Beauty Breakthroughs

Beauty products have long been located at the center of the department store. Elaborate displays of glimmering containers piled high on shiny counters hold promise of a more beautiful person.

Now that beauty products have taken hold of the American consumer, luxe powders, shadows and creams are coming to the front door.

In the past few years, beauty products have been making their way into major catalogs, such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Saks and Henri Bendel. Lower-end beauty suppliers have made their way into catalogs too. Cover Girl is currently targeting teens through the popular Alloy catalog.

After several years of offering high-end cosmetics in their books, both Neiman Marcus and Henri Bendel have spun off separate beauty product catalogs. Bendel launched in fall 1999 and Neiman Marcus in 2000.

Catalogs devoted solely to beauty include Aveda, which has its own stores/spas/salons and catalog, as well as distribution through other catalogs and major retailers, such as Yves Rocher, Mary Kay, Avon, T. Le Clerc and Dior. But new catalogs are popping up almost monthly. Blue Mercury, which has a catalog, stores and a Web site, carries such lines as Remede, Philip B. and Nars. On the smaller side are boutique catalogs including Pure, Home Recovery and Zitomer.

The most successful catalogs are conquering some important issues for women: confusion, convenience and distance. Zitomer, whose catalog was launched on the success of a 50-year-old New York City pharmacy, caters to those in need of advice. Orders are taken by telephone by a professional makeup consultant, who is there to handle questions.

All of the catalogs add to shopping convenience with home delivery.

Department stores have always been a major selling force of cosmetics. What is different about the inclusion of the line in catalogs is that in the past, cosmetic companies paid for their catalog pages; now they have their own print books.

Challenges

Beauty products are one of the hardest lines of merchandise to sell in a catalog, but not for the obvious reasons.

Andrea Lawson Gray, president of Aesthetics Marketing in San Francisco, says it isn’t that consumers can’t touch, smell or apply the products that makes the sell difficult, it is presentation and revenue that are the major issues for catalogers.

Photographing beauty products is very challenging, says Lawson. Cosmetics are small and come in fancy packaging designed to catch the eye. The size and shape of the products coupled with thin fonts for logos and light-colored packaging make them difficult to see on a page. In addition, multiple products must be grouped together in order to stand out and attract customers’ eyes, requiring a lot of selling space. The problem with having to devote so much selling space to cosmetics is, most have a relatively low price point.

Catalogers cannot afford to devote a page of space to a $12 product.

Yet, the potential lifetime value of a beauty buyer is enormous. Cosmetics are replenishable items. The average woman spends $15 monthly on beauty products. And many are life-long devotee of a particular line.

Neiman Marcus and Henri Bendel are leading what is expected to be a beauty buzz with their spin-offs, as well as Neiman’s launch of an extensive online beauty section.

Here’s a look at how Neiman Marcus and Henri Bendel present beauty in their new books.

Neiman Marcus

The nearly century-old retailer/cataloger has its beauty section inserted in the Book, which mails monthly to hundreds of thousands of customers. The beauty book is flanked by two lush pages showing the products in intense detail.

The cover is a highlight of the season’s newest colors and makeup trends. Inside, the product photography transports you to the enticing makeup counters of the stores.

Savvy copy points out why these cosmetics were chosen, how they should be worn and how they will make you feel—and offers a brand name to seal the deal.

Seduce and Decoy

Want to know the secret to fall’s sultry look? It’s temptress, the latest collection from makeup artist Laura Mercier. Smoky eyes say come hither, while five beautiful shades of lipstick work to perfect your pout. Get ready to flirt.

The center spread contains tips, making the experience akin to having a makeup professional by your side. It is set up as a Q&A, under the heading of “Rants & Raves your problems, our solutions.” The two-page design features six products guaranteed to move your look into the new millennium.

Reflective photography offers interesting views of the products without making the page dense.

In May, Neiman Marcus launched a beauty section for its Web site as part of a new strategy to position itself as the online authority for fashion and luxury.

“Beauty” is divided into 60 vendor boutiques, including Laura Mercier. The online section triples the amount of beauty products available at the Web site and features top-selling items from Neiman Marcus stores and catalogs for each brand offered online.

“Beauty has always been a high-profile business within Neiman Marcus. The stores have recently reallocated more floor space to niche cosmetic companies, and the direct mail division has aggressively increased its assortment of beauty products,” says Sharen Jester Turney, president and chief executive officer of Neiman Marcus Direct.

“It should come as no surprise that the new ‘Shop for Beauty’ is offering some of the best performing products from our stores and catalogs to make NeimanMarcus.com the online destination for high-quality, exclusive cosmetics and accessories,” she continues.

Neiman Marcus has gone to great lengths to recreate its superior customer service reputation online. Using bells and whistles, it offers the NM VirtualStudio/PersonalShopper program, which accesses inventory from its largest store, and offers 24-hour customer assistance via real-time online chat, fractal zoom for up-close looks and 360-degree product views.

Henri Bendel

Mostly used as an in-store traffic driver, the Bendel Beauty Book is produced twice a year.

Teril Turner, director of marketing for Henri Bendel, says the catalog has been immensely successful in increasing sales in the store. She says the reason it was started was to help its smaller cosmetics vendors get the exposure needed to sell products.

Known for carrying obscure lines, Bendel wanted to educate its customers on the season’s best before they came to shop. Because so many of its vendors are new, they lack the capital to run major advertising campaigns or even in-store promotions.

The catalog was a way for Bendel to provide detailed copy about the products, accompanied with enticing photography. While there is some co-op money involved, it scarcely covers the cost of producing the catalog. Bendel does all the photography and illustrations in-house and covers printing and mailing costs.

“Beauty has always been a huge segment of our business,” says Turner. “We wanted a new way to market individual brands. It has been met with a lot of enthusiasm by all of our vendors.”

By producing its own photography and design, Bendel is able to further develop its brand by using consistent illustrations and photography throughout. It mails the catalog in the store’s well-known brown-and-white envelope.

The oversized catalog is bold and intense. Its colors pop and attract attention. Products are shown in groups, in a very airy format with a good deal of white space.

Because of the book’s size, the merchandise is usually shot very close and displayed large, often larger than actual size. Small products, such as single eye shadow and lip gloss containers, are increased in size and used as art elements.

As with many “chic” catalogs, sans serif typefaces are used for product labels, logos, headlines and body copy alike. Scattered throughout the book are quotes from the products’ creators.

“ME-OW, it’s purr-fect!!! Anytime and anywhere you want glances to linger... Just poof the puff!!!”—Jean Danielson & Jane Ford, BeneFit Creators.

Quotes about style, colors and trends from the merchandise creators are used to entice a buyer.

The most intriguing aspect of the catalog is the lifestyle illustrations. Rather than deal with pricey models, Bendel uses color sketches of women using the merchandise—there is a towel-turban-wearing woman with cucumbers on her eyes getting a facial, another enjoying a luxurious bubble bath and a bronzed, bathing beauty with “beach bag essentials” surrounding her.