The concept of marketplaces has transformed our world as consumers – from Amazon to shopping on social media, YouTube, and third-party marketplaces our lives are made easier by digital one stop shops that connect us with a vast array of products and services.
To succeed a brand needs to have a strong brand personality with a distinctive USP. They also need to decide what is the best retail strategy to get their products into the hands of their ideal customers. One of the benefits today is that there are so many more avenues to reaching your customer, on the downside this also increases your competition. Customers can now shop anywhere, anytime, which is great for them, but challenging as a brand. You really need to know where to position your brand in the marketplace, and what your competitors are up to.
The success of every route-to-market strategy depends on the depth of understanding a business has of their customers, their needs, their expectations, and their behaviours. Here’s just a snapshot of some of the places in which you can retail your products:
When drafting your retail strategy, you need to consider:
Gone are the days where brands believed that retail and online were the only ways to success. There are now plenty of other doors for brands to get their products into. Spend ten minutes in a renowned department store like Harrods and you will discover the endless number of brands you are competing against. Consumers are extremely savvy when buying – you only need to go online to review the pricing of a product, and the best price you can buy this at.
There are no rules of where beauty and wellness consumers shop anymore, they may purchase a cleanser in Boots, a blusher on LookFantastic.com and a premium foundation in Selfridges. Only recently Boots announced their collaboration with Deliveroo – not only can you buy a pizza from Deliveroo on a Friday night – you can also order your favourite beauty products?! A face mask and a pizza on a Friday night in … can’t think of anything better now that the weather has turned cold.
Department and beauty stores
Buyers from department stores like Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols look for a buzz around your brand and products. They want to see positive engagement around your brand and when shopping in-stores they are looking for customer experience.
Customers like spritzing their wrist with the latest fragrance that has caught their eye and getting a foundation match done by their favourite cosmetic brand. This is when experiential, instore activities really make your brand stand out.
Gyms and studios
Wellness, health, and fitness has been on everyone’s mind for the past year especially when gyms and fitness clubs sadly had to shut their doors during the pandemic. These sites now offer great opportunities for brands to display their products. Most health and fitness clubs tend to build relationships with their customers from day one, so this is a great inroad to selling your products through a different avenue.
Third Party Marketplaces
Selling via third marketplaces gains interaction from all types of consumers. Amazon is the acknowledged King of the eCommerce retailers. Independent sellers can leverage their huge customer base no matter what industry they are in, selling all manner of products directly to customers. Not on the high street has always been known for personalised gifting but in recent years, there are many innovative small businesses that sit on their platform – from jewellery, to wellness, and homeware. Etsy.com which is a little like eBay has a strong emphasis on handmade products.
If you are looking for support with planning your sales strategy, or in getting your brand to market, Get in Touch. We would love to help you.
As a beauty and wellness consultancy, we develop a comprehensive strategy for your business by understanding your vision (and the marketplace) and then delving into the details to create order and structure neatly packaged up to deliver you commercial results. We design brand identities and visual elements, manage your product development, build your go-to-market strategies to help you to engage with your ideal customers.
We are proud to support our clients from different regions of the world – from Saudi Arabia, to Dubai, Sri Lanka, Africa, Australia, the US, Canada, Europe and the UK – from entrepreneurs, to multi-award-winning beauty and wellness brands, retailers, investors, distributors, embassies and trade bodies. And we work with you across the retail sector, and the professional sector, including the hair care market, professional nail care market, spas, salons, hotels and the aesthetics market – here’s a snapshot.
If you would like to discuss your ideas with us, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
As an international beauty and wellness consultancy, we are proud to work alongside clients from different regions of the world – Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Africa, Australia, Canada, US, Europe and the UK . We love collaborating with entrepreneurs, multi-award-winning beauty and wellness brands, retailers, investors, distributors, embassies and trade bodies across the retail sector, and the professional sector, including those selling into the hair care market, hotels, spas, professional nail care market and aesthetics market.
If you need support with devising a new strategy, developing a new product range, designing your packaging or rebranding your current product range, managing your PR, or with planning your market-entry into international markets, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
Bespoke is a brand management expert with deep industry knowledge, extensive experience and a comprehensive understanding of the beauty and personal industry in the UK and Europe, complemented by an extensive network of contacts in the relevant market segments. Bespoke’s expertise, experience and contacts significantly contributed the success of the UK/Europe project with the companies that Bespoke assisted successfully entering or well on track to enter the UK and European markets. The Bespoke team was very professional, responsive and obliging and always delivered within timeframes. It was a pleasure to work with them.
Working with Janet over the past year has been a real pleasure, she has fantastic industry experience and knowledge of the UK beauty market. She has delivered a number of webinars for my clients looking at how to enter the UK market, providing an overview of the market and how to build a strategy. She took the briefs we provided and added real value to them, included key insights and information that my clients have found incredibly useful. Feedback on these sessions has been very positive. Janet is a clear communicator and has always delivered as agreed and on time. We are continuing to work together on other projects and I very much value the conversations we share.
‘Janet has a wealth of experience across retail, buying and marketing. She conducted a full strategic review of our cross functional business and the travel retail market to develop a comprehensive buying and quality control strategy that was signed off at board level. I highly recommend her as an asset to any business.’
‘As a Queensland-based company, we were determined to tap into the European market and establish a strong presence. From the very beginning, Bespoke Advantage demonstrated a deep understanding of our export goals and objectives. Their comprehensive knowledge of the European market, coupled with their extensive network of contacts, enabled them to connect us with key decision-makers and influential stakeholders in our target countries. Their strategic guidance and insights were invaluable in shaping our export strategy and positioning us for long-term success.’
‘Through Janet’s management skills, expertise and proven track record on the job she successfully managed the purchasing of our retail operations and ensured the integrity of our brands in-stores. Her enthusiasm and total dedication, delivered results in any project she was involved in.’
‘Janet has excellent beauty market knowledge. Level headed with clear vision, direction and the ability to drive business forward, Janet led the teams through a complete product design change advising on what the key marketing messages should be, incorporating her technical knowledge and beauty expertise.’
‘Absolutely fantastic course. Condensed learning from Janet, an expert in developing beauty brands. Also, valuable introductions to expert professionals, in the Masterclass sessions. In 12 weeks, you will learn from Janet, what would take years to learn by yourself. A very worthwhile investment’