Priceline is one of Australia’s leading health, beauty and skincare stores, as well as the ultimate place to be stocked if you want to get your products into the hands of consumers. This month BEAUTYDIRECTORY has interviewed two of Priceline’s lead buyers in the skincare and health categories on what it takes to get their attention; and this week we’re chatting with Emma Hogan – Priceline Pharmacy’s cosmetics buyer. Read on to gather her tips on how a brand can get stocked in the retail giant, what she looks for in a new product, and how she sees the industry changing for smaller brands.
Could you please tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background in the industry?
I’ve worked in the Priceline Pharmacy beauty buying team for the past 11 years, and have experience across many of the beauty categories such as fragrance, beauty accessories, bath and body and colour cosmetics.
I’ve worked in the colour cosmetics portfolio for five years. In my role as cosmetics buyer I work closely with leading brands to bring the latest product innovations to life in our stores. I also spend time researching trends to design and develop products for our own Models Prefer cosmetics brand; and of course I’m lucky enough to get to try all the new products before they hit our shelves.
How do you spot trends?
We use a wide variety of sources to spot new trends and determine if they will be the right fit for the Priceline Pharmacy customer:
We travel globally to see what is happening in the industry overseas and to seek inspiration from different cities and countries.
We work with leading trend forecasters and use their data to assist us in making decisions on the life cycle of a trend – whether it will be a quick trend here today and gone tomorrow or it will have longevity and become part of our everyday makeup routine.
Finally, we use social media to connect directly with customers and understand what they’re looking for. Many niche brands start out on social media and grow through these platforms. We’re always looking to see if something is trending and decide if it’s something that will resonate well with our customers.
What are some trends we should be looking out for?
The “no makeup-makeup” trend is here to stay. We’re increasingly seeing customers embrace their diversity and focus on makeup that enhances their natural beauty rather than conceal their perceived imperfections. In the same vein, one of the micro trends we’re seeing right now is faux freckles – we’re not sure this trend will make it to real life but it’s certainly creating some hype in the digital space.
What’s your process for sourcing new brands?
We’re constantly on the lookout for new brands. As I mentioned earlier, we travel regularly to see what’s happening in retail overseas and what brands are growing. We also attend trade fairs to give us an insight into what’s new and what we should be looking out for.
Another way we source new brands is by them proactively approaching us. We then work with them to get to know their brand and see if it’s something we are interested in pursuing.
How do you find new products?
We source new products similarly to how we source new brands, with the exception of new launches from our existing brands. In these cases, our brands will put forward their NPD and we’ll work together to decide if it’s something that will be popular with our customers.
We also source new products for our own brand Models Prefer. I’m lucky enough to be responsible for all the new product development for the cosmetics arm of Models Prefer. To determine the products we launch into the brand, we research heavily and use trend forecasting tools to help us find the best, most on-trend product to launch. Additionally, we monitor our sales across the entire cosmetics category closely to identify the products our customers are loving and resonating with.
The great thing about Models Prefer is that everything is done in-house. We can see a trend come through on social media and have a new product to support it on shelves six months later. We also have the freedom to choose where we manufacture our Models Prefer products; for example, we might get our eyeliners made in Germany where their factories are renowned for prestige eyeliner production, while we might have our BB creams made in Korea where they have their finger on the pulse with K-beauty technology.
What do you look for when bringing brands into Priceline?
The key thing we look for when searching for new brands is a point of difference. We want to introduce brands that can provide our customers with something different to our current offering, whether that’s in terms of ingredients, formulas, colours, packaging or anything else!
Once we’ve determined that a brand is the right fit for our customers, we work closely with them to ensure they can meet the logistical requirements to be ranged in Priceline Pharmacy. By this we mean things like ranging (e.g. will the brand start out in all stores or should we start small in the top 100 stores only and then expand once we see success), sales forecasting, and whether the brand has the right infrastructure to support stocking our large network of stores. There’s a list of boxes our new brands need to tick but we work closely with them and support them throughout the whole process.
What’s your favourite part of being a buyer?
There are many parts of my job that I love! A highlight for me is working with all the national brands to bring the new launches to life in store. We work up to 12 months in advance planning the product launches so it is great to see that through to launch and watch the sales results.
What would you say is the most difficult part of curating Priceline’s beauty/health offering?
Being one of Australia’s favourite health and beauty retailers, we have such a wide variety of customers across all demographics, and it can be challenging to find ranges that will appeal to such a wide variety of customers.
We also need to make sure that the brands have the longevity in the market, as it usually takes around 18 months of planning to launch a new cosmetics brand. We want to make sure it’s a brand that will be able to adapt to changing customer needs and stick around for a long time.
Have you had a favourite or most exciting brand discovery so far?
Being part of the NYX Professional Makeup launch into Priceline back in 2016 was a huge highlight for me. We launched the brand at our Bourke St Mall store in Melbourne and had over 500 people queuing up from 2am to be the first customers to shop. The sales for the launch were phenomenal and set some big sales records for a brand launch weekend. It was an absolute game changer for the cosmetics category in Australia.
How do you see the industry changing with regard to smaller brands?
Social media has allowed smaller niche and indie brands to have a much larger presence than in the past. Customers are seeking a more personalised approach to beauty and are increasingly searching for brands that resonate with them personally and their individual needs. These smaller brands now have a platform in social media to speak directly to customers where in the past they wouldn’t have had access to promote their brand unless they had a retail presence. It’s fair to say that these indie brands are gaining a lot of traction and fast!
Do you have any advice for a brand looking to get into Priceline or grab a buyer’s attention?
It can be difficult to get a buyer’s attention as we have so many brands contacting us regularly. For a brand to stand out to us, they need to clearly articulate what their point of difference is and have an understanding of their product’s sales potential amongst our Priceline Pharmacy customers. The brand should know their stuff and be able share detailed product information, and be able to talk to what type of customer they will attract.
