Retail, beauty execs discuss importance of relationships in the industry
Where is the beauty category headed, what challenges are in the way, and how can companies incorporate the needs of their consumers when planning for the future? These were the questions at the center of the beauty trends panel, which was part of the Drug Store News Industry Issues Summit.
Moderator Shannon Curtin, founder of the Possibility Group, led panelists through a discussion that ran the gamut from regulation to consumer insights and how manufacturers and retailers can collaborate to overcome hurdles facing the industry.
One of the challenges panelists identified are regulations. In particular, a recent California law focused on animal testing, making it illegal for manufacturers to import and sell a beauty product that was developed or manufactured using animal testing — whether it was the manufacturer or a third party who carried the testing out. Though panelists noted that including third parties added a level of difficulty to compliance, others highlighted such legislation as an opportunity to see if a company’s sourcing aligns with consumer demands.
Walgreens’ group vice president of beauty and personal care, Lauren Brindley, said that the California law codifies a larger trend in the beauty space, namely a desire for transparency as to what’s in the products consumers buy. As a result, such efforts offer an opportunity for companies to prioritize transparency and tie it back to a company’s cause. (Walgreens eliminated animal testing for its own brands several years ago.)
“I think whether it’s legislative or not, it should be a conversation in all boardrooms — how are we actually thinking about transparency, provenance and ethics,” she said. “There is an emergence of consumers wanting this type of clarity. It is really important, especially amongst younger consumers who are interested in brands with purpose and the world around them. I think it’s something everybody should be thinking about.”
Curtin said that the recent changes to the tax code are enabling companies to make investments that can help them succeed with consumers. WestRock’s vice president of retail insights and solutions, Leon Nicholas, said he sees two areas of infrastructure investment from companies — e-commerce and insights. While e-commerce investments allow for more agility, he said, insights can help companies understand the return on their efforts and investment.
“People are investing in insights quite a bit, particularly in the beauty space, to better understand ‘What is the ROI of that shipper or that magic mirror that I’ve placed there in the cosmetics aisle? What am I getting out of that?’” he said. “And you can algorithmically tune that to start to have what I call an ‘insights productivity loop’ so that the insights are feeding back to you information that you can then apply to that promotion in real-time because the cost of in-store promotion failure today has just gotten too high.”
Insights are key to Cosmetic Promotions’ strategy, according to founder and CEO Joann Marks. The company partners with manufacturers and retailers to help introduce and promote brands to consumers. One way they achieve this is by taking a generational approach, gathering consumer insights from different sources to find what offerings will work best for each — from direct-mail beauty sampling kits and pop-up beauty schools for millennials to dorm-room bag drops and exit sampling at concerts for Gen Z.
“We always drive to improve the shopping experience by innovating ways to surprise and delight the consumer,” Marks said. “That’s our core strategy, and of course we always customize our solutions to resonate with the evolving segments and generational groups of the larger consumer base.”
Meeting consumers where they are also is integral to E.T. Browne’s strategy, Brown said. She said that to promote its Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Stretch Mark Cream, the company partnered with pregnancy app OVIA to identify potential pregnant influencers who create content that’s featured in the app and on Palmer’s social media. “For a low relatively low investment, you get this huge presence that has authenticity,” she said. “It’s warm and it’s authentic, and it pays off much larger than the original investment.”
The need for authentic interactions also informs retailers’ customer outreach efforts. Tonya Rupert, Weis Markets’ beauty and personal care category manager, said it is set to introduce clubs, which offer customers the ability to put points toward products in the categories they prefer to shop. The company then uses that information to send pertinent outreach materials.
“With the data we track from our loyalty card, target email communications are sent out,” she said. “Customers don’t shop our stores as a destination for beauty care product, so we can utilize their loyalty data to customize promotions that might be relevant to their next shopping trip.”
The question of relevance isn’t just applied to communication with consumers — it also informs retailers’ larger strategies. Brindley said that one of the biggest questions in beauty is understanding the role of brick-and-mortar in an omnichannel approach, noting that doing so and using a company’s assets correctly can drive growth.
For Brindley, even in an omnichannel approach, the in-store experience is key. “I believe it’s the accountability of brick-and-mortar retailers to create the reasons for customers to visit — the store has a fundamental role to play,” she said. “There’s a number of digital retailers now moving into the physical space too because there are certain categories where there needs to be an experience to complete the customer journey.”
Musab Balbale, Walmart’s e-commerce vice president and GM of health, beauty, wellness and pharmacy, said that online also can play a role in discovery and help get customers to return to the site, even if they don’t initially buy anything.
“If I could be a place where you come for that innovation and discovery, a place where you come to learn — regardless of whether or not you buy in that moment — I gain share of mind,” he said. “One of my key focuses is on transitioning our experience from being transactional to being more relationship based.”
Reconciling the dichotomy between a focus on transactions and a deeper partnership also applies to relationships between suppliers and manufacturers, according to Bruce Kramer, senior vice president of Wahl Clipper’s consumer division. He said that a key element of success is a partnership between suppliers and retailers, rather than a relationship focused on transactions. When transactions are the focus, Kramer said, manufacturers can be pressured to cut corners and produce a lesser product, which ultimately impacts the customers — and potentially sales.
Working together is something Kramer said can help grow the category.
“The retailers who are winning are the ones who create true partnership,” he said. “Manufacturers want to partner with retailers. We’re happy to invest our dollars with the retailer to get the word out about our products to the customer. But it needs to be utilized, where we really are working as a partner.”
Moderator Shannon Curtin, founder of the Possibility Group, led panelists through a discussion that ran the gamut from regulation to consumer insights and how manufacturers and retailers can collaborate to overcome hurdles facing the industry.
One of the challenges panelists identified are regulations. In particular, a recent California law focused on animal testing, making it illegal for manufacturers to import and sell a beauty product that was developed or manufactured using animal testing — whether it was the manufacturer or a third party who carried the testing out. Though panelists noted that including third parties added a level of difficulty to compliance, others highlighted such legislation as an opportunity to see if a company’s sourcing aligns with consumer demands.
Walgreens’ group vice president of beauty and personal care, Lauren Brindley, said that the California law codifies a larger trend in the beauty space, namely a desire for transparency as to what’s in the products consumers buy. As a result, such efforts offer an opportunity for companies to prioritize transparency and tie it back to a company’s cause. (Walgreens eliminated animal testing for its own brands several years ago.)
“I think whether it’s legislative or not, it should be a conversation in all boardrooms — how are we actually thinking about transparency, provenance and ethics,” she said. “There is an emergence of consumers wanting this type of clarity. It is really important, especially amongst younger consumers who are interested in brands with purpose and the world around them. I think it’s something everybody should be thinking about.”
Curtin said that the recent changes to the tax code are enabling companies to make investments that can help them succeed with consumers. WestRock’s vice president of retail insights and solutions, Leon Nicholas, said he sees two areas of infrastructure investment from companies — e-commerce and insights. While e-commerce investments allow for more agility, he said, insights can help companies understand the return on their efforts and investment.
“People are investing in insights quite a bit, particularly in the beauty space, to better understand ‘What is the ROI of that shipper or that magic mirror that I’ve placed there in the cosmetics aisle? What am I getting out of that?’” he said. “And you can algorithmically tune that to start to have what I call an ‘insights productivity loop’ so that the insights are feeding back to you information that you can then apply to that promotion in real-time because the cost of in-store promotion failure today has just gotten too high.”
Insights are key to Cosmetic Promotions’ strategy, according to founder and CEO Joann Marks. The company partners with manufacturers and retailers to help introduce and promote brands to consumers. One way they achieve this is by taking a generational approach, gathering consumer insights from different sources to find what offerings will work best for each — from direct-mail beauty sampling kits and pop-up beauty schools for millennials to dorm-room bag drops and exit sampling at concerts for Gen Z.
“We always drive to improve the shopping experience by innovating ways to surprise and delight the consumer,” Marks said. “That’s our core strategy, and of course we always customize our solutions to resonate with the evolving segments and generational groups of the larger consumer base.”
Meeting consumers where they are also is integral to E.T. Browne’s strategy, Brown said. She said that to promote its Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Stretch Mark Cream, the company partnered with pregnancy app OVIA to identify potential pregnant influencers who create content that’s featured in the app and on Palmer’s social media. “For a low relatively low investment, you get this huge presence that has authenticity,” she said. “It’s warm and it’s authentic, and it pays off much larger than the original investment.”
The need for authentic interactions also informs retailers’ customer outreach efforts. Tonya Rupert, Weis Markets’ beauty and personal care category manager, said it is set to introduce clubs, which offer customers the ability to put points toward products in the categories they prefer to shop. The company then uses that information to send pertinent outreach materials.
“With the data we track from our loyalty card, target email communications are sent out,” she said. “Customers don’t shop our stores as a destination for beauty care product, so we can utilize their loyalty data to customize promotions that might be relevant to their next shopping trip.”
The question of relevance isn’t just applied to communication with consumers — it also informs retailers’ larger strategies. Brindley said that one of the biggest questions in beauty is understanding the role of brick-and-mortar in an omnichannel approach, noting that doing so and using a company’s assets correctly can drive growth.
For Brindley, even in an omnichannel approach, the in-store experience is key. “I believe it’s the accountability of brick-and-mortar retailers to create the reasons for customers to visit — the store has a fundamental role to play,” she said. “There’s a number of digital retailers now moving into the physical space too because there are certain categories where there needs to be an experience to complete the customer journey.”
Musab Balbale, Walmart’s e-commerce vice president and GM of health, beauty, wellness and pharmacy, said that online also can play a role in discovery and help get customers to return to the site, even if they don’t initially buy anything.
“If I could be a place where you come for that innovation and discovery, a place where you come to learn — regardless of whether or not you buy in that moment — I gain share of mind,” he said. “One of my key focuses is on transitioning our experience from being transactional to being more relationship based.”
Reconciling the dichotomy between a focus on transactions and a deeper partnership also applies to relationships between suppliers and manufacturers, according to Bruce Kramer, senior vice president of Wahl Clipper’s consumer division. He said that a key element of success is a partnership between suppliers and retailers, rather than a relationship focused on transactions. When transactions are the focus, Kramer said, manufacturers can be pressured to cut corners and produce a lesser product, which ultimately impacts the customers — and potentially sales.
Working together is something Kramer said can help grow the category.
“The retailers who are winning are the ones who create true partnership,” he said. “Manufacturers want to partner with retailers. We’re happy to invest our dollars with the retailer to get the word out about our products to the customer. But it needs to be utilized, where we really are working as a partner.”