Case Study - Cosmetic Retailer

Written on the 7 June 2010

This cosmetic retailer was relatively unknown in her local area and was struggling to stand out in a her competitive industry. She wanted to build her clientèle and increase her sales.

Challenges:

Sales – The cosmetic retailer wanted to access a new group of potential customers, so she needed to encourage and facilitate her current customers to spread the word about her business to their friends and colleagues. As well as to turn one-off customers to become repeat purchasers.

Build relationships – Since she was relatively unknown she wanted to build relationships with her existing clients and attract more potential clients.

Drive traffic to the website – She wanted improve her search rankings in Google, create more awareness of her website and her business.

Solution:

Installed search engine optimisation

The retailer wanted to get more from her Internet presence so she implemented a search engine optimisation program to help her business get listed higher in search engine and to drive more traffic to her website. Throughout her website she also made sure keywords were placed within her content to help improve her ranking. She also joined Twitter and Facebook to help create awareness of her business and to promote her website.

Product: Search Engine Optimisation

Distribute regular surveys

The cosmetic retailer created and sent out surveys to gather feedback to measure her company’s performance and opportunities for growth as well as gaining insight into the thoughts and opinions of her customers so she could better meet their needs. The survey tool was useful as she was able to create and send a professional surveys in minutes and add respondents to her email marketing database She also utilised surveys as a great sales tool to introduce new product ranges.

Product: Survey Tool

Installed online advertising

To create a extra revenue generating source and to make the website more financially viable, the owner allowed other businesses (ie hair products) to advertise on the website. By allowing them to advertise on her website, she made sure that their websites also could link back to her website and promote her business too. The advertisements gave users access to more useful products and services and helped to improve her search engine position.

Product: Advertising Manager

Set up a shopping cart system for retailers

The cosmetic retailer wanted to streamline the ordering system for her clients, so she set up a shopping cart on her website where her clients could purchase her products. This system also automatically managed her stock levels to ensure that she didn’t run out of products. She also installed a product catalogue, she added images, descriptions and prices for all her products, so her clients knew exactly what they were buying.

Product: Product Catalogue; Shopping Cart

Hold regular competitions

The retailer organised competitions for her clients and promoted these on her website, via email and with instore point of sale displays. These competitions facilitated the capture of contact details for her database, helped drive traffic to her website, promoted other product ranges and allowed the cosmetic retailer to set up a VIP loyalty system. Competitions are also an effective strategy for existing clients - build loyalty and get them to make repeat purchases.

Product: Competitions Manager

Hold events

The retailer decided to once a month to hold a special sale/makeover evening for her VIP clients and their friends whenever she had some exciting new stock. The VIPs would have access to the the products before it went on sale to the general public. These strategies were great for the retailer to collect potential clients and created word of mouth publicity about her store. Thanks to the Event Management Software tool, it automatically sent a confirmation email to the attendees and notified the owner instantly of their booking, once they registered. This system also allowed her to view registration lists for her events to help her organise other aspects of her event like catering and facilities, she was even able to print professional name tags with the click of a button.

Product: Event Management Software

The cosmetic retailer used the following tools:

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