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 …
