When Elizabeth Miller, vice president and divisional merchandise manager of Bloomingdale’s, was a teenager, she was obsessed with Lancôme’s Juicy Tubes lip gloss. Twenty-five years later, her 9-year-old daughter is dying to get her hands on one.
“I remember being in high school and college and loving Juicy Tubes. Now, I see my daughter and she wants the Olivia Rodrigo purple shade,” Miller laughed. “Lancôme is great at finding ways to reinvent their hero products to keep them relevant for the next generation.”
At Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship.
Courtesy Photo
Lauren Brindley, chief merchandising and digital officer for Ulta, agreed, citing the brand’s revamp of the Juicy Tubes collection, Rodrigo’s ambassadorship and the latest Juicy Kissing Webs Campaign — which tapped into modern-day Y2K nostalgia with 2000s legends such as Ed Westwick, Chad Michael Murray, Paris Hilton and Hilary Duff — as just a few examples of how Lancôme has kept its finger on the pulse of tomorrow, positioning itself as an unparalleled brand inside major retailers in the process.
“There’s so many new hot lip brands coming out, but Lancôme’s been one of the most iconic. Instead of introducing the Juicy Tubes as a new product, they unveiled a new initiative, Juicy Webs, that connected with a whole other generation of guests,” Brindley said. “In doing so, they’re proving they grow old with their existing guests and still think about the solutions new guests need.”
For Nicolette Bosco, vice president of beauty and divisional merchandise manager of Macy’s, it’s Lancôme’s “exceptional commitment to the customer” that sets the brand apart. “They’re constantly thinking about service and immersive experiences that have the customers’ needs and concerns at the center of their decisions,” she said.
This customer-first model is represented across Lancôme’s total retail experience, from in-store product displays to teams of advisers and unique activations. At Macy’s, for example, the Lancôme display is not just a trophy case filled with products; it’s a sensorial adventure through the different categories of the brand — fragrance, skin care and makeup. There are intricate installations that, upon pressing a button, emit the soft, floral aromas of their bestselling eau de parfum. There’s makeup to play with and skin care to test. And if a customer needs help, there’s a diverse and erudite team of beauty enthusiasts waiting on the sidelines.
A Lancôme spa room at Macy’s Dadeland.
“Lancôme ensures they’re bringing the right talent and the right advisers to our stores that are going to service customers that are shopping locally with us,” Bosco said. “If it’s a location where there are a lot of Spanish-speaking customers coming in, they’re bringing bilingual beauty advisers, for example.”
That broad-based appeal transcends language. “Lancôme encapsulates all women of all diversities and ages, and that speaks to our customers,” Debbi Hartley-Triesch, general merchandising manager of beauty at Nordstrom, said. “They really work on the spectrum of who they’re trying to appeal to. There’s people who they can connect with, which makes it more inclusive for longtime fans and the younger audience.”
When it comes to in-store activations, Lancôme’s excels, hosting a variety of masterclasses, meditation rooms, spa services and facials at Ulta, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s. Consultations are also continually evolving. “They do a phenomenal job of bringing the technology and science on the product side to help educate the customers and lead them through their journey,” said Bosco.
According to Hartley-Triesch, Lancôme’s sales and activations have flourished during Nordstrom’s anniversary sale, specifically. “They’ve done an outstanding job partnering with us and finding the right items that allow our customers to save on makeup and skin care favorites. They also launched a Génifique smoothie at our E-bar one year. It was a hit,” she said. “When a brand is authentic to who they are, they have a point of view, and at the same time, they work and partner with us to bring that to life through the lens of the Nordstrom customer, it’s always successful.”
The executives agreed Lancôme’s success in retail has also been bolstered by superior products, such as Idôle Lash-Lifting & Volumizing Mascara and the Advanced Génifique Face Serum. “What’s always important in maintaining relevance in retail is having a standout product,” Brindley said. “You’ve got to continue to invest in products that deliver real results. At the end of the day, a lot of the other stuff doesn’t matter if you don’t have a product that can really cut through and deliver the results, you won’t get the loyalty.”
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