Devices offer significant opportunities for cosmetic brand owners

Having already looked at the evolution of cosmetics devices from the medical, aesthetic and spa worlds, together with the concept of brand bundling, we now delve deeper to discover how consumable cosmetic products can be enhanced through the use of devices.

Dan Edwards, senior vice president of Sagentia’s consumer & industrial products division, a company that specializes in the research and development of such devices, explains that coupling devices with consumables presents considerable opportunities for brand owners.

Coupling devices with cosmetics gives consumer added benefits​

“Devices can be used in multiple ways in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) market, namely diagnostic devices that provide consumers information about their care regime, and devices tha are used in combination with a chemistry to deliver superior therapeutic benefits,”​ Edwards explains.

“This has all been done in the past, but what is different is that devices are looking like the next key innovation platform to help the CPG market forward.”​

What Edwards stresses as the driving force behind this is the fact that the consumers are looking for ‘something more’, which technologically advanced devices can help to do by providing enhancements to their beauty regime.

Four clear steps to making the right coupling decision​

For cosmetic makers considering coupling their products with electronic devices, Edwards believes that there are four clear steps to take to make a clear, informed and balanced decision, that should take no longer than three months to conceive.

These four steps include targeting the specific category to aim for, setting business goals, considering consumer needs, conceptualizing how the device will work with the cosmetic product and then providing a full concept vision.

Perhaps most crucial in this process is to identify the consumer news, which would entail a comprehensive assessment of whatever already exists on the market and how that can be developed, before being able to move on to developing the concept.

Identify consumer need, then visualize the concept​

“Reacting to the request for experiences and functionalities, we can indulge a combined team of designers and technologists in an exploration of both concepts and viable technologies,”​ said Edwards.

“One might conduct a fast ‘landscaping’ to highlight existing candidate technologies – this should be conducted within the category, but more importantly in adjacent industry, such as the medial world.”​

The ultimate step is to closely consider how to market the coupled products both efficiently and effectively, which Edwards says is the domain of the brand owner, but suggests could be carried out very effectively by direct sales players such as Mary Kay, who have the resources to make home visitors and show the consumer how to couple the device and cosmetic product effectively.