Standard
Direct
Response
Planning.
Bringing The Store to The Customer
Today’s customer is so busy, the easier
a company can make a purchase, the
more likely they are to retain a consumer.
Women want one-stop shopping, whether virtual or in brick-and-mortar stores.
It’s up to marketers to target consumers
in many channels, while still establishing a familiar relationship. For many
companies, moving toward penetration in
major drugstore chains is a smart move.
Rowinski says consumers have reduced
their total shopping trips per month to
12 across all types of stores — except
for drugstore trips, which have grown a
bit. According to IRI, 50 percent of all
households purchase facial skincare in a
total mass channel. But Rowinski says not
to focus too much on one retail channel:
infomercials, drugstores, spas and online
are all-important because women cross
purchase across formats.
One company that sells a majority of
its products online is Ouidad. The company believes in easy interaction when it
comes to purchasing. There are multiple
purchasing channels on Ouidad.com:
women can click on such choices as “shop
from history,” “shop from favorites” or
“shop from your curl profile.”
The idea behind this brand, and so
many like it in the beauty industry, is to
be anywhere and everywhere the cus-
tomer may be. For Ouidad to accomplish
this, its DR campaigns are in cable TV,
print, out-of-home, direct mail, E-mail,
paid searches, radio and Internet advertising. “But our most powerful marketing
happens one-on-one, in E-mail and telephone consultations and on our message
boards at Ouidad.com,” he says.
A Beautiful Future
According to Rowinski, while skincare
and cosmetics continue to grow sales
through skin benefit, anti-aging additives
and mascara launches, these categories
are starting to run their course. What’s
up and coming? Natural products and
packaging, interactive shopping and skin-type specific solutions for women and
men, from pre-teen to seniors. Rowinski
says brands like Olay, Dove and L’Oreal
already do a good job of customizing and
knowing their target audience. According
to IRI, 50 percent of all foundation makeup sold in 2007 was based on one of the
following formats: healthy skin, minerals,
color matching or age defying.
Grange says that DR marketing is
important to moving toward customization. Demonstration, in a long-form ad,
“enables a woman to sit down and listen
to the message and understand the scope
of the product and be educated on what
she’s buying,” according to Grange.
As with other industries, there is also
Murad is tapping into the growing market
of anti-aging, wrinkle-reducing skincare
products. Anti-aging products made up 30
percent of the $3 billion beauty and personal
care market in 2007.
a push toward more all-natural products.
“People are starting to lean toward greener lifestyles,” says Orr. “They want it from
recycling and composting to haircare
products that don’t contain chemicals
and are produced in recyclable materials.”
Finally, experts agree that there will
be more customer interaction through
electronics, from digital video recorders (DVR) to cell phones. “Those who
haven’t developed the capability to interact one-on-one with their customers have
some catching up to do,” says Wise. “One
day, the beauty answers you seek will all
be in the palm of your hand.” ■
