Beauty boxes shake up industry

Beauty Boxes have revolutionised cosmetics shopping, says Euromonitor analyst Rachel Lin and will transform the roles of marketing and e-commerce.

The boxes have become a craze all around the world, said Lin, speaking in Euromonitor's video blog, and although originally targeted at women with samples of skincare, makeup and fragrances are now also being targeted at men.

To make things a little more exciting, she said, men's lifestyle boxes contain not just beauty product samples but also things like shaving creams and washes.

"However, unsurprisingly, with hype always comes competition," she added. "There is now a tough fight between beauty box players to win the hearts of consumers. Some may choose to do this through loyalty reward programmes while others may look at creating online communities."

For manufacturers, a subscription box is a powerful tool for promotion of its brands and allows trial usage to reach a wider group of consumers, said Lin. However, there are concerns that samples might cannibalise sales of full-size items or whether consumers will be exposed to ever-more brands and become less loyal to existing brands.

Manufacturers, she said, should see samples in beauty boxes as only the first step to engaging consumers, with teasers and links then driving traffic online and potentially influencing purchases.