The world of cosmetics is especially competitive. There are infinite products, many laboratories and high-level perfumeries, and they all want to occupy the top spot in profit rankings, something which is not achieved only with the first sale, but rather with long-term customer loyalization. Industry and pharmaceutical companies are lacking in efforts for this task.

If getting a customer to choose a specific cosmetics brand among all of its competitors at the pharmacy is a complicated business, turning them into a loyal customer who repeats their purchases can be a titanic task, although there are strategies available in the industry to achieve this.

The first thing to obtain is brand preference. In order to do that, Oscar Díez, partner at the consulting firm Daemon Quest and director of its Pharmaceutical Division, distinguishes two axes on which action must be taken: the pharmacist and the final consumer. "The laboratories’ main ally is the pharmacist him or herself, which to the consumer is an entirely trusted recommender. For this reason, the relationship companies must establish with the pharmacist is critical, and must be based on a long-term, beneficial collaboration, founded not only on economic advantages, but rather on quality of service and attention to the pharmacist’s needs”. Regarding the consumer, “the best way to position a company winningly is segmenting and understanding the customers, having a healthy product portfolio and, above all, opening new markets”.

Trust

According to Jordi Magrinyà, director of the Klorane-Galénic department at Pierre-Fabre Dermo-cosmetics, in order for a brand to gain the consumer’s trust, there is only one path: proving that the brand is worth it. Aiming to achieve this, our expert proposes the use of the pharmacist as a means to reach the final consumer; but in order for the pharmacist to become a mediator, the laboratory must understand what his or her goals are and collaborate appropriately. Among the most important challenges for the pharmacist are knowing the sector’s situation and new market trends, offering a dynamic range of products, enjoying personalized services through regular sales visits, and relying on training for personnel. “In short, the best marketing strategy is that which offers a vision of continuity and is founded on mutual support between the laboratory, which offers in-depth product knowledge, and the pharmacy, which knows its consumer’s profile”, our expert concludes.

 Aggressive strategies

Sometimes, the added value the pharmacist brings is not enough to make a product stand out, and high competition forces some laboratories to develop “rather aggressive sales strategies, such as monopolizing a pharmacy’s entire shop window with a single brand”, Díez affirms. To this point, Magrinyà adds: "Product placement plays a fundamental role in the purchasing process. It is often thought that mass advertising is an infallible remedy, but the consumer needs to see the product’s characteristics up-close, ask questions, get advice, compare different options, and finally decide on one of them”. With the goal of facilitating the customer’s introduction to products, laboratories make recommendations in order to make the space profitable”, Magrinyà explains. Among the most important of these recommendations are improving the impact of store displays and regulating the customer’s sense of circulation through the shop.

Once preference is obtained, the objective is to loyalize. José Manuel Deblas, director of Active Cosmetic Training, maintains that some of the elements a brand must keep in mind in order to achieve this trust are offering a quality product with proven effectiveness, constantly presenting new products in order to activate the purchase process, and carrying out promotions in the pharmacy. For Diez, there are two important factors in the act of loyalization: the final customer and the pharmacist. The customer, he explains, is attracted by a healthy product offer, newly-opened markets, and by proper attention to his or her needs, which comes about through proper segmentation. "The pharmacist, however, is linked by establishing a long-term, rewarding relationship, based not only on discounts and other short-term advantages, but rather on a collaboration in which long-term benefits offer quality, service, and constant attention to their needs”.

On his part, Magrinyà declares that loyalization is synonymous with offering service, and the pharmacy, he explains, has a large amount of resources to offer an additional supplementary use, based on its proximity to the public and the pharmacist’s credibility as a health professional. "We must ensure that apart from the product, the customer takes a part of the pharmacy home with them, in the form of advice, additional explanation, small samples, or gifts”, he adds. Since obtaining the customer’s loyalty on the first purchase does not mean keeping them forever, Díez believes that another way to give the product added value is to offer a value proposal that goes beyond the product itself and, in turn, beyond the price. “Only by innovating for the final customer and offering the best service to the pharmacist can we achieve a value proposal that makes for a winning product".

The Enemy outside

Cosmetics companies also find competitors outside of pharmacies. The high-level perfumery is a tough nut to crack. This business, in Magrinyà’s opinion, offers certain values that the pharmacy can include, such as personalized attention, a purifying cosmetic technique (makeovers, massages, booth treatments), a well-designed promotional activities plan, or sales techniques. However, he adds, the pharmacist’s differential value lies in his or her knowledge of cosmetology – especially of physiology, galenics, and skin disorders-, which makes them the most valued professional for truly evaluating the effectiveness and intrinsic benefit of products. Díez declares that it is impossible for the laboratories to compete in cosmetics with the same weapons as the large luxury firms. They must differentiate themselves, which is what the pharmaceutical industry is successfully doing. “Laboratories have been able to transmit the idea that cosmetics are synonymous with health”.

A boutique has everything, but it must be put in order

A well-studied product placement and the pharmacist’s coherent, extensive knowledge are pillars of cosmetics loyalization.

An attractive offer, a good knowledge of the products on the part of the pharmacist, and a series of planned promotions throughout the entire year are essential ingredients for the loyalization of a cosmetics customer. But how can these factors be effectively combined in the pharmacy? The industry plays an important role as an advisor for some of the recommendations that two exporters have selected for F&I.

According to Pepa Boté, a pharmacist and marketing and communications specialist, the positions of preference, such as eye or hand-level, must be reserved for the most profitable products, “as long as its placement is coherent with the entire structure of the product line or family”. In this way, the product line is not only comprehensible to the public, but also for the pharmacy team, who by means of product knowledge become a cornerstone in loyalizing the customer”. Asunción Arias, a pharmacist and director of the consulting firm AS Gestión (AS Management), agrees, and adds that: “The secret to success lies in a perfect display that attracts attention, good product promotion, advertising, and the information the pharmacist offers to the customers. The main problem is that people don’t know how to ask the patient, since if you are correct in your first diagnosis, loyalization becomes easier.

In Arias’s opinion, the ideal place for cosmetics placement is to the right of the main counter. ’Although it will always depend on the pharmacy’s layout, the most important thing is that it’s close, so that if the pharmacist has to come out to advise, he or she can do it quickly”. It is also important that the products be within the consumer’s reach, so that they can touch the box or open the packaging. “The counter acts as an architectural barrier, which is why this space should be reserved for products that often require advice”.

For Boté, there must be a distinction between hygienic cosmetics and treatment cosmetics, which each have very different purchasing processes, since with the former it is advisable to meet the customer face-to-face, while with treatment cosmetics it is better to try and create an appropriate, somewhat more intimate environment that allows for a relaxed and pleasurable purchasing act. For this reason she says, she would not place the treatment product on a display in the middle of the pharmacy, unless it was a matter of a special promotion.

Vertical Placement

In Arias’s view, good product placement on the shelves facilitates the purchase, since disorder presents the customer with a mix of creams that he or she may more or less recognize, “but what we want is for the customer to locate their habitual product in a matter of seconds”. In order to achieve that, she recommends placing each brand on a vertical shelf, in such a way that the customer sees the entire offer until they find the desired product. This theory is based on the fact that the eye glances more quickly from left to right than from top to bottom.

Men: New, but very loyal consumers

In recent times, boutique shelves have had to make way for masculine cosmetics, a field in which demand has increased because, among other reasons, “men are no longer embarrassed to ask for hydrating lotion at the pharmacy”, says Alfonso del Pozo, director of the Dermo-pharmacy masters program at the University of Barcelona. However, this sector has not yet reached all age groups. “The offer is currently aimed at the productive stages; that is, between 30 and 50 years old, because these consumers still have to go to job interviews or speak in public, and they pay attention to their personal hygiene.

In order to increase this expanding market, the marketing and sales techniques expert Asunción Arias recommends dedicating to it an entire display in the boutique, since “if it’s not visible, it doesn’t get sold”, she says.

Regarding loyalty, Del Pozo considers men a loyal public, because, as opposed to women, they are still fast. “In my opinion, men use a product because it works well for them. When they choose a brand, or their wives recommend one, if it works well for them, they will continue to use it. Otherwise they will switch". For this reason, in this expert’s view, there is greater loyalty in masculine cosmetics than there is in feminine cosmetics, although, he adds, "in this sector there is quite a general tendency towards not switching, due to the fact that if a product is effective, replacing it with another may upset them”.