purchase in so many different ways, and that’s why this channel
is so important.
P: What are some of the attributes shoppers consider
important when shopping online for their beauty and
personal care?
B: Website security is the first thing that people said was most
important to them when shopping online. I guess this was
influenced by the fact that we’ve had several website hacking
incidents with so many big players in the retail and financial
world. People are very worried about having their personal information stolen.
P: What strategies have online retailers employed in
order to attract online shoppers and turn them into loyal
customers?
B: Understanding your customers and what they’re looking for
is the first step. Offering them a good online experience, such
as making it easy for them to shop and navigate through your
website, is important. But even more important for online
beauty retailing is your website’s content. Content strategy is
something that many companies struggle with because
consumers aren’t only looking for the product, but also the
additional content such as the how-to videos.
The other thing that is going to be very important in beauty
e-commerce is determining how to offer product samples. It’s
great to have customers who are very loyal and buy the same
thing online every month, but you still want to entice them to
buy additional or new product lines. How do you give them the
opportunity to test new products? When they order online, do
you also give them a sample of a product that might be of interest to them?
P: Your report states that the store is not dead, but its
role is changing. What does this mean for retailers as
a whole?
B: If you are a consumer, you no longer have to go to the store
to get information or learn about a product because the information is readily available online. More often than not, online
retailers can sometimes be more knowledgeable about the
product than the beauty adviser at the store counter. The other
thing is that product replenishment can be easily done online.
The store as a source of replenishment is also declining.
Therefore, what’s really left for stores is to focus more on the
shopping experience. What types of experiences can you offer
that they can’t experience online? Obviously, there’s always that
personal touch that you get in-store that you can never get
online, which is why the store is not dead. The other important
thing to look into is learning how to connect the online and
offline retail experiences—we’re starting to see more of that
happening now. n
HOW CAN YOU ENGAGE today’s
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read more.
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