Beauty Store Business

JUL 2014

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90 July 2014 | beautystorebusiness.com Skincare Spotlight I HAD THE PLEASURE OF ATTENDING THE FIRST- ever WWD Digital Forum: Beauty Edition during Fashion Week earlier this year in New York City. As is usual with such high-caliber conferences, I left the day with more ideas than my brain could sift through and a much longer to-do list than I had arrived with. As Peter Born, executive editor of beauty at WWD, said in his opening remarks, "Digital and beauty belong together." If I ever doubted this, Tuesday, Feb. 11, changed my mind forever. "Maybe stories are just data with a soul." — Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW The following are three presentations that most resonated with me. THE MOST IMPORTANT DIGITAL TRENDS FOR BRANDS THAT EVERYONE ISN'T ALREADY AWARE OF—presented by Marisa Thalberg, head of corporate digital and content marketing worldwide for The Estée Lauder Cos. This presentation was perhaps one of my favorites, highlighting a number of digital trends beauty brands need to be aware of. 1. Consumers have become merchandisers. Creative curation platforms like Polyvore and Pinterest have (inadvertently) transformed ordinary people into the most interesting and insightful brand merchants. Two specific examples she offered were the Rent the Runway feature "How others wore it," where custom- ers can show photos of how they wore the clothes; and Aveda on Pinterest, featuring the hashtag #avedacolor, which has yielded amazing engagement from consumers. 2. Frictionless buying. We are moving from "friction- less sharing" as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook called it to "frictionless buying." Essentially, the social experience is driving more fluidity in all consumer experiences, including buying. There is more connectivity, and thus more seamless integration. 3. Micro + Momentary experiences. We are all aware of micro experiences, exemplified by Twitter and the 140-character limit, and by the fact that we enjoy bite-size experiences. (Remember, the average length of an Android app session is just over one minute.) We now are being con- fronted by momentary experiences, a behavior that has been leveraged by Snapchat, but could be credited to the likes of Gilt Groupe, which pioneered the "time-limited space." 4. Kids are equal or better than professionals with content creation. Indeed, creation is no longer the exclusive province of a highly trained professional set (and the brands that can afford them). Today, a tween daughter, son or nephew have the ability to generate and spectacu- larly enhance content, leading to a true democratization of the art of content creation. Of course, this remains a complement, not a replacement for professional firms. 5. We are seeing the emergence of organization around random experiences. Think about What'sApp, and WeChat in China. 6. "On demand" is moving from entertainment to services. We have become used to DVR, Netflix, on- demand channels, Hulu and Amazon Prime—true proof that we want what we want and need it when we need it. Now, services are following suit. Think of Uber, which no longer needs an introduction; of Pogoseat, an app that sporting and concert venues and consumers can use to upgrade seats; and of WunWun, an on-demand delivery service from every place in your city. We can now access services when we want them, when we need them. 7. Authenticity is evermore important. Show your truth. Consumers crave a sense of believability. Today, the mega trend of authenticity and responsibility is being fueled by social media to go one step further as brands have to proactively show and prove credentials, results and values. Authenticity is even more important because the truth can now be exposed by one tweet, one Instagram image. Following this high-level trends presentation, a pre- senter brought the social concept down to a more tactical level, sharing five truths about how to successfully leverage social media. EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA I LEARNED FROM MAKEUP—presented by Mally Roncal, founder and president of Mally Beauty 1. "I don't just do makeup. I teach women how to do it themselves through education and sharing my knowledge. I need to connect with my clients." The social-media truth this translates into is that one active social user (a Facebook fan, a Twitter follower, an Instagram follower, etc.) is a BIG deal: She needs to be treated with love and respect. 2. "Makeup is about a feeling. There are days when you feel hot, and days when you [don't]—and then you think: Let me put on my gloss and my blush anyway, and you realize that makeup has enough power to change your day." The social-media truth this translates into is that people share emotions, not facts. Social media requires you to be real and personal. You have to be authentic. 3. "It's OK to take risks with makeup—there is nothing a little bit of makeup remover can't fix." WWD Digital Beauty Summit This fi rst-ever WWD event gave attendees invaluable insight into today's market—information you can use. by Ada S. Polla Image courtesy of Ada S. Polla A lot of brands are seeing 50% of their sales growth from the mobile channel. S k i n c a r e S p o t l i g h t 7 1 4 . i n d d 9 0 Skincare Spotlight 714.indd 90 6 / 4 / 1 4 2 : 4 4 P M 6/4/14 2:44 PM

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