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102 July 2016 | beautystorebusiness.com News U.S. MILLENNIALS PREFER "PEER" ENDORSEMENTS TO THOSE OF CELEBRITIES, SURVEY SAYS The results of a recent, large-scale, national survey investigating how U.S. consumers' online behaviors impact in-store purchase decisions by Collective Bias—a leader in shopper-focused influencer marketing— are out: Involving 14,000 adults, it found that 30% are more likely to purchase a product endorsed by a non-celebrity blogger than a celebrity. Of that number, 70% of 18 to 34 year olds had the highest preference for "peer" endorsement. Only 3% would consider buying a product in-store if it was endorsed by a celebrity, and celebrity testimonials were one of the traditional advertising vehicles to rank low among respondents. Those surveyed cited TV (7.4%), print (4.7%) and digital (4.5%) advertisements as the least-influential forms of communication when shopping for products in-store. The results point to a growing ineffectiveness of traditional advertising and the need for brands to embrace alternative forms of marketing to drive sales. The survey also investigated other trends in digital and social behaviors and in-store shopping. Highlights include: • Consumers are consulting blogs and social media on their mobile devices prior to shop- ping. Nearly 60% took a blog review or a social-media post viewed on a smartphone or a tablet into consideration while shopping in-store. • Men are two times more influenced by blog reviews than women. One in five men (18.3%) have had blog reviews influence in-store purchases, compared to only one in 10 women (9.2%) who have done the same. • Men and women differ in which product categories they research online. Male consum- ers (34.4%) have purchased consumer electronics in-store—about twice as often as women (15.4%)—as a result of reading a blog review or a social-media post. • Twitter is not used first nor most often by consumers researching products online. Only 2% of respondents checked Twitter first when researching products, and less than 2% said Twitter had the "most influence" on their decisions to complete an in-store purchase. • However, Facebook and YouTube are the most persuasive channels. About 19% reported Facebook influencing their purchasing decisions most, with YouTube coming in second at nearly 18%. YouTube is especially popular with men (22.8%), compared to women (13.9%). "With little data available on the current state of influencer marketing, the findings of this report strongly indicate that consumers are less engaged with advertisements and seemingly disingenuous celebrity endorsements," says Bill Sussman, Collective Bias CEO. "As ad blocking continues to grow, it only further threatens the effectiveness of traditional ad techniques to deliver ROI, meaning brand marketers will need to turn to more-effective alternatives such as influencer content." ULTA BEAUTY TO OPEN SATELLITE OFFICE IN CHICAGO ULTA Beauty plans to open a new satellite office in downtown Chicago this summer to offer employees workplace flexibility and to support the national beauty retailer's fast-paced growth, it has announced. "A Chicago location offers our existing employees more flexibility and the ability to collaborate with business partners in new ways, and it will also help us continue to attract the top talent we need to fuel our growth," says Mary Dillon, ULTA Beauty CEO. "Addi- tionally, our new satellite office solidifies our position as members of the Chicagoland community and reflects our continued commitment to this world-class city." ULTA Beauty's satellite office will be at 120 South Riverside Plaza (between West Adams Street and West Monroe Street), within a block of both the Union and Ogilvie Metra Stations and was under construction earlier this year. The building sits on the west bank of the Chicago River with direct views of the iconic waterway. The office will be about 23,000 square feet, with up to 100 shared workstations, as well as conference space—including collaborative huddle and multipurpose rooms. The 22-story office tower is owned by Ivanhoé Cambridge in partnership with Callahan Capital Properties. ULTA Beauty's corporate headquarters is in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and it employed more than 750 associates as of April. ULTA Beauty continues to grow—last year adding more than 125 new jobs in its corporate office. This is in addition to the thousands of jobs that the company has created nationwide. The company is also investing in its suburban loca- tion by expanding and renovating its headquarters. INMARKET, GLOSS MEDIA BEGIN BEACON PROXIMITY ROLLOUT inMarket—the large, verified beacon and proximity platform—and digital salon network Gloss Media have announced an exclusive agreement to bring the micro- location engagement power of beacons to salons across the United States. This new partnership will enable brands to engage women precisely when they're in the salon—and receptive to messaging. The rollout will start with 20,000 U.S. nail salons. RANGEME PARTNERS WITH THE WINDY CITY GIFT TRADE SHOW RangeMe—the online platform that streamlines new-product discovery between suppliers and retailers—and Urban Expositions, one of the fastest-growing trade show-management companies in the United States, have announced that the Windy City Gift Show will leverage RangeMe's technology to provide exhibitors greater reach to connect with buyers. "Building relationships in-person is a valuable and essential part of the product-discovery process," says Nicky Jackson, RangeMe founder and CEO. "We're looking to enhance the trade-show experience for both retail buyers and product suppliers." The semiannual Windy City Gift Show, which is custom-tailored to the specialized needs of Midwest gift and home retailers, will take place Aug. 12-14 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. RangeMe enables retailers with an efficient way to discover innovative, new products and manage the inbound product-submission process.