DISCUSSION
Will Allure editors outdo other beauty merchandisers with a new store concept?
Written by Tom Ryan
Source: Instagram/@allure
Allure, Condé Nast’s beauty magazine, plans to open its first store this fall in lower Manhattan, hoping to appeal to shoppers with a curated selection of products chosen by Allure’s editors.
“The Allure audience has shown that it’s intensely loyal and trusts our expertise,” said Michelle Lee, Allure’s editor in chief, in a statement.
The 2,900-square-foot store will span two floors and feature around 300 makeup, hair-care and skin-care products. The assortment will mirror Allure’s content themes, including its famed “Best of Beauty Awards.”
Augmented reality and smart mirrors will enable customers to try on products, and the experience promises to be a hub for social media content creation. Allure’s editorial team will regularly host in-store events, tutorials and masterclasses.
Allure has already found success at retail with the 2012 launch of The Allure Beauty Box, an editor-picked selection of beauty products that’s seeing subscriber revenue running ahead 20 percent year-over-year.
The publisher opens the store at a time when Allure’s website has been experiencing year-over-year increases of 20 percent in traffic and 25 percent in time spent. The magazine attributed the gains to consumers being “increasingly reliant on the insights and product recommendations” from its editorial team.
Product recommendations from consumers have become an integral part of the online experience but is rarely utilized at physical retail. One exception is the Amazon 4-Star concept, which features products that are rated four stars and above by Amazon.com online customers. In recent years, influencers have also been increasingly affecting purchase decisions on sites such as Instagram and YouTube.
Markus Grindel, managing director of global brand licensing at Condé Nast, believes many brick and mortar stores are facing challenges because they’re failing to deliver the product discovery customers have grown accustomed to online.
“I think consumers today shop through media, through headlines, through influencers and content,” Mr. Grindel told WWD. “That’s really what is driving consumption and the store that we’re going to open is built entirely around that sort of future — this immersive environment which is created by the experts like Michelle and her team.”