e.l.f. vs Academy Sports

Side-by-side comparison of AI visibility scores, market position, and capabilities

Academy Sports leads in AI visibility (86 vs 21)
e.l.f. logo

e.l.f.

EmergingBeauty & Personal Care

Cosmetics and Make-Up

NYSE-listed accessible beauty brand with $1B+ revenue offering vegan makeup at $5-20 drugstore prices; TikTok-viral "dupe" strategy competing with NYX and prestige brands for Gen Z consumers.

AI VisibilityBeta
Overall Score
D21
Category Rank
#3 of 4
AI Consensus
58%
Trend
up
Per Platform
ChatGPT
24
Perplexity
13
Gemini
21

About

e.l.f. Cosmetics is an accessible luxury beauty brand producing makeup, skincare, and beauty tools at drugstore price points — offering products like primers, foundations, eyeshadow palettes, lip glosses, and SPF moisturizers that are entirely vegan and cruelty-free, at price points of $5-20 that undercut premium brands by 80-90%. Founded in 2004 in Oakland, California by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba, e.l.f. is publicly traded on NYSE (NYSE: ELF) and has grown to approximately $1 billion in annual net sales, becoming one of the fastest-growing beauty brands in the US.\n\ne.l.f.'s product development strategy involves "duping" high-end makeup products at a fraction of the cost — the e.l.f. Putty Primer ($10) is a frequent comparison to Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer ($52), the Halo Glow Liquid Filter ($14) competes with Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter ($46). This dupe culture has made e.l.f. a social media phenomenon, particularly on TikTok where product comparisons and "get the look" content drives viral awareness. The brand's 100% vegan and cruelty-free credentials resonate strongly with Gen Z consumers.\n\nIn 2025, e.l.f. is one of the few beauty brands that has consistently taken market share from both mass and prestige competitors — its "eyes, lips, face" brand promise and the value proposition of luxury quality at drugstore prices has driven growth even as overall beauty market growth moderates. e.l.f. competes with NYX (L'Oréal), Wet n Wild, and Maybelline in accessible makeup, and with Rare Beauty, Too Faced, and Urban Decay in the prestige-adjacent segment. The 2025 strategy focuses on skincare expansion (a higher-growth category with better margins than color cosmetics), international expansion (UK, Canada, and European markets where brand awareness is growing), and maintaining the digital-native marketing approach that has built its Gen Z audience.

Full profile
Academy Sports logo

Academy Sports

LeaderSporting Goods & Outdoor

Sporting Goods

NASDAQ-listed southern US sporting goods retailer (ASO) with $6B revenue and 270+ stores; hunting/firearms business differentiates from Dick's Sporting Goods in southern markets.

AI VisibilityBeta
Overall Score
A86
Category Rank
#1 of 4
AI Consensus
59%
Trend
down
Per Platform
ChatGPT
84
Perplexity
92
Gemini
92

About

Academy Sports + Outdoors is a full-line sporting goods retailer operating 270+ stores primarily across the southern and southeastern United States — offering sports equipment, athletic apparel, footwear, and outdoor recreation products (hunting, fishing, camping gear) at competitive prices that undercut specialty retailers like REI and Dick's Sporting Goods. Listed on NASDAQ (NASDAQ: ASO) after its October 2020 IPO, Academy generates approximately $6 billion in annual revenue and targets value-oriented families and outdoor enthusiasts in markets where it is the dominant sporting goods destination.

Full profile

AI Visibility Head-to-Head

21
Overall Score
86
#3
Category Rank
#1
58
AI Consensus
59
up
Trend
down
24
ChatGPT
84
13
Perplexity
92
21
Gemini
92
31
Claude
80
28
Grok
77

Key Details

Category
Cosmetics and Make-Up
Sporting Goods
Tier
Emerging
Leader
Entity Type
company
company

Capabilities & Ecosystem

Capabilities

Only e.l.f.
Cosmetics and Make-Up
Only Academy Sports
Sporting Goods
e.l.f. is classified as company. Academy Sports is classified as company.

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