Beauty brands take steps for success
Beauty brands are vying for customers from a very diverse range of consumers. With a span of more generations than ever before shopping the beauty aisles and new outlets popping up (like TikTok Shop), brands must prioritize relevancy and longevity to stand out in a crowded beauty segment.
Success is no longer just about the products themselves. Today’s growth is fueled by understanding cultural nuances, shopper behavior, and ever-changing generational preferences.
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To stay relevant, brands must narrow it down to the consumer segments they can best serve. Then they have to consider:
- Multigenerational Appeal — From Gen Alpha to Boomers, beauty shoppers are more age-diverse than ever. Depending on which segments are targeted, messaging, mission, and products must resonate widely.
- Transparency — Shoppers want to understand the origin story, corporate responsibility, ingredient profiles, and more, and they want it all to be easily accessible.
- Loyalty as a Strategy — Trust must be earned through experience, value, and emotional connection. With the vast number of competitors, brands need to foster a relationship with customers and build a lasting bond.
- Vision — Those that anticipate future behaviors, identify unmet needs, and focus on providing value set themselves up for success.
At recent beauty events hosted by HRG, brands shared some of their challenges in carrying through their vision to the in-store shopping experience. Behind the scenes, brands struggle with:
- In-Store Installation & Maintenance — Products can’t sell if they don’t make it out of the backroom. Accurate and timely installation and restocking ensures a steady revenue stream for all.
- Retailer Specification Management — Navigating multiple, diverse retailer requirements is made easier with well-managed systems, communication, and attention to detail.
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Key to ensuring installation at retail goes smoothly are accurate planograms with easy-to-use guides, instructions, or digital renders to streamline assembly, minimize downtime, and uphold the creative vision for the display.
A best-in-class checklist for executing planograms to ensure success setting the shelves includes:
- Accurate product dimensions & orientation
- Tray assessments
- UPC consistency
- Clear sight lines to all products
- Tray fit confirmation for custom reuse
- Fixture verification
- Graphics match to fixtures
- Finalize to retailer requirements
Today’s beauty consumer demands more — and so must the brands that serve them. Navigating generational needs, creating standout experiences, and engaging across all touchpoints is the formula for success. In the evolving world of beauty retail, staying ahead means staying engaged — and always looking forward.
Megan Moyer is a 25-year retail industry veteran and HRG’s corporate marketing manager. HRG is in the details of retail, working with product manufacturers, distributors, retailers, technology partners, and other industry organizations to provide data & analysis, shopper experience, brand development, fixture coordination, and retail communications solutions. HRG reviews new health, beauty, and wellness (HBW) items every month and assesses their potential for longevity in the monthly Products to Watchfeature in Drug Store News as well as the annual Future 50 list.
