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Last Updated on January 20, 2024 by Work In My Pajamas
It is said that health and beauty should come together, which is true. Health is the all-around state of who we are as individuals and beauty brings joy to the one who looks.
You will find that there are lots of stores and establishments across the globe that are selling and advertising health and beauty products.
E-commerce is a sales channel for most retailers and is growing at a fast rate, but the health and beauty sector has been traditionally trailed in using e-commerce in comparison to its counterparts in apparel, electronics, and home. It is only lately that we are seeing them making considerable strides online.
Part of the issue has been that users prefer to test and sample new products directly, something challenging to duplicate in e-commerce. You cannot try out that new hand lotion or lipstick online, and because this is certainly an experiential shopping experience, it is a more challenging sell when consumers cannot see it, smell it or feel it.
Having said that; do not ignore the significance of the online experience. Online is important even if the shopper is looking to purchase a product in-store. Most consumers locate the nearest store with the product in stock or access their mobile devices for product information. If a retailer does not offer this level of information, the shopper has a lot of other options just a swipe away.
The one problem that health and beauty suppliers are experiencing is that most of them are not prepared to deliver the detailed product information necessary for online browsing and selling. Retailers are working together with vendors to obtain the right digital assets for educating the consumer and promoting their products.
In This Post:
A new era of sampling
In spite of efforts by marketers to persuade shoppers to purchase without testing, product sampling is still an essential part of the road to buy equation.
While once simply a method to attract shoppers, beauty product samples are becoming a beauty offering of their own, thanks to consumer desire to regularly try new products, innovative start-ups and, travel restrictions on beauty packaging sizes. The major driver to this change has been groundbreaking startups in the form of subscription websites.
Some of the techniques we see e-commerce sales increase are through ideas like Birch Box, which is a method for consumers to test and sample new products with the choice to then purchase full sizes of products online.
Barbara Adams, an online product analyst at Shopaganza, says that these techniques helped to close the sales loop in non-department store prestige beauty formats that depend on a self-service shopping model. Since the shoppers did not have somebody at the beauty counter informing them about all the products, content is a major driver in getting people to test new products.
The growth of online shopping has made the most of the samples, turning them from free samples to commercially-viable products. Sampling remains the vital entry point to engaging customers.
Subscriptions engage customers
This has been beneficial in the health category, for things like strictly controlled everyday use products, for example, supplements and vitamins where you have a month’s supply and return to the store when you run out. Instead of returning to the store, the products are sent to you as you need them by the subscription model, so you never run out. Customers can go online to track and modify their shipments.
Ultimately, sending them frequent subscriptions of their favorite products, or finding a means to get small samples into customers’ hands, is a way health and beauty can develop their digital retail sales.
Are you searching for a nice looking skin or a healthy body? There are lots of great products meant to make all these possible for you!
