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What are the top three things you look for in a beauty retailer?
1.) Fast shipping, 2.) Excellent customer service, 3.) Fast website.
— Christine
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Easy to navigate around online and in store.
Don’t have to spend too much for free shipping.
Good customer service.
I prefer shopping in stores to online, so the top three things that I look for in beauty retail stores are:
• Fully-stocked—There a Sephora near my home that is always very low on stock or completely out of some items. Lots of testers, very little product for sale. (That leads me to buy online, which is disappointing when I was hoping for instant gratification at the store.)
• Great staff—The people who sell the beauty items should be friendly and knowledgeable about their products. I hate being ignored or badgered at beauty stores.
• Neat and clean—Another Sephora I went to recently had sections that were completely disheveled, making some products very hard to find. Instead of standing around gossiping with each other, which was what they were doing, the staff should have been spending their spare time straightening and restocking their shelves.
As far as shopping online is concerned, I agree with Christine’s top three.
-a good website, with detailed product information
-free shipping (even if only with minimum purchase)
-good return policy
Super interesting question!
1. Intuitive website
2. Multiple customer service options
3. Low designated amount money needed to be spent to receive free shipping…
Agree with your 3 completely Christine!
What are the top three things I look for in a beauty retailer?
Do they carry high quality/performance/fashion lines?
Do they support brands that are not animal friendly?
Do they allow biased opinions– commission/spiff/or advertising compensation?
DITTO, Christine!
I also look for easy returns if the product does not work for me.
Product availability. I prefer shopping in-store, so I tend to dismiss most brands that are only available online, which brings me to my second point.
Established brand. I don’t buy from “pop-up”/indie brands very often. The only exceptions I make is if a brand is truly offering something I can’t get anywhere else, not just because it’s less expensive.. In an industry that is already oversaturated, these newcomers are just encouraging more competition, which often causes more established brands to crank out less than stellar products. It’s also partially to blame for brands to seep into the Chinese market, which means animal testing.
Location. As I stated above, I prefer shopping in-store, but just because a store may be closer to me, it may not be convenient for me to get there.
The 3 things that matter most to me are as follows: 1.) Excellent customer service/ client solutions, 2.) Appealing point perks/ sales/ incentives, 3.) Shipping done right, with proper padding and securing of the contents within and preferably 2 day free shipping for their mid and higher tier customers with no more than a $25 minimum purchase.
A good web experience – easy to navigate, save to wishlist, currency conversion options, etc
Free shipping – don’t mind if it’s at a certain spend level or isn’t super speedy delivery but international shipping rates can be an absolute killer!
Good customer service – products packed properly, queries answered within 24 hours, problems resolved promptly.
1. A full IN STORE selection of the products I want
2. Helpful (not pushy and not snooty) sales associates who know their stuff
3. I don’t mind a half decent loyalty program
1. Items are in stock, whether online or in-store.
2. Good customer service.
3. Shipped items are properly packaged to avoid damage, as most of my shopping is online.
Ditto Christine’s response for on-line orders which is the bulk of my purchases. For in store I want decent customer service but no clinging, repeatedly asking me questions and trying to “sell me something, anything”. I like the store to be clean and well stocked. I actually find that the Ulta I usually shop at is the biggest offender with lack of product, dirty testers, removing testers of products they don’t have, (I know it probably makes sense to remove the tester when you don’t have the product so that shoppers don’t get upset when they swatch something and want it right then but for me I like to swatch the product to know if I want to order on-line). I like samples with purchase and wish that they would upgrade their samples a little. A packet of eye cream isn’t going to sell me on a product. Here is where they should remove the product from availability as once I have selected a sample that I really want to try and then don’t receive it because it is gone when they fill my order is frustrating. As far as free shipping, I don’t know how I feel about that. In theory I love not paying for shipping but I know that cost gets passed on to the consumer in some way.
A good website is a must for me!! Other than that, I’m not too picky. Free shipping and customer service are probably my other two big things!
1. All products listed with prices and the website is easy to navigate.
2.Excellent customer service, which includes fast shipping at a reasonable price
3. Excellent incentives program