Smartphones Over Sales Associates?

Beauty retailing in the US is evolving as consumers increasingly turn to technology during their shopping experiences, and new research from Mintel reveals that 45 percent of beauty consumers prefer to search for product information in-store on their mobile device rather than ask for assistance from a sales associate. What’s more, two in five (39 percent) consumers are interested in using, or have used, a store-provided tablet to research beauty products available.
 
This demand for digital comes as 16 percent of consumers decide to shop where sales associates will leave them alone until sought out for help. Many consumers are quickly becoming dependent on digital assistance in nearly all aspects of the beauty retailing experience, with more than one third (36 percent) agreeing that they would be interested in using in-store tablets or their own mobile device to pay for beauty products. Mintel research also reveals that smartphones are the preferred device used to purchase cosmetics (22 percent), the only category surveyed in which consumers were most likely to shop via smartphone.
 
“Smartphones and tablets are playing an increasingly pivotal role in the beauty retail experience. Brands should assume that their audience has a connected device at their fingertips at all times and should look to leverage behavioral research in order to better understand when and how consumers are using these devices,” said Senior Research Analyst, Retail & Apparel Diana Smith of Mintel. “The beauty category is ripe for an explosion of technology-driven innovation – it’s a fun category where personalization, individualism and experimentation meet and flourish. A great example of this is connected stores which allow consumers to shop how they choose while giving them unique ways to try out products on their own before buying, regardless of a salesperson’s availability.”