If you thought online retailing couldn’t get any better, this would make you reconsider. Amazon went the cosmetic way yesterday. The American e-commerce giant unveiled a Luxury Beauty Store that boasts 24 prestige labels and boosts the colossal catalog into the luxury domain.
The multi-billion dollar company seems set to add a few more billions to its rich repository, thanks to names like Nars, Deborah Lippmann, and Burberry. But while it carries luxury brands, it doesn’t look like luxury. The beauty store resembles the rest of Amazon’s product catalog, with the exception of larger thumbnail images. And the team of 12 editors curating the page to highlight what’s “On Trend” for customers to peruse and purchase runway-inspired looks like “Bold Lips” and “Metallic Nails.”
Let’s hope that it placates several other names that have refused to play Amazon with their products for fear of their own e-commerce businesses getting lost along the profit lane. Even those on-board look like they’re treading with cosmetic caution. While, say, a Nars is offering 95 options, others are offering only a small selection. Burberry, for instance, is only selling its fragrances. Still, a 2012 Forrester survey states that 30% of online buyers began researching their last online purchase at Amazon, double that of Google. With free shipping on a $25 purchase, why won’t they!
[Via – Huffingtonpost]