For beauty business news, beauty store owners turn to Beauty Store Business. Beauty business trends, beauty business profiles and more!
Issue link: http://beautystorebusiness.epubxp.com/i/275275
48 April 2014 | beautystorebusiness.com into our production facility, and we absorb it over the course of three to four months. As that's done, we get a better handle on the demand and are able to improve, update and make graphical changes we think consumers will enjoy seeing, as well as formulation and fragrance changes we feel will appeal more to the consumer. We use that process with every brand we incorporate, and all of that is based on research. So far, we've interviewed about 800 consumers about Soft & Beautiful, and from there we'll move to the next brand, Pro-Line. We have a process: Evaluate the brand we acquire by looking at its benefits and weaknesses, any opportunities to turn the brand around, its consumer aware- ness, and the viability of not only the brand but the formulas and benefits. We then can start with strategies to improve each SKU in the brand. We've been very successful doing that. We bought African Pride in 2009, and five years later, we've grown it to four times the size it was when we acquired it—through product develop- ment, graphics, formulations, fragrances and line extensions. Why have you been so successful competing against multinationals in the multicultural category? One of our clear advantages is that we can move rapidly to market with new ideas, and we're in the field listening to consumers through consumer research every month. We look for opportunities, changes in hairstyles, new ingredients consumers are interested in, and at trends in the marketplace. We're very quick to market and have great formula- tions that deliver benefits consumers are looking for. Another thing is, many times the multinational companies are looking for large volumes of business for each SKU. We don't need volumes to be in millions of units; we're looking at the satisfaction of the customer as far as formulas, pricing and packaging, and whether there is a large enough seg- ment of that consumer group interested in trying and buying. That might not be enough volume for a big company, such as the Unilevers of the world. We're not dictated by millions of units, but by con- sumer satisfaction. What beauty trends can you share about the multicultural market? There's no doubt that the market in the United States is moving more toward natural maintenance of hair. Customers are seeking solutions for manageability in natural ways; they don't want to compro- mise the natural texture of hair through use of chemicals. There's a desire to move away from chemicals and still get the benefit of straight hair. What we see is the desire to go from curly to straight and back to natural again. Our consumer doesn't want to get locked into one spe- cific hairstyle and not be able to move to another style. Versatility is important— the ability to have hair straight, curly, or in braids or weaves. We've begun looking at ways to increase the ability of consumers to go from one style to the next, without the damage and without altering the texture of hair. We're actually introducing a new product this year called Reversible Straightening Texture Manageability System. It allows you to go straight temporarily and back to natural without altering or damaging hair. It's a new innovation, a new way of looking at styl- ing and creating more versatility. We're the first to come to market with this concept, and we're hoping it will be a big breakthrough for us. It just released this month [February] and will be in full distribution by April in beauty supply stores all over the country. How do you get the word out about your products to consumers? Over the last five years, things have been moving to social media—both in our budgets and in its ability to generate word of mouth. Our budgets are now almost 75% social media. We move our communication through meet-ups, events, bloggers and advertisements in ÒWeÕre beginning to sell displays with QR codes, [allowing] consumers to get information about products without needing a brochure.Ó Top photo by Armando Sanchez/All other Images courtesy of Strength of Nature Global Continued from page 44 T h e M u l t i c u l t u r a l H a i r c a r e M a e s t r o . i n d d 4 8 The Multicultural Haircare Maestro.indd 48 3 / 6 / 1 4 1 1 : 4 7 A M 3/6/14 11:47 AM