Samples! Mini-size options—so adorable! Emerging brands! Screens that tell you what to buy! If your last foray into buying face wash felt more like being at a carnival than in a beauty aisle, you’re not alone.
Retailers are jockeying for a bigger piece of the beauty market, and the prize is profits: Global beauty spending is up 10 percent year-over-year, according to NielsenIQ, at a time when other categories—like home furnishings, apparel, and gardening supplies—are flat or dipping. Retailers are focused on making beauty feel more experiential, even in busy big-box stores, says Hana Selvog, vice president of sales at sales and marketing agency The Barcode Group. “They’re positioning themselves as beauty destinations.”
"Experts say smart firms keep a laser-like focus on consumer or client needs."
To those not in the retail industry, there is a lesson here: Follow the money. Beauty has always been a dependable seller. This year, shoppers are treating it as an affordable indulgence, or as Elizabeth Lafontaine, director of research at foot-traffic analyst Placer.ai, describes it, “a lower-cost upgrade against a backdrop of economic uncertainty.” But e-commerce is expanding six times faster than in-store beauty sales are, and the TikTok Shop alone now accounts for roughly 10 percent of all beauty e-commerce. Stores are leaning on the draw of new products that shoppers want to see and hold before purchasing. Stores are particularly keen to reintroduce shoppers to products they wouldn’t necessarily stumble on while scrolling, says Jenna Young, head of creative for Korn Ferry’s Culture, Change, and Communications practice. “It’s a reason to get people in the store.”
That is, of course, the second lesson leaders can take from the beauty buzz: Know thy customer. The beauty shopper is unusually mobile, Selvog notes, hopping between big-box stores, social-media shops, pharmacies, and specialty retailers—sometimes all in the same week. Which means retailers are fighting for a higher share of customers they’re already sharing. However, consumers tend to be more loyal to retailers than to brands—an opening that brick-and-mortar stores are eager to exploit. Beauty aisles also attract Gen Z, a demographic that might not otherwise show up in person, giving stores the opportunity to build that loyalty.
In beauty retail, firms have found a way to stay ahead of customer interest—at least for now. Even mass merchandisers are jumping into this once-exclusive sector. “They’re moving fast to bolster their beauty departments, fueled by some impressive market data,” says Michael Sjolie, CEO of spray-tan company Sjolie Sunless. At least one big-box retailer is staffing the section with trained beauty experts, who receive samples of products and are trained in selling items like eyeliner. The reasoning is simple, says Craig Rowley, a senior client partner at Korn Ferry: “It’s a business driven by product knowledge—customers just don’t buy products they don’t understand.”
