Inside Mecca's future-facing strategy: AI, social search and the evidence-based customer

When Kate Blythe talks about the “future customer,” she isn’t speaking in hypotheticals. The chief marketing officer of Mecca has a clear view: younger consumers are armed with social search, evidence-based expectations and a sharper eye for authenticity than any generation before them.

For Mecca, that means reshaping the beauty retailer around transparency, science, and experiences that blend digital fluency with physical connection.

“We’re living in the evidence-based era where transparency, science and clinical validation drive trust,” Blythe told Marketing-Interactive on the sidelines of this week’s ADMA Global Forum. “The world has evolved and customers are doing their own research. They’re on social channels, becoming experts in their own right.”

That reality is forcing Mecca to rethink not only its marketing but its entire brand ecosystem.

From South Yarra to Bourke Street

Founded in 1997 by Jo Horgan, Mecca started as a South Yarra boutique importing hard-to-find global beauty brands. Today, it operates 110 stores across Australia and New Zealand, a vast digital footprint, and recently opened its new Melbourne flagship on Bourke Street.

The business now represents more than 240 brands spanning skincare, colour, fragrance and wellness.

“The goal is to become the world’s most loved beauty destination,” Blythe said. “Helping customers look, feel and be their best is central to everything we do.”

But she’s clear that “customer experience” on its own is no longer a differentiator. “Brands must inspire. That means creating interactions that are emotional, memorable, intelligent - powered by data, driven by empathy and heart.”

The ecosystem play

Over the past decade, Mecca has evolved from multi-channel retailer to what Blythe calls a “high-impact interconnected brand universe.” It’s an ecosystem combining content, commerce and community - anchored in a unified brand voice.

That shift included consolidating fragmented social accounts into one powerhouse Instagram channel (with over a million followers), growing Mecca Chit Chat to nearly 250,000 hyper-engaged members, and building new verticals like the Mecca Memo editorial hub, the Behind the Beauty video franchise, and the Mecca Talks podcast, which Blythe herself hosts.

“Mecca is owning the conversation,” she said. “We generate more than a billion impressions and set the agenda on social with a market-leading presence on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.”

Stores as cultural destinations

While the brand’s digital reach has exploded, its stores remain the soul of the business, albeit radically reimagined. Each site is individually designed with architects and curators to reflect its neighbourhood.

The Mosman store in Sydney, for example, features works from the Mecca art collection and a layout tailored to local customers. The new Melbourne flagship includes The Apothecary, a wellness concept staffed by a naturopath offering treatments ranging from acupuncture to hormonal and sleep support.

“Younger customers are interested in wellness and health, probably more than our generation were,” Blythe said. “It’s not just for women in menopause. It might be a teenage boy stressed out during exams.”

Stores are no longer just places to buy products, but “destinations” where customers can attend after-dark events, join beauty tutorials, or simply spend time with family.

“Customers may have engaged with us across three or four touchpoints before they even walk into a store - an Instagram post, an event, the podcast,” Blythe said. “The greatest thing we can do is ensure every touchpoint is as good as the next.”

Social search and the future customer

For younger generations, email has already been eclipsed by TikTok, Snapchat and other discovery platforms. That means launches can no longer be siloed as physical or digital - they must be conceived as multi-platform, native-to-channel experiences.

“That’s the future customer,” Blythe said. “We might do a brand launch that’s very physical in-store, but we have to launch it digitally in the right way. Native to platform is the important thing.”

The company produces almost all creative in-house through its studio, giving Mecca speed and agility. “Speed to market is critical. We can create the right assets for the right channels without the lag that bigger players often face.”

AI and the connected business

AI, too, is being folded into the Mecca playbook. While much of the conversation in marketing has focused on efficiency, Blythe sees its value in connecting disparate parts of the business.

“We’d like to get ahead in the world of AI and make sure we’re using it in the right ways - integrating not just marketing channels, but education, retail teams, all parts of the business,” she said.

For marketing, AI means faster asset creation and more personalised content at scale. “If we do a shoot and have stills, the ability to create video content from them through AI is really exciting. It speeds up time to market and lets us deliver personal touch at scale.”

Like every CMO, Blythe is acutely aware of the pressure to prove marketing’s commercial impact. Growth is one of Mecca core KPIs, but measurement is increasingly sophisticated.

“Mixed media modelling is our next challenge,” she said. “We’ve always struggled with attribution - how much a social channel genuinely drives. How can you prove it’s what brought someone into store? Having a more sophisticated way to measure that, that people can trust, is going to be a big step for the industry.”

Challenger brands and curation

Part of MECCA’s differentiation remains its curation of brands, including disruptors like fragrance brand Phlur, launched by influencer-turned-founder Chriselle Lim.

“What we do is look for brands that are going to be really interesting and how they can grow, rather than just the established players,” Blythe said. “Everyone can be an entrepreneur, but you need a product people trust. That’s the difference.”

The next evolution

Asked about the biggest issue facing marketing today, Blythe doesn’t hesitate: “Making sure we’re assessing where we’re placing our dollars and making moves to put those dollars in the right places at the right time.”

For Mecca, that will mean balancing the agility of in-house content with the rigour of attribution models, while continuing to experiment with new forms of retail, wellness, and social-led discovery.

It’s all part of building what Blythe describes as “a differentiated beauty experience that inspires customers to look, feel and be their best.”

And for MECCA, the customer of the future is already here.