Maybelline, a century-old well-known make-up brand, officially announced that it will close the national offline counters, so mascara can’t be sold？
Source: e company
Maybelline used to be the first makeup on many girls’ dressing tables.
On July 26th, an entry "Maybelline will close all offline stores in China one after another" quietly boarded the hot search.
According to reports, only Watson’s counter will be reserved under Maybelline offline, and all other sales channels will be transferred to online.
In response, Maybelline’s official customer service responded that it has been a long time since the cabinet was withdrawn, and strategic cabinet withdrawal has been implemented in various cities since a long time ago. Some cities have only dedicated counters left. It is uncertain whether the store will be reopened in the future.
According to the data, Maybelline is an old American beauty brand, which has been born for more than 100 years. When the brand was founded in 1917, it produced the world’s first modern eye cosmetics-maybelline new york block mascara; It landed in China in 1995, and continued to be positioned as a mass consumer product in the China market, taking the lead in laying out mainstream channels such as supermarkets and department stores. At that time, it also shouted the slogan "Let every woman in China have at least one Maybelline product"; In 1996, it was acquired by L ‘Oré al Group and officially became a brand of L ‘Oré al. In 2004, it was officially renamed "maybelline new york" and its headquarters was moved from Memphis to new york.
Since entering the China market in 1997, Maybelline has maintained its position as the first local beauty brand. At that time, in the early stage of the development of the domestic makeup market, Maybelline took the lead in laying out mainstream channels such as supermarkets and department stores, and quickly reached the widest mass consumers, laying the foundation for its mass makeup market.
In fact, Maybelline’s plan to close all offline stores in China is not an improvisation. In 2018, Maybelline began to gradually reduce and close the supermarket channel, and it has already released the signal of offline retreat. At that time, under the background of the rise of domestic e-commerce channels and intensified competition in the beauty market, Maybelline began to seek breakthroughs.
In October 2020, Maybelline announced the strategic transformation of offline channels, withdrew from the counter channels of department stores, and turned to the experience stores that blended online and offline; At that time, the brand attributed the transformation to "to meet the needs of consumers more effectively and strengthen its unique image as a high-street fashion brand", and emphasized the opening of more iconic boutiques and flagship stores.
It is understood that there are two reasons for Maybelline to withdraw from the department store channel. First, the epidemic has accelerated the transformation of sales channels, and online is supplemented by the main line or becomes a trend; Second, the traditional retail industry has declined, and the sales of department stores have declined rapidly. The layout of boutiques and flagship stores may also contain Maybelline’s strategic adjustment plan from mass makeup to high-end positioning.
According to the data, as of March 31st, 2022, Maybelline has opened 80 stores in national shopping centers (statistical range: covering 30,000 square meters and above projects in first-and fourth-tier cities nationwide).
Affected by the epidemic, the passenger flow of physical stores generally declined, and Maybelline is also actively exploring new online models to explore new consumer access paths.
On the eve of June 18 this year, Maybelline tested the water in the newly opened Shanghai Chaowan concept store in May, and combined with the interactive live broadcast of 5G and AI technologies, the sales volume and conversion rate of the store doubled.
Through 5G+AI technology, online consumers can not only use their mobile phones to freely switch viewing angles, watch the situation in the store 180 degrees, see the close-up of the anchor’s face at close range, and personally test the effectiveness of various makeup items such as liquid foundation, lipstick and eye shadow at zero distance, break through the limitation of plane viewing angle, freely and flexibly enlarge the product details, greatly restore the customer’s experience scene in the store, and meet the beauty consumption needs of customers visiting the store without leaving home.
However, after the first flagship store in the world, Maybelline has not made any new moves in independent stores for a long time.
It is reported that this strategic adjustment is to better promote product sales. After that, Maybelline will be sold in Tik Tok, Pinduoduo, Taobao, WeChat applet and other online channels in addition to the offline sales of Watsons’ internal counters.
According to the report of Prospective Industry Research Institute, the proportion of cosmetics offline channel sales is declining. At present, the global cosmetics sales channels mainly include offline channels, online channels and other non-retail channels.
According to Euromonitor data, from 2011 to 2020, the global offline sales channels of cosmetics occupy a dominant position. However, in recent years, the global cosmetics online channels have developed rapidly, and offline channels have been gradually squeezed by online channels. The outbreak of epidemic in 2020 has boosted the rapid development of global cosmetics online channels. In 2020, offline channels accounted for 24.8%, and online channels accounted for 74.4%.