Body Shop and Sephora Try Vending Machines
Anyone who has ever stopped to smell the roses may soon notice a different aroma in some American grocery stores -- and the Paris Metro (subway) for that matter. Body Shop and Sephora have, separately, decided that vending machines in places with heavy footfall are perfect locations for selling beauty products.
According
to Planet Retail, "Body Shop-branded ZoomShop machines will be located
at Kroger Marketplace, Ahold-owned Stop & Shop, H-E-B and SuperValu-owned
Jewel Osco, as well as at airports and shopping centres." ZoomSystems CEO Gower
Smith described the arrangement as "a convenient and hassle-free new channel
to shop for the fantastic products offered by The Body Shop."
Al Montalvo, director of new sales and emerging channels for The Body Shop pointed out that "more than ever, customers today want to access products on their own terms when and where they want to. For The Body Shop it is an opportunity to meet their expectations in an innovative way."
The Parisian experience, described in Springwise, featured limited edition pocket-sized, 15 ml containers of Calvin Klein's CK One. Only available from February 7 to 20, the vending machines were installed by retailer, Sephora, in just four stations. Springwise dubs those who tested the concept as "trysumers" and considered that it was an approach far more likely to generate interest and trials than traditional ads.
Website Cyanatrendland reports that Sephora's vending machines have been spotted in airports as widely dispersed as Nashville, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Dallas, New York and Houston but agrees that Paris's otherwise less than aromatic metro is an excellent location for CK One.
Discussion Questions: What do you think of retailers selling beauty products from vending machines? What locations make the most sense for these units?