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Issue link: http://beautystorebusiness.epubxp.com/i/134313
Skincare Spotlight Sell Skin Care as Health & Happiness Help customers understand the benefits of a proactive skincare regimen, and watch your skincare sales soar. by Ada S. Polla AS A SKINCARE ENTREPRENEUR, I AM OFTEN asked by my clients—whether niche retail boutiques or high-end skincare spas—for tips on selling skin care. Indeed, what seems to me as evident is apparently a cultural characteristic. As a European, my grandma took me to get my first facial at age 15. Furthermore, my vanity is filled with 80% skincare products and only 20% hair and makeup products. Here in the United States the majority of women go through life without experiencing a facial, assuming that their skin will look red and pockmarked for a day or two after such a treatment. They spend more money on makeup and hair products than on skin care. Yet, skin is the ultimate accessory. And, as my grandmother admonished me during my teenage years, "You earn the skin you're in." In trying to effectively answer my partners' questions about tips on selling skin care, I have found that relating skin care to health and happiness helps the consumer better grasp the essential nature of a good skincare routine. the motivation to buy is lessened. This is where the healthcare, or more specifically, the dental-care analogy comes in. Here are some questions I love to ask consumers: • Do you brush your teeth twice a day? Similarly, you should wash your face twice a day—something that is harder to convince some people to do than it should be. • Do you wait until you have cavities and rotten teeth to go to the dentist? Similarly, you shouldn't wait to have horrible skin to either get a facial and/or start using the appropriate skincare product. • If you use an electric toothbrush at home, does that mean there is no need to go to the dentist? Similarly, you still need facials or visits with a dermatologist, even if you are using an ultrasonic cleansing device at home. I find that this analogy helps American consumers better understand skin care, and helps make the daily, preventive aspect of skin care clearer. Indeed, skin care is part of one's self care, and as important as other aspects of one's healthcare. Skin health affects the body's ability to monitor and respond to its environment as well as physical and emotional well-being. SKIN CARE AS HEALTHCARE SKIN CARE AS HAPPINESS CARE In Switzerland, good skin care is truly considered part of one's healthcare. Facials are not about pampering, and they're not reserved for ladies who lunch. Although selling skin care that retails for more than $20 is challenging in general, I find that this is particularly true when selling preventive skin care—usually to women in their late 20s or early 30s. After all, there are no before-and-after pictures to showcase the value of prevention. If there is nothing to fix—for example, a wrinkle to alleviate or a brown spot to lighten—sometimes The flip side of self care could, of course, be called mental healthcare. I always remind people that taking care of themselves is one of the keys to happiness. Skin care—or any type of beauty care—is really not about vanity. It is about happiness as well-being. While my grandmother was the one who encouraged me to get regular facials and use quality skincare products in my teens, my mother is the one who helped me figure out why it was so important. She loved to remind me and my sisters that "Looking good means feeling 84 July 2013 | beautystorebusiness.com good means doing good." When you look good, you feel better about yourself, you smile more, you have a better day, and life in general is more pleasurable. Thus, good skin care leads to happiness. Of course, this does work both ways, as you are beautiful when you are happy, and you are happy when you are beautiful. Happiness and the skin are like the chicken and the egg—which came first? Is there such a thing as the "happiness hormone"? Overall, happiness contributes to beauty as much as beauty contributes to happiness. They work together in synergy, and a key component of both happiness and beauty is healthy, radiant skin. And a key component of the production of the happiness hormone is human touch, hence the importance of applying skincare products, massages, facials and more. There is a scientific basis for this theory. The skin is the body's largest organ, protecting the body from the outside world, yet allowing contact with the environment and others. The skin acts as a constant monitor of the body's external environment, sending signals to the brain and allowing the body to respond properly. One of these responses can be the release of hormones affecting wellbeing and mood—essentially, the "happiness hormone," which is induced by human contact. Skin health affects the body's ability to monitor and respond to its environment as well as its physical and emotional well-being. As we think about how to retail skin care, in addition to the dental-care analogy, I find that it helps to tie in the consumer's decision to take care of her skin through topical products to her level of happiness through its positive effects on skin health and beauty. Image courtesy of Ada S. Polla Editor's note: We're proud to introduce this column for our readers this issue. If you're going to Cosmoprof North America 2013, consider attending the Spa Sector: How To Build Synergies & Grow Spa Distribution conference on Monday, July 15, at 2 p.m. in Bella Conference Room #1. Our columnist will be moderating. For more information about the conference, visit cosmoprofnorthamerica.com.