Beauty Store Business

AUG 2016

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136 August 2016 | beautystorebusiness.com Beauty Culture Smaller Retailers Are Ignoring Mobile Shoppers— At Their Peril, Says RSR Smaller retailers are feeling the most pain when it comes to consumer mobile offerings, according to Retail Systems Research (rsrresearch.com). In June, RSR—the only research company run by retailers for the retail industry—reported from a recent survey that smaller retailers more than any other subset in its overall retailers response group felt they have to catch up to consumer expectations for mobile. Smaller retailers were also a lot less clear about what exactly consumers want from a mobile presence. The differences between the largest retailers and smaller retailers subsets were glaring too. For example, the largest retailers expressed their greatest concern about "consumer privacy concerns over how retailers collect or use data." The top concern among smaller retailers (78%) was that "Consumers expect to use mobile as part of their shopping experience and we need to be there." The reason for this may simply be that large retailers already have their mobile solutions in place, while smaller retailers don't, explains RSR. Additionally, while more than half of the largest retailers expressed a concern that "We're seeing significant online traffic from mobile sources and need to respond," only one-third of smaller retailers indicated that they were worried about that. And twice as many smaller retailers indicated they were concerned that "We don't know what the customer perceives as valuable in a mobile offering," compared to the largest retailers. Dot-Salon Domain Name Endings Are Now Available Donuts Inc.—the largest registry for new "not-com" domain names—announced in June the launch of dot-salon domain name endings. "Like many industries, the salon industry is experiencing a digital revolution," says Jeff Davidoff, CMO of Donuts Inc. (donuts.domains). "Most of these changes are positive like online booking apps. Some take the control out of the hand of salon owners like Yelp or other review sites. So it's never been more important for salon owners to have control over their own digital destiny." Not-com domain name choices first launched to the public in early 2014 and among numerous benefits they provide more descriptive and creative means for businesses and individuals to brand their businesses, products and services. More meaningful names can also be memorable, making it easier for customers and potential customers to find what they're looking for. Jon-David, a Chicago hairstylist and marketing consultant to salon businesses, states, "A dot-salon domain name for a salon business is a no-brainer. I changed my domain name to MafiaHairdresser.salon because this new URL clearly states that my business is a salon, whereas I always had to explain it before." Study: Lots of Consumers Use At Least 10 Media Channels in Their Local Path-to-Purchase Consumers are using an increasing number of media sources to find local information. The Local Search Association's latest Local Media Tracking Study conducted by Burke has confirmed a fragmented media landscape—and has found that 40% of U.S. consumers have used at least 10 sources in the past month to find local business information. The LSA (thelsa.org) is a not-for-profit industry association of media companies, agencies and technology providers who help businesses market to local consumers. The LMTS tracks daily consumer usage of 13 media types. In 2015, the channels with the greatest audience reaches were search engines (85%), followed by company websites (70%) and then word-of-mouth recommendations (69%). Search engines were also found to be the most accurate and trusted source overall. Social media saw higher "local-search" growth vs. other categories. Roughly 45% of consumers said they used a social network to find local business information at least once in the past week. Print yellow pages had a much lower reach than digital channels—yet emerged as the source most likely to lead to a contact or a purchase. It also yielded the highest phone contact rate. As one would expect, media usage and perceptions were different by age categories. For instance, millennials were more likely to use and trust a range of online sources (search engines, social networks, online videos and mobile apps). Adults 55 years old and older were more likely to use and trust traditional media sources (print yellow pages, newspapers and magazines). ■ Do you have culturally relevant information that our readers ought to know? Send it to executive editor Marc Birenbaum at mbirenbaum@creativeage.com. 0% 68% 78% Top 3 Business Challenges (Largest vs. Smallest Retailers) ■ Less Than $250m ■ Over $5B We are worried about consumer privacy concerns over how retailers collect or use data Consumers expect to use mobile as part of their shopping experience and we need to be there Understanding and accommodating how different customer segments engade with us via mobile We don't know what the customer perceives as valuable in a mobile offering 47% 56% 26% 21% 56% Chart courtesy of Retail Systems Research, top right graphic: Gettyimages.com, DrAfter123 Source: RSR Research, April 2016

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