Germany-based cosnova, a cosmetics company that owns three brands - essence, CATRICE and L.O.V - has just opened its first ‘Maker Shop’, a boutique concept where customers can mix products live in-store.
The first Maker Shop, launched this month in Berlin, offers consumers the chance to make either lipgloss or nail polish, and have a say in their packaging too. It taps into the ongoing consumer appetite for customised, personalised beauty - a trend market research firm has described as particularly key for millennials.
Nicole Reichl, the Head of Communication for the brand essence, gave us the inside story on the launch.
Tell us about the consumer demand that the Maker Shop concept responds to.
We wanted to make the DIY trend come alive for the customer. They can come in and try themselves out when mixing their very own and individual lip gloss. It’s all about doing something by yourself and exploring how many fun cosmetic can be.
We noticed that the individualization is a big demand of our customers when we launched our My Must Haves pallets in our last assortment update in February 2017. The empty pallets can be filled with different godets out of the eye, lip and face category and are a huge success and essence was the first brand that brought this possibility for uniqueness, DIY and individual demands to the mass market.
Additionally the Maker Shop gives us the chance to create an emotional brand experience for the customer. As we only sell over retail partners and don’t have own stores, the Maker Shop enables us to create a deeper relationship with the customer.
Do you have plans to expand the concept?
No further stores are planned currently, but we have created a mobile version of the DIY lipgloss station, which will go on tour throughout the year. Different retail partners as well as trade fairs with beauty focus and of course our very own party this year will feature the Maker Shop experience. The party will take place in Berlin and is dedicated to the 15th anniversary of our brand essence.
As the Maker Shop concept seems to be very promising, we won’t rule out any other store openings at the moment. But we are excited to see how the first Maker Shop is going to perform, and some adaptations for our digital platforms could be discussed as a second step.