While the main manufacturers and distributors of cosmetics went to the on-line sales, the complementarity between the channels can make it for the difference. This is the conclusion of a pan-European study released by A.T. Kearney, a strategy and management consulting company.
A.T. Kearney press release
The strategy and management consulting company has released the "Beauty and the Beast" study on on-line cosmetics buying behaviours in France, Germany and Great-Britain, and their consequences for the manufacturers and distributors.
This study, performed on 4,000 people, shows that 40% of regular on-line buyers already buy cosmetics on the Internet. Perfumes, skin-care products, personal-care products and hair-care products are the categories the most often bought. Make-up is number three when considering only female buyers.
Main results
The respondents in this survey share their cosmetics buying 50/50 between retail shops and the Internet. The multichannel buying behaviour, thus, is now the norm for this category of products.
Amazingly, cosmetics on-line buying motivations vary only marginally as compared to the other products, while it seems that buying behaviours are very different (the need to “feel” and touch the products, a relationship with an advisor for selective and professional products, understanding of the advantages of the products, no way to send back a product once open, etc).
In fact, price, convenience and the possibility to get specific products are the three most often listed factors (price being, by far, the number one in France, contrary to Germany and …
