Beauty shoppers prefer in-store to social | WARC | The Feed

Beauty shoppers prefer in-store to social

Six in ten beauty and personal care shoppers say in-store is their favourite way to buy the category, with social channels lagging, new figures suggest.

Why it matters

The research comes from Outform, a retail innovation agency, so it’s worth taking these figures with that in mind.

But it’s also important to remember how shopping, especially for products not essential to human survival, is a form of leisure, something to do. While the promise of cheap access to consumers seeking to fulfil needs weighs heavy over every category, it’s not the right fit for all.

What’s going on

Based on a survey of more than 2,000 respondents from the UK, US, and Germany:

• Six in ten (59%) cite in-store as their favourite way to shop for make-up.
• 39% are influenced by in-person experience like speaking with consultants.
• Just 16% feel brand updates on social media help them to discover products.
• However, some respondents do tend to feel more influence from social, with 42% of 35-44 year-olds saying the channel was key to their choice.
• Over half (53%) of shoppers say being able to compare products in-store is important, but it matters slightly less online at 48%. 45% also rely on price comparison sites.

Some perspective

Quoted in the release, Simon Hathaway, group MD EMEA at Outform, notes that it is still a strong mix of channels that matters. Platforms aren’t always where people make a purchase, so reliable attribution and journey mapping is important.

While social platforms are not yet the primary checkout, they “are influencing behaviours, particularly if it’s user-generated content that customers can trust.”

Innovations like augmented reality testers remain in their infancy, some innovations have taken hold, notes Hathaway. 

More than a third (34%) of 18-24 year-olds say online skin consultations are valuable to purchase decisions and 33% say the same for virtual make-up tutorials. Men are also 2% (28%) higher in finding the latter important across all age groups.

Sourced from Outform