.

If you’re planning your 2026 marketing right now, start here: pick one offer to back, one audience to speak to, and one channel to get consistent on. Then remove the thing that keeps muddying the message.

What would happen to your leads—and your sanity—if you stopped trying to market everything at once?