What Retailers Really Want with Chanella Buck
As part of The Curate Collective, our bi-monthly seminars for our community of beauty brands to pick the brains of some of the industry’s best beauty experts, we were excited to have retail and e-commerce expert Chanella Buck host a virtual seminar on What Retailers Really Want.
Chanella has over eight years of experience in the industry, working with some of the biggest names in beauty including LVMH and Estée Lauder, driving multi-million-pound accounts. For those that weren’t able to attend our seminar, here are a few take-aways on how you should build your brand, the best way to approach retailers and how to nurture those relationships.
Build your brand
It’s important to build up your brand reputation with certain retailers before going out for big distribution. Have a clear idea of who you want your customer to be, your brand ethos and purpose. Every brand should have a three year strategy of where they see their brand going, whether that’s to target luxury retailers such as Harrods and Selfridges, or to stay small but mighty with niche and independent boutiques. Having the right distribution model for your brand is key.
Make the most of what that retailer offers
Once you’ve joined a retailer, make the most out of what they have to offer! It could be sampling opportunities, beauty boxes or gift with purchase. As an indie beauty brand, this is a great way to piggy-back off the back of other well-known, luxury or prestigious brands. If your product is seen in the same box as a Clarins moisturiser or Charlotte Tilbury lipstick, customers will be more inclined to try your product. The important thing is to have budget and gifting plans for sample or travel sizes. It can be expensive, but in the long run, it’s worth it.
Be reactive to trends
Trends are what drives the beauty industry. There’s always a new beauty buzzword or cool ingredients taking a stand; use this to your advantage. If a particular ingredient is trending and your product includes this, reach out to your buyer and promote the product. Pitch it to them for their editorial team if they have one and shout about it on social media. This is a great way to be pro-active in marketing your product at a time that works best for your retailer.
Press coverage and awards
If you’ve recently gotten an exciting piece of press coverage, make sure you tell all your buyers, add it to your website and on social media. The same goes for winning any awards (most awards will have badges that you can put on your product images online). Again, this is a great way of marketing your brand/product to your retailer and could be something they use to drive sales. Some stores, such as smaller independent boutiques, have marketing material in-store to promote this so make sure you update your retailers regularly on exciting news.