Cosmetic Promotions, a National marketing and promotion company, Goldenrod, Fla., has completed its consumer response survey on in-store demonstration of beauty products. The survey was carried out for 6 months, during a series of events at various retailers between the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.

More than 3,000 consumers were surveyed at live in-store beauty demonstrations conducted by professional makeup artists at mass food, drug and merchandiser stores. The results of a survey showed that the in-store demonstrations, which are a commonly used retail technique, are extremely effective with consumers.

It was found that 96 per cent of the surveyors would like to see that there are more events like this at this or that store. Sixty per cent reported that they have never tried any of the in-store demonstrated products before. 35 per cent immediately expressed a desire to buy a product based on the demonstration, and 56 per cent said they would consider buying a product at a later time. Just 9 per cent of all the respondents did not express any purchase intent. The respondent's age group breakdown was as follows: 25 per cent under the age of 25; 44 per cent between the ages of 25 and 50; and 31 per cent were over 50 years of age.

Cosmetic brands that have been featured at the demonstrations included Cover Girl, Neutrogena and Markwins' Wet n Wild and Black Radiance. Markwins Company hired Cosmetic Promotions in order to conduct more than 500 sampling events featuring those two brands, Wet n Wild and Black Radiance, as well as to introduce their new Beauty Benefits line. At a recent Beauty Benefits event, sales averaged three pieces per hour with a closure rate of 150 per cent. The closure rate is figured when the number of sold products is being divided by the number of makeovers performed. According to the survey, 82 per cent of the customers had never used or heard of the brand before the event and the company says the results are very pleasing for them. During one Neutrogena Cosmetic sampling event, for example, held in Meijer's stores, sales were almost 6 pieces per hour with a 277 per cent closure rate. Out of 67 per cent of those who had never tried or bought Neutrogena beauty products, more than two-thirds made a purchase during the event.

In order to further encourage people to stop by and participate, these demonstrative events usually include a drawing for a "Beauty Basket" prize. This prize is supposed to encourage consumers to opt in to receive notifications about future events by checking the box on the entry form, so these events also provide a valuable mailing list for the brands. In addition, the professional make-up artists took time to train store associates on the brands in order to continue sales once the events were over.

Tags: Career & Money, Beauty

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