Discount trend
Social media and smart phones have been increasingly identified as the big growth areas in contrast to the fading television and print media channels, but as consumers in the US become increasingly price-sensitive, discounting is a fast-growing trend that is partly being driven by the mobile marketing boom.
Kline market research points to the fact that new technologies are helping to drive this niche, making particular reference to mobile couponing, which it says offers significant advantages over mobile marketing.
Feeding this trend is a growing number of websites specifically devoted to couponing and discounting, making it easier for beauty consumers to collect the exact type of coupons they require.
“Brands are rapidly moving ahead in the game with their social media and mobile strategies to allow viral campaigns and create new consumer relations opportunities, but without dropping traditional marketing efforts,” according to Kline.
Brands getting on board...
Earlier in the year, Nivea brand owner Beiersdorf and consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble both announced their intentions to take advantage of eCommerce opportunites while L’Oréal revealed it was a vital part of the firm’s ‘digital revolution’.
This week L'Oreal announced it was launching a new iPhone app; ‘My L'Oreal Colorist’ to help women choose the right color without needing to go to the salon for professional results.
According to the cosmetics giant, the app is more than just an engaging tool, that it also allows the user to consult consumer ratings, reviews and more details on its product lines while having the ability to share their recommended shade on Facebook to get feedback from friends before making their purchase.
Givaudan also recently launched its new and improved fragrance recommendation app, iPerfumer2 in a way for "consumers to get information straight from those in the profession.”
Meanwhile, the Clinique Forecast mobile application has been launched in Korea, as a test-and-learn to confirm if the app has traction with the consumer.
The app has been developed to help keep the user updated on condition-relevant skin care tips as well as the current weather, UV, pollution and humidity conditions to ensure that the products being recommended were relevant to current weather conditions so users could help protect their skin accordingly.