Automated Retail: U*tique

By Andrea | Published: September 9, 2009

U*tique Automated Retail Outlet (a.k.a Luxury vending machines)

"I was asked to make the Ferrari of vending machines" – Russel Greenberg, Designer

Insight by Andrea

Vending machines have been a popular retail outlet in the United States and in Japan they can even speak (there is an estimated 1 machine for every 23 people in Japan). Recently there has been some in-roads by beauty companies in the space of automated retail. Proactiv Skin Care was spotted last year at Dallas Forth Worth Airport.

But now the Ferrari of vending machines is here. U*tique was created by Mara Siegel and designed by Russel Greenberg. The first automated outlet of this kind is currently operating at Fred Segal in Santa Monica and plans to expand to gyms, airports, hotels, night clubs – places where people could use a high-end beauty fix.  Brands currently available include Malin + Goetz, Clark’s Botanicals and Smashbox Cosmetics. Among other things, there is actually a little robot inside that delivers delicate items to customer’s hands, avoiding them from tumbling down like a pack of Cheetos.

One draw back pointed out by a review is that U*tique is not really a good tool for browsing and comparing as prices aren’t displayed anywhere.

"I had asked why the prices aren’t displayed with the items, you know like in vending machines, and was told that if I had to ask how much something cost then I probably shouldn’t be buying something from that machine." – Caroline C., Los Angeles. Yelp, 4/25/09

This was the only actual review of U*tique available online. Most of the coverage seemed to be straight from the press-release. I would have expected many more reviews of the product online by this point. The concept is really innovative and will definitely change they way we shop for beauty. It may however, be best if includes a good selection of reasonably priced, high quality products, to ensure more people use it more often.

Automated Retail Outlet (a.k.a Luxury)

Read more:

W Magazine

shoppingblog.com

Racked.com

Yelp Review

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JC Penney & Sephora: Is this the future of department store beauty retailing?

By Andrea | Published: September 8, 2009

JC Penney & Sephora: Is this the future of department store beauty retailing?

Insight by Andrea

Having lived in NYC for many years, I was surprised to see a Sephora as soon as I entered the new (and only) JC Penney store here (Manhattan Mall at 34th Street Herald Square). Given the current challenges experienced by manufacturers with the consolidation of department stores, this is an efficient way to simplify the process of selling beauty products. Perhaps the solution is a channel organized by an independent body or association to give all manufacturers a fair shot (instead of having their business depending on a few specialty retailers like Sephora or ULTA only). I don’t think we have found the right model yet, but this partnership is definitely a step in the right direction. I am surprised we haven’t seen more of these deals yet.

In 2006 JC Penney started opening Sephora stores-within-stores to offer its customers with a wide range of prestigious beauty products. This was the alternative found by JC Penney to overcome failed attempts to build a cosmetics business since 1980s. It is also a creative way to improve its image and attract younger consumers. There are 140 Sephora locations, in prominent areas of the JC Penney stores. They are smaller stores (1,500 sq feet) than the stand-alone locations and offer a limited selection of products – about 50 brands including Nars, Bare Escentuals, Stila, Smashbox, Peter Thomas Roth, Korres and Caudalie, Clarisonic, Fekkai, Ojon; and fragrance offerings from Dior, DKNY, Aquolina and Sean John and Sephora own collection.

sephora manhattan mall

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Courtesy of racked.com
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Sally Hershberger: Launches Luxe Layers exclusive on HSN

By Andrea | Published: September 4, 2009

Celebrity Hairstylist – Sally Hershberger, launching Luxe Layers exclusive on HSN

Insight by Andrea

Sally Hershberger, is not only an ubber celebrity hairstylist known for creating the famous Meg Ryan’s signature shag in 1995, co-creating John Frieda’s Sheer Blonde product collection and charging $800 for a haircut. Besides a talent for shaggy, natural hair with movement, she actually has a great personality, is very low-key and most importantly offers professional grade products at affordable prices, very in-line with what old masters have done (Vidal Sasson, Charles Worthington, and John Frieda) And great for times when people are watching their wallet. Products are available at Walgreens, Target, ULTA Beauty, Shopper’s Drugmart. On September 8th, Sally’s range will debut at HSN with the Luxe Layers Blow Out Gel, "for an everyday, salon-perfect blow dry at home".

Sally demo the product to a group of beauty bloggers at an exclusive blogger event at her stylish Downtown New York salon yesterday. Sally and her team talked about products and she even styled a few lucky bloggers and showed how to create a great within a few minutes (I even got my hair snipped by her to finish the look – very cool!). 

Besides doing celebrity hair, she has launched the Shagg denim line, been a judge at Shear Genius, launched a haircare line, started Tweeting, reaching out to bloggers, Facebook fans and  the community (Girl Scouts), and next week she will be touching millions on HSN. What is next for Sally? If she continues to innovate and engage with her audience I believe she will become one of the first female household names in the haircare industry. 

 Luxe Layers

 

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The September Issue (of Vogue) – Excellent documentary. But what about beauty?

By Andrea | Published: September 1, 2009

The September Issue (of Vogue) – Excellent documentary. But what about beauty?

Insight by Andrea

I really enjoyed watching The September Issue. It is a great documentary. Well written, shot and edited. Anna Wintour is featured as much more human than I expected. Plus it really makes a hero out of Grace Coddington, the creative director who started her career at American Vogue at the same time as Anna Wintour (about 20 years ago). The movie clearly features the passion and obsession for fashion that drives Vogue, but I was surprised to see how little interest Anna showed at the beauty editor’s story for the most important issue of the year. It was probably a few seconds of the movie and it seemed totally disconnected from the rest of the stories. Granted the hair/make up/nail statements are made automatically through the photo shoots, but my feeling is that from an editorial standpoint it is included as a by the way, to perhaps please advertisers, but not to feature products in the same way as fashion pieces. Most brands spend thousands in PR agencies to be featured in Vogue, so they can tell their retailers about it. I suggest that this money is repurposed into better products and more innovative campaigns that truly engage with customers instead of focusing on a little mention lost in a thick glossy that will probably be missed by most readers.  

The September Issue 

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What are people saying about Shiseido on Twitter now?

By Andrea | Published: August 17, 2009

What are people saying about Shiseido on Twitter now?

Insight by Andrea

There are lot of deals. But it looks like skincare is the favorite topic. By the way, why isn’t Shiseido making khols anymore?The new images for Maquillage are out. Someone is finding the products expensive. Have you searched for your brand on Twitter? If you don’t use Twitterdeck, just go to search.twitter.com and type any brand to get a feel for what is being said about it in real time. This is a good exercise to do on a regular basis. Even better is to designate someone in the organization to respond and engage with these customers.

  

 

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Hard Candy goes Wal-mart

By Andrea | Published: August 12, 2009

Recently a blogger was wondering what happened to Hard Candy, a very hip brand that used to be retailed at deparment and specialty stores. Happy.com broke the news that the brand is relaunching at Wal-mart, but not firm dates were revealed (Nouveau Cheap also commented on the news). Recently, Stila announced that it will be launching "Simply Stila" a lower end line starting at $7.99.  This clearly shows a trend towards mass, unlike the past few years when brands would always strive to go higher end. Elf has showed that great products at lower prices make a great business model. Personally I always believed that if you can make (and market) great products at lower costs, then keep the prices down – it makes everyone happy. Good products don’t necessarily have to be the most expensive ones sold at the poshest department stores. 

 

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Power of beauty blogs

By Leah | Published: July 30, 2009

 Power of Beauty Blogs

Insight by Leah

Konectors, a London-based organization that finds "connectors and mavens" that have both an online presence and the social networking power to influence product purchases on behalf of advertisers, recently released a report on the Top 50 Beauty Blogs.   It should come as no surprise that topping this list is Temptalia – a blog that we have highlighted as both engaging and insightful for its audience.  Two other blogs of note include Naturallycurly.com and Basenotes.  As noted in the report, these top 50 blogs receive over 2.8 million visitors per month, and beauty companies should realize that these visitors are actively responding to content and engaging in conversations about products.  Among the other things that Konector factored into their analysis was how the blogs used various social media networks to engage consumers on their blog, on Facebook, on Twitter and in particular, YouTube.  As Konector director, Kingsley Mauder, correctly notes, YouTube and images are increasingly important in beauty purchases.

Top 50 List

Konector Report Overview

 

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L’Oreal 100th – Social Media campaign in China

By Andrea | Published: July 28, 2009

L’Oreal 100th – Social Media campaign in China

Insight by Andrea

How many of you have seen a Chinese website? Or know what are the top social networking sites there? Zero Degrees of Separation has published a great detailed review of the L’Oreal 100th campaign online in China providing great insights that could be helpful for anyone interested in this market. The campaign included 3 separate events but was centered Loreal100.com.cn. The results were impressive: over a million users participated and shared elements of the campaign (the Chinese online market is equivalent to the estimated total US population (298 million). I encourage to browse Loreal100.com.cn and experience (even if you cannot read Chinese like myself) the L’Oreal Loving Heart Tree which invites users to send “different caring movements” to friends.

 Excerpt from Zero Degrees of Separation:

The loving heart gathering event was from June 5th to July 5th. During this one month period of time, L’oreal encouraged netizens to send out “hearts” which indicated different caring movements to their friends on 4 SNS sites – Xiaonei.com, hi.baidu.com, Yoka.com (a fashion website), Sina.com. All the hearts being sent out would be gathered on a loving heart tree “planted” on L’oreal100 site. Those who sent out the most loving hearts, or sent out hearts at special lucky numbers (e.g. the person sent out the 18,000th heart, and the one sent out the 88,000th heart, etc) would win prizes from L’oreal worth hundreds, or thousands of RMB.
 

Loreal 100 China

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Ulta vs. Sephora

By Leah | Published: July 28, 2009

Ulta vs. Sephora – The Battle Begins

Insight by Leah

A recent New York Times article highlighted how Ulta, a national chain of beauty stores, is close on the heels of its top competitor, Sephora.  Ulta, which was originally a discount retailer, currently has 331 stores nationwide (versus Sephora’s 230), but the big news is Ulta’s product offerings – the store carries designer fragrances and drugstore staples, and more importantly, a growing number of mass prestige brands including Benefit and Smashbox.  Sephora still offers more prestige brands, including the wildly popular NARS line and Tarte Cosmetics, although Ulta is attracting luxury brands.  Ulta’s mix of mass market and luxury brands appeals to many women as it can be a one-stop beauty shop for everything from a favorite Maybelline mascara to a desired Lorac cream.  Indeed, Lorac, a company that was initially wary of signing with Ulta (the line is already carried in Sephora) likened Ulta to "a Baskin Robbins … There’s nonfat yogurt, but there’s the good stuff too."  As for online, at this point, Sephora appears to have a clear advantage by offering shoppers a Beauty Insider program and free samples with every order.  However, Ulta is now pushing a very popular points program that results in discounts on orders, and as many bloggers point out, Ulta is often less expensive for high-end products.  We’ll wait to see how this battle plays out online and offline.

Link to New York Times Article

Sephora Website

Ulta Website

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Social media campaigns can help small players enter competitive markets

By Andrea | Published: July 23, 2009

Social Media (Let’s call it marketing): great alternative for small companies

Shared by Andrea

Lexli, an aloe vera skin care company, launched a new campaign which includes several social marketing tools. They created a separate blog called Real Skincare Solutions (even has a different look and feel from the ecommerce site) featuring Jessica D’Air, a certified esthetician as their brand ambassador. She invites users to follow her on Twitter, Facebook (her account, not Lexli), Google (this is quite new), and Linkedin. Another microsite will be launched later this week. We will follow this brand in the next few months to see how their campaign evolves. They just need to make sure that all elements stay tied together under the Lexli brand to avoid dilution.  All the pieces seem to be into place to succeed.

Excerpt from Cosmetics Design Europe:

Aloe Vera skin care company Lexli has launched a marketing campaign including social and digital media that is designed to help it succeed in an industry dominated by big players.

“With a proper strategy and a good understanding of the online behaviour of the target audience you can make inroads quickly and find advocates for the brand willing to spread the word,” Nick Kinports, from Maddock Douglas

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