Après L’Oréal Paris, c’est au tour de la division Luxe de L’Oréal de proposer des box beauté. Elles sont vendues via un site internet dédié baptisé Ma beauté luxe. Le site permet aussi d’acheter une large sélection des produits commercialisés par les principales marques de la division.

On n’est jamais mieux servi que par soi-même. L’Oréal poursuit son développement en e-commerce avec le site Ma Beauté Luxe. Cette plateforme développée pour la division Luxe de L’Oréal vend des box beauté. Pour 29 euros, ils composent une boîte contenant cinq miniatures de produits des marques de L’Oréal Luxe. Ils ont actuellement le choix entre 126 produits en taille mini, parfums soins ou maquillage. Pour les indécis, le site propose un "diagnostic". En répondant à quelques questions, les internautes se voient suggérer des produits répondant à leurs attentes.

Box beauté déjà composées

Ma Beauté Luxe vend aussi des box déjà composées baptisées "Prêt-à-beauté", également vendues à 29 euros. Il s’agit de coffrets thématiques ou de boîtes consacrées à une marque de la division Luxe. Par exemple, actuellement, sont mises en avant des box Biotherm Homme, Lancôme, Khiel’s ou Urban Decay ou des coffrets Cocoon et Week-end en amoureux. Avec chaque box, le consommateur reçoit un bon de réduction de 10 euros pour 70 euros d’achat sur le site.

456 références vendues à l'unité

En effet, Ma Beauté Luxe ne vend pas que des box. Le portefeuille du site comprend 456 références en format vente. Les marques de la division commercialisées par le site sont, pour l’instant, Lancôme, Khiel’s, Giorgio Armani, Biotherm, Cacharel, Diesel, Paloma Picasso, Urban Decay et Viktor & Rolf. Le grand absent est donc Yves Saint-Laurent car la marque a son propre site internet (yslbeauty.fr). Tout comme Helena Rubinstein (helenarubinstein.com) et Clarisonic (clarisonic.fr).

Côté services, les frais de livraison sont offerts sans minimum d'achat. L'Oréal Luxe fait appel au service So Colissimo de La Poste et promet une livraison en 48h après le départ du colis du centrelogistique de la division installé à Ingré, près d'Orléans (Loiret).

La division Luxe n'est pas la seule à proposer des box beauté. Du côté de la branche Produits grand public, L'Oréal Paris en propose depuis trois ans. Autrefois nommée Instant Beauty Box, elles ont récemment été rebaptisées L'Or Box et sont vendues 19,50 euros. Elles contiennent trois produits L'Oréal Paris en taille réelle, des goodies et/ou des échantillons. Sur le site marchand L'Oréal Paris, la livraison n'est gratuite qu'à partir de 40 euros d'achat.

[RETROUVER L'ARTICLE DANS LSA-CONSO.FR]

Learning about your makeup may be more than just a fashion decision. According to a new study published Monday in Environmental Health Perspectives choosing personal care products wisely could reduce exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals.

Commonly found in makeup, deodorants, toothpastes, and other personal care products, these chemicals have the power to block or mimic natural hormones in the body, like estrogen and testosterone. Messing with these natural systems may present health risks, particularly for pregnant women, children, and teenagers, according to Kim Harley, an epidemiologist at U.C. Berkeley and one of the study’s lead authors. While the average woman uses 12 personal care products each day, the average teenage girl uses 17, making them especially vulnerable where health effects exist, she said.

“Teenagers are going through a period of rapid growth and development,” said Harley. “We’re concerned that exposure during adolescence might have long term health consequences.”

While these chemicals are found elsewhere too — in products like air fresheners, cleaning products, and fabric softeners — researchers from U.C. Berkeley and Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas suspected that personal care products, which go directly on the skin or in the mouth, might be major contributors to daily exposure. They wondered if consumers could effectively lower that exposure by paying attention to labels and avoiding certain worrisome ingredients in the products they took home from stores. They asked 100 teenage Latina girls from Salinas to forgo using their typical personal care products for three days.

Instead, the researchers set up a “beauty bar” — a stockpile of products free from nine commonly used hormone disruptors including phthalates, parabens, triclosan and oxybenzon. They educated teens about the health concerns surrounding hormone disruptors and invited them to take home products to replace what they would typically use. Researchers wanted to ensure the changes could be tenable outside the experiment, so they stocked the Beauty Bar with skin moisturizers, sunscreens, makeup, and other care products that the teens could have purchased themselves from local stores.

The researchers tested for these chemicals in the girls’ urine before the trip to the beauty bar and after. At the beginning of the study, about 90% of the girls tested positive for hormone disrupting chemicals, confirming the researcher’s suspicions that they were being exposed. But three days after visiting the Beauty Bar, the concentrations of five of the nine chemicals decreased, suggesting avoiding their old products was helping. Levels of methyl parabens and propyl parabens, common preservatives in cosmetics, dropped 44 to 45%, while levels of other chemicals — triclosan, benzophenone-3 (BP-3), and metabolites of diethyl-phthalate — dropped 27-36%.

“After just three days of changing the products they used, they could lower their levels of these hormone disruptors,” said Harley. “Part of the takeaway is if consumers want to reduce their exposure to these chemicals there are steps they can take in terms of what products they buy.”

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE]

Michel Roulleau, figure de l'enseigne de grands magasins, vient de quitter le groupe dirigé par Philippe Houzé. Il a créé Michel Roulleau SAS pour conseiller marques et enseignes.

Le ralentissement marqué des ventes de produits de luxe dans le monde, conséquence de tensions politiques et économiques fortes, aura au moins l’intérêt d’imposer une réflexion à une industrie du luxe dominante grâce à ses progressions « double digit » pendant de longues années.

Car, si les nouveaux riches, issus des pays à forte croissance ou en phase de décollage économique, sont toujours plus nombreux, les marques seraient bien inspirées de faire un « stop » afin de pouvoir re-déclencher un « go » durable.

L’industrie du luxe (comme beaucoup d’autres) a dû faire face à de nouveaux défis que la croissance folle de certains marchés lui a permis d’ignorer ou de reporter aux calendes grecques pendant de nombreuses années.

Au moment où la Fashion Week se termine à Paris, il est intéressant de se questionner sur le sens de ces grand-messes biannuelles et de comprendre à quoi peuvent servir ces événements toujours plus fastueux qui creusent le fossé entre des professionnels soucieux de garder leurs « privilèges » et des clients qui se rapprochent toujours plus des marques et des produits.

Le luxe doit-il garder son caractère mystérieux et aspirationnel en se repliant sur lui-même au risque d’être en décalage avec les attentes exprimées des consommateurs ?

Dans tous les cas de figure, il n’est aujourd’hui plus possible d’éviter de répondre à certaines problématiques de fond. J'en ai retenu six !

[LIRE LA SUITE]

By Forrest Cardamenis, Luxury Daily, March 09, 2016

In a reversal of the more materialistic tendencies of their parents, almost 95 percent of Chinese Generation Z consumers say it is essential for brands to be sustainable and environmentally conscious, according to a report by RTG Consulting.

The continued growth of China over the next several years will ensure that its consumers remain prime targets for brands for the foreseeable future, as even a slowed China exceeds the growth rate of western nations. As a result, brands will need to make a connection to this group, the first born in a fully modern China, in the interest of long-term success.

“We have noticed that the meaning of success is being redefined where career and financial achievement are no longer the main drivers,” said Marc-Oliver Arnold, head of research and business consulting divisions at RTG Consulting Group. “Our research shows that more than 62 percent of Gen Z already believe that ‘success no longer means financial wealth’; instead, there is an emerging shift in mindset where it is more about how you live your life that matters.

“Not only does this mean they want to live a multi-faceted and enriching lifestyle, but that they also see the value in taking responsibility for caring for the world and their environment,” he said. “This awakening fuels this generation’s desire to be mindful of the present moment and rediscover the meaning of happiness in daily experiences.

Generation gap
As millennials have begun to accrue wealth, they are now the target market for many brands, which recognize that making the connection could sustain several decades of good business. However, the potential of the subsequent generation, particularly in booming market such as China, is enormous.

Additionally, the present reliance on Chinese tourists, a result of the country’s enormous population and booming economy as well as laws, taxes and limitations of distribution that raise the price of luxury goods in the country, means brands must be equipped to reach these consumers when their behaviors and desires change.

While Chinese millennials are heavy travelers and see luxury items as status symbols, tomorrow’s Chinese consumer will more closely resemble today’s western youth, a worldly, socially conscious consumer with alternate definitions of success.

Good news for brands is that many of the techniques currently being used to court millennials, namely emphasizing sustainable measures, will prove effective on China’s Gen Z. Brands that have not yet begun to prioritize sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint and have instead banked on a globalizing economy and/or Chinese tourists will only be more pressed to adapt as time goes on.

Although environmental concerns are the largest marker of China’s Gen Z consumers, it is far from the only one. Barely a quarter of these consumers object to same-sex marriages, an opinion that is at first glance divorced from consumer culture but is in fact important to note for marketing materials, which still overwhelmingly suggest heterosexual couplings.

While “word of mouth” was and remains the best form of advertising a brand can hope for, the phrase is quickly becoming an anachronism. Only 10 percent of consumers surveyed spend more time interacting offline than online with friends.

Marketers are already going after consumers on social media, but proficiency with the various platforms and a quick adoption rate will be crucial moving forward. With interaction moving online, brands will need to find ways to generate buzz in an organic an unobtrusive way even more so than they do today.

Chinese consumer using WeChat

“As digital natives, China’s Gen Z currently lives and breathes mobile, and so [a brand’s] approach must be inherently mobile, with the goal of becoming part of their digital lifestyle,” Mr. Arnold said. “This means offering engaging, meaningful and inspiring creative content as well as distinct experiences.

“In addition, we foresee brands to increasingly become more of a platform for people to build deep and personal human connections.”

Perhaps most alarmingly, around half of respondents say that a more interesting job would be preferable to a high-paying job and only 11 percent agree that wealth indicates success. The overall shift from materialism to mindfulness could be a major obstacle for many sectors, which will need to find a way to tell consumers that a handbag, jewelry or a car is more than a product or sign of wealth.

Brave new world
Although this data connects China’s Gen Z to global Gen Y consumers, China’s own millennials are generally far more consumerist than those in the United States and elsewhere.

Following Gen X’s economic breakthrough, Gen Y was presented with a world in which they could buy previously unthinkable luxuries. Those born into such a world, however, have turned their attention to non-material aspects of happiness.

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE]

Kitty Knowles is a Staff Reporter at The Memo. Kitty previously worked as an online journalist for GQ. She can be found tweeting @KittyGKnowles.

Counterfeit crackdown: Microchips hidden in luxury heels & bags

From skirts that live-tweet and electric shock dresses to platforms that let you design your own shoes and bags, we’re used to the worlds of fashion and technology colliding.

Now luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo has got in on the act, but this time it’s not in the name of aesthetic innovation: The Italian brand is microchipping its products to clamp down on counterfeiters costing the European luxury industry an estimated £5bn a year.

Hidden microchips
In the future your new shoes or bags won’t just come with smart buckles, bows or tassels, but with hidden microchips hidden inside. Footwear will conceal this smart device in the heel, while leather bags will hide chips discreetly within their lining.

Rather importantly, the chips are discreetly invisible, cannot be imitated, and cannot be tracked (they can only be read at a distance of 4cm or less).

Better for the brand and buyers
It’s not only hoped that the move will help the company to identify fakers selling subpar goods, but that it will help customers to make the most of their luxury purchases.

Many shoppers regularly update their wardrobe and attempt to sell the last season’s models online, but fear of fraud means that although Ferragamo shoes sell for up to £1,500 (and handbags at around £2,000), the resale value online is usually only about £1 for every £100 of the original price.

Being able to guarantee that items are genuine means you can bring the price back up to £30 or £40 for every £100 it originally cost.

“People who can afford to spend thousands on a purse often get tired of them after six months and tend to sell them on eBay,” Greg Furman, of the Luxury Marketing Council in New York told The Times.

(....)

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE]