The beautiful business
On the border... Border stores are not traditionaly known for beauty
retail, but as in the rest of the industry, the category is growing in
importance. Tania Lee, vice president sales of Blue Water Bridge Duty Free, talks to Frontier about the latest developments in the category.
The beauty category is a core area for my store. There has been a slightly negative trend on the border due to a number of factors: 1) increased presence in the grey market – when domestic sales soften, the amount of products on the grey market increases tremendously; 2) on-line shopping has also increased and consumers are able to access products at very competitive prices – again part of the fall-out from the grey market.
My strategy at the moment is all about newness and flankers. Over the last few years the rate of launches has increased dramatically. This has led to a mentality in the customer where their fragrance is more like an accessory, to be replaced with the new season’s fashions. Consequently, all the activity in my store revolves around a new launch. We have monthly events planned on display tables and on special events stations. Displays really make an impact with banners, signs, deluxe samplers, etc.
The promotion is brought to the outside of the store with additional signage located at the front and around the bridge plaza area. The goal is to attract the attention of the customer in four seconds and get them to understand the concept with a very visual message.
New launches for the year include: Escada Sunset Heat, Gucci Pour Homme II, Sarah Jessica Parker, CKIN2U, new Calvin Klein fragrance and a slew of summer fragrances and limited editions.
As for skincare, micro-dermabrasian and 'botoxesque' products are at the forefront. Serums that attack wrinkles without retinol A are also trendy such as Strivectin, Prevage, Perfectionist. Cosmetics is seeing the blurring of lines between make-up and skincare with colour products offering to moisturise, protect from the sun and firm.
Fragrances account for a higher sales percentage than skincare. The traditional duty free suppliers Estée Lauder, Clinique, Lancôme and Dior are all holding their own. Estée Lauder seems to have a more agressive launch schedule this year compared to the last three previous years. All are launching new skincare lines which look to be very exciting. Fragrance powerhouse Chanel is still at the top of its game, Chanel No. 5 being the number one fragrance sku in the store for as long as I can remember. They are continuously innovating and supporting their classic lines and it shows in their sales. They have managed to attract a younger demographic to their lines and they have a great advertising campaign coming up supporting Chanel No. 5. ”
In the air... DFASS holds the inflight concessions for a number of airlines across the Americas and Asia. Vice-president Jon Garner talks to Frontier about selling beauty products in inflight
Beauty is a critical category for inflight driven by new launches and technological developments. Key brands include Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Clinique and, of course, Christian Dior.
There are regional variances, and as the concessionaire operating Singapore airlines and Silkair we see a clear preference for light fragrance and great interest in exclusivity and newness. The skincare business is very regionally-specific as demonstrated by the success of brands such as SK11. Christian Dior has also developed a very strong range of exclusive items for the inflight business. We have had great success with brand owners who have produced exclusive duo packs for us, such as our Flower by Kenzo sku. We are also working with many of our beauty suppliers on preorder and special website facilities for our cabin crew.
We will be launching special promotions and expanding the category onboard many of our carriers. We believe inflight and airport retail beauty trends both follow the domestic market but they can be driven by value offers and exclusive items for onboard sale. ”
Swiss-based airport retailer The Nuance Group has six locations in North America – Toronto and Calgary in Canada, Las Vegas, Houston, Denver and Ft. Lauderdale in the US, and it operates 30 stores in these locations. The operator has just opened its flagship North American store at Toronto Pearson Airport, which has the third highest pax in North America. Frontier catches up with Mona Lee-Tam, director, marketing & promotions for Nuance North America.
Beauty is a top-selling category for us, second only to liquor. We give prime positioning to beauty in our stores and also invest in promoting the category.
On January 30, 2007 we opened our largest duty free store in Toronto’s new Pier F of Terminal 1, with over 11,000 sq. ft of retail space. Approximately 50% of the store is dedicated to beauty. The beauty area is designed so the experience is similar to that of a department store, with the luxury of space to browse through the selection and chairs for interactive demonstrations. With the opening we launched some brands that are new to Toronto Pearson, such as MAC, La Mer and L’Oréal. We have allocated a large space at the front to launch some of the new fragrances.
The biggest trend for fragrances is newness and celebrity associations with scents. We are capitalising on this by featuring newness as part of our monthly promotions. In skincare, the trend is for treatment-based skincare that targets specific skin concerns. We capitalise on this by continuing to look at new treatment brands and new lines within our current brand assortment that would suit our customer base. In cosmetics it is important to look at colour that is tied in with current fashion trends. Our customer base prefers to stick to its favourites so we ensure that we provide colours that work with our customers’ complexions and revisit the assortment regularly.
We generally retail by brands but recognise that it’s important to merchandise separately to make products easier to find for customers, particularly fragrances. We also know that it may be more comfortable for a male customer to shop in a section that is targeted to him.
We do find there is a distinct difference in what sells best in North America versus our counterparts in Europe or Asia, and we focus on brands that perform well for us in North America as well as brands that perform well in each location. There are differences in each store location and sometimes even within terminals so we focus on changing up our assortments to tailor to the specific customer mix.
Our top-selling fragrances are pretty consistent – favourites include Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, Chanel No 5 and Aqua di Giò, and we have seen newer fragrances such as Euphoria perform well for us. As for skincare and cosmetics brands, Lancôme, Estée Lauder and Clinique perform the best for us. We have also seen great results from the introduction of MAC to Toronto. However, there are variances of top performers within each location. Currently we are promoting Lancôme Miracle Forever and Kenneth Cole RSVP fragrances, and Clinique All About Eyes and Elizabeth Arden’s new Intervene.”
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