Ecommerce is powering a huge direct-to-consumer shift, explains Erin Twyman, head of beauty at Yotpo. And this observation led the company to conduct a survey of nearly 2,000 women in the US and UK who do at least half their shopping online and prefer to buy directly from brands: “We really wanted to understand what makes a consumer purchase directly from a brand instead of going to a third-party retailer,” Twyman tells Cosmetics Design.
The survey’s top-level findings show that cosmetics and personal care consumers are looking for brands that sell so-called clean beauty products, that are environmentally friendly, that feature a culturally representative variety of people in their brand imagery, that communicate directly and authentically with consumers, and many prefer to buy from beauty brands founded by women.
To put a few numbers on those findings: 84% of Yotpo’s survey respondents “prefer brands whose ads show women of different body types.” And over 75% “prefer brands whose ads feature a variety of ethnicities.”
Twyman also shared insights into the sorts of communication that motivate consumers to buy. “We found that social proof, in the form of reviews and referrals, is actually a lot more valuable to a consumer when they’re looking at a product and considering what to purchase,” says Twyman, “more so than things like influencer content and paid social media.”
Watch the full video interview above to learn more of what Yotpo knows about direct-to-consumer beauty brand marketing.
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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.
