Sephora has recently launched a beauty box offer. The concept is simple:
- The customer fills in a questionnaire, about its preferences in terms of cosmetic products (colors, style, type of skin...)
- The customer pay a monthly subscription
- Each month it receives a box full of samples to try out
Now, the fact that Sephora proposes beauty boxes is not what is really outstanding in terms of retail strategy:
- It is a leader of the beauty market
- The beauty box is known to be a success for several years in a row
- They have strong brand partnerships, and already proposes tons of samples to their customers.
What is interesting, is to see how Sephora leverages its Ecommerce presence. Indeed, not for every companies it is a good idea to launch an online stores. At least, it is difficult to find success as competition is very tough. Especially when Amazon is eager to develop the category online.
But the fact that one retailer creates a specific offer for its online strategy is something very interesting:
- Rather than selling DVDs online, why not selling a streaming service?
- Instead of selling the same clothings than in store, why not having a customization proposal?
- Instead of selling some furnitures online, why not having a second hand market?
There is a lot of new business models, created by start up or not yet existing online, that need to be figured out, and having a creative and unique strategy online could be a great way to generate online traffic and extra sales.
