When Beauty is more than skin deep

I love my skin care brands and spend quite a bit on them. If you are a friend, you would have probably received hampers from my fav brands as gifts.

I use value, premium and luxury brands. And of course, each comes at its price point and efficacy level.

While shopping beauty products, I notice a very different trend between the sub-categories. Most beauty products depend on sales advisors to suggest products based on your needs or usage. While value brands compete with each other and the sales staff will try to convince you why their brand is better than competition, premium and luxury brands compliment each other.

Whenever I am browsing at a premium or luxury beauty brand store, the sales advisors do recommend products. The sales process involves getting to know my current regime, my skin type or preference of fragrances. When I share the same mentioning the name of the brand which is a competitor to theirs, the sales advisors almost always seem to say, “Ma’m, your brand is a really good one and it works well”. And then they gently suggest that you could perhaps try us once too and offer a similar product in their range. The approach is “Our XYZ variant is an equally good scrub or mask or day cream as the brand you use, maybe next time you can try our brand?”. 

As a customer, I found it assuring. The sales staff is not telling me that I chose incorrectly, that their product was better & more efficacious than mine. They are focussed on the strength of their brand vs. focusing on their competitor’s weaknesses, (which has been my preferred approach all through my marketing career).

Similarly, one time at a premium skin care chain, the therapist suggested a day use face lotion (after a service) and when I mentioned that I use an international efficacious luxury brand for the same purpose, the staff smiled and said, my product was superior hence I should continue using it. The retailer thought blurb in my mind went, “Wow, that’s a genuine sales advisor, someone who I can TRUST!” Such an interaction assures the customer that the sales advisor actually has your best interest at heart and is not just selling. I am going to trust them for a solution with another concern in the future. Or even give them a try now.

Sales, by nature, is considered as aggressive & pushy. At times, most sales people tend to focus on what's missing in their competitor. That’s when it is seen as pure numbers. But it has the potential to be a service, a brand connect that can live beyond the product’s life.

Maybe other categories too should take a cue from the luxury beauty players to see how they can  win by complimenting their competitor. Who, knows you may gain your competitor's customer's trust, and ultimately the customer too.

#sales #marketing #branding #luxury #retail #customerbehaviour #strategy #userexperience #storytelling #beautyindustry