By Faye Brookman, special to GMDC
Retailing trends come in cycles. Years ago, the nation's drugstores and combination food/drug chains offered trained cosmeticians in just about every store. As the move to self-service took hold, those beauty consultants became a thing of the past.
But with fewer and fewer chains for shoppers to choose from, many merchants are adding service back in as a reason to encourage shoppers to pick one drug, food or discount store over the other. The more sophisticated products available at mass as well as the growth of exclusive labels also dictate the need for trained sales help.
The most recent move is at Target where Boots, the well-known British power brand, is expanding its test of its products in the discount chain. According to Martin Waters, chief executive officer of North American operations for Boots, 260 Target stores will soon feature Boots-trained beauty advisors. This is a major development for Target, which will be one of the first discounters to have service in cosmetics.
Drug chains have been experimenting with putting service back into beauty for the past few years. CVS also has Boots-trained consultants as well as beauty experts positioned in its stores with dermatological departments selling upscale products such as Vichy and Avene. Brooks-Eckerd also has these healthy skin care departments with staffing. And, Walgreens never walked away from beauty advisors. There are more than 21,000 advisors on staff at Walgreens' stores across the country who help match products with shoppers' needs, according to Kathy Steirly, the divisional vice president and general merchandise manager for beauty and fashion at Walgreens.
The obvious benefits to having beauty consultants are that shoppers have someone to ask advice about colors and the new upscale skin care products sold in mass doors. Walgreens is using that to its advantage for its new European skin care collection it launched a few months ago. Too often, mass retailers lose sales to specialty stores like Sephora where shoppers feel they can get advice.
The downside is, of course, cost. Staffing the beauty department adds at least
two more people to the payroll, often sales associates who warrant slightly
higher pay than stocking clerks. Assigning them other duties, such as housekeeping
and stocking, takes them away from their real job of selling - and may not
make the position particularly attractive to the type of people a retailer
would want. Twenty years ago, beauty firms offset costs of training these associates,
but most of those programs have been eliminated. There is also the question
of whether stores are busy enough at all hours to justify the sales staffing.
But for many, the key to survival in beauty for the future will be to put back
in an expert - a counterpart to the pharmacist - at the beauty counter.
Discussion Questions: Are beauty consultants necessary to make a mass-market retail store's cosmetics department achieve high sales levels? Should they work on commission? Should they be paid additional promotion monies for pushing brands?