CVS/pharmacy to release products that focus on health-beauty connection
NEW YORK — CVS/pharmacy announced Thursday that it will launch three new exclusive beauty lines as part of an expansion into beauty categories — including naturals, therapeutics and clinically-proven products — that focuses on the intersection of health and beauty.
CVS/pharmacy will unveil Jouviance from Canada, a dermatologist-tested biotechnology skin care brand; Wilma Schumann, a European-inspired targeted treatment-based brand; and the NSF-certified Promise Organic collection. The collections join Beauty 360, Makeup Academy, Nuance Salma Hayek and Skin+Pharmacy in CVS/pharmacy’s exclusive beauty line portfolio.
CVS/pharmacy will introduce 13 products from Jouviance, including Restructiv Collagen Boost, Sculpt Resculpting Facial Contour Serum and Cleansing Milk Gentle Cleanser and Makeup Remover. The anti-aging and hydrating products range from $22 to $69.
Wilma Schumann products include blemish control and eye treatments, as well as an anti-aging collection. The line’s cheapest item retails for $18, with its most expensive item retailing for $64.
Promise Organic will launch with 14 products from two collections: Ultra-Moisturizing Argan Crème for normal to dry skin, and Nourishing Coconut Milk for normal to combination skin. Both lines feature skin care, body care and multi-use oil for skin and hair products, which range from $5.99 to $19.99.
“Our exclusive brands are our fastest-growing segment in our stores,” Alex Perez-Tenessa, CVS/pharmacy’s VP merchandising, said at a beauty launch event in New York.
Health and beauty sales grew 25% more quickly over the last three years than CVS/pharmacy’s general merchandise and consumables, and the company plans to introduce 1,200 new products within the next few years. CVS/pharmacy plans to see its exclusive brands portfolio double in size by the end of 2015.
CVS/pharmacy will also update its aisle displays to educate consumers on skin care products and encourage easy navigation with signage, product regimen trays and mirrors for easy shade-matching. CVS/pharmacy will also offer services from in-store beauty consultants.
In addition to launching new exclusive brands, CVS/pharmacy has shifted its focus on health to the beauty aisle. After ending tobacco sales last year, CVS/pharmacy has partnered with Dr. Vivian Diller, a psychologist who studies the role beauty plays in women’s lives, to research beauty’s effect on health.
“Psychologists elevate feeling good, and the beauty industry used to elevate looking good,” Diller said. “But the truth of it is, these two things are not that separate — we all know that.”
“People who take time to relax — whether it’s a spa day, you get your hair done — people who take time and effort to look after themselves create what we call the thought-action cycle,” she said.
Diller described the thought-action cycle in one of her patients, who wore a bold lipstick on a date and experienced an emotional lift. “When you wear a lipstick, there’s also a feeling you have,” she said. “That feeling translates to a cognition — a different way you think.”
The difference is behavioral, and re-enforced what Diller described as “subjective well-being” — her patient felt more confident. “That subjective well-being has been associated with long-term and short-term health benefits,” Diller said. “We’ve known this for a long time. It’s just we haven’t connected beauty to it.”
The promotion of subjective well-being may help reduce stress, which impacts people on the cellular level and has been associated with heart disease, according to Diller.
“It actually helps you fight disease,” she said. “I know that’s hard to believe and I’m not saying lipstick makes you fight disease.” But as vehicles for self-care, Diller believes beauty products enable physical and emotional well-being.
“You know what happens when you see something attractive? The neurotransmitters go off — the dopamine, the serotonin and the endorphins,” she said.