Before Sephora, shoppers in the US were buying beauty in either drug stores or department stores, wrote Michele Yeoman’s for Cosmetics Design in her article on the “Sephora effect.”
“We disrupted beauty by being the first to offer clients access to premium beauty out from behind the department store makeup counters, and we want to keep that spirit bold and tenacity alive,” Calvin McDonald, CEO of Sephora Americas, tells the press.
Natural progression
Consumer preference for organic, non-GMO, and sustainable products is impacting beauty around the globe. Brands that cater to such expectations and adopt socially as well as environmentally responsible protocols are getting attention and loyal consumers. Credo cosmetics is one of those brands.
Shashi Batra founded Credo and is proud to be opening the brand’s first boutique in San Francisco, California. “A longtime veteran of the beauty industry, …he intends to improve upon the retail experience by curating nontoxic, skin-loving products,” explains Janna Mandell in her piece about the new shop for the San Francisco Chronicle.
On the company’s ecommerce site, consumers shop products from over 70 organic or natural skin care and makeup brands. With the new flagship, Batra is reaching out to influencers to further develop the brand: “The concept was driven around finding a location that is a neighborhood with high traffic of people that have a certain belief system. You tap into a belief system of people who buy and understand this category — not just in beauty, but this category. Fillmore clearly is the street,” he tells the Chronicle.
Showrooming
The new Credo boutique lets consumers experience the products live and get acquainted with the brand’s lifestyle. The shop includes salon-style amenities and is staffed exclusively by certified makeups artist and aestheticians. “The 1,400-square-foot store also features beauty bar services like eyebrow waxing and makeup applications as well as skin-care guru Tata Harper’s first-ever spa room for facials and other skin treatments,” reports Mandell.
Lots of brands are onto the naturals trends. And, plenty pay lip service to the trend with alluring marketing copy. By contrast, the natural products available at Credo are chosen according to particular criteria.
“This is about mainstreaming….This is about commercializing the idea that you can buy alternative things that are good for you and you don’t have to sacrifice the formulations, the efficacy, the packaging, the scent. These brands were selected based on that,” says Batra. It’s not quite the compliancy stipulation of, say, Whole Foods, but it has the semblance of a sound business model.
Color swatches
Credo knows that a boutique will introduce new consumers to the brand and new brands to the company’s current clientele.
Beauty shoppers have always appreciated the try-before-you buy option. At Credo shoppers will be purchasing travel-size products to discover more colors and products, Batra tells the Chronicle.
And color cosmetics will take half of the shop’s shelf space, in an effort to assure beauty consumers that naturals go well beyond simple skin care.