These days, it's not enough to offer customers everything they want.
Things like lightning-fast shipping, seamless and extended return and exchange options, exclusive perks or bonuses attached to a membership — like access to streaming subscriptions or savings on gas and other staples — and cash back based on loyalty purchases have become commonplace.
Related: Walmart launches 2 popular new brands customers will love
If only it were that simple.
Instead, large retailers need to offer customers more than what they want. The name of the game is now about anticipating what customers may want or need before they even arrive there. It doesn't require clairvoyance, but it does require a robust logistics team with boots on the ground, constantly probing the market for trendy brands and consumer behavior trends in order to anticipate a forthcoming demand.
Retailers focusing on emerging trend
Take, for example, Walmart (WMT) , which has been rapidly adding new brands and exclusive partnerships to its arsenal in order to attract new customers and keep existing ones happy. In 2024 it launched an exclusive agreement with cosmetics giant L'Oreal, whereby it will now stock the L'Oreal Paris Elvive Hyaluron + Plump hair line, which focuses on the a new trend popular on TikTok: scalp skincare and balance.
Walmart also launched a partnership with sustainable oral healthcare brands Plus Ultra and Zimba, which focuses on attracting a customer base that cares about environmental consciousness and self-care, two burgeoning trends brought about largely by a younger demographic, which cites sustainability as one of its top shopping priorities when choosing a brand.
Target (TGT) , for its part, partnered with Ulta Beauty (ULTA) in 2022 by opening mini shops inside its large brick-and-mortar retail spaces, allowing customers to shop hundreds of cosmetics brands Target might not have carried otherwise.
The shop-in store model isn't unique to Target. Kohl's (KSS) entered into a similar agreement with LVMH (LVMHF) -owned Sephora in 2021; the department store touts the partnership as one of its most successful ones to date.
Amazon digs into a gold mine
There's a common theme to most of these partnerships. Retailers are betting big on beauty and personal care.
And on March 27, Amazon (AMZN) announced it was partnering with one of the biggest cosmetics and beauty brands in the world, featuring it as a storefront on its homepage and making it shoppable as of March 27.
Amazon launched its Clinique storefront as a part of its push into the Amazon Premium Beauty store, which features big brands including Laniege, Innisfree, Sun Bum, Mario Badescu, Clarins, La Roche Posay, Elemis.
Amazon Premium Beauty store is unique as it focuses not just on makeup but also on skincare, a trend Gen Z cares especially about, thanks in part to their increased and earlier exposure to social media.
Some of the products featured on Amazon's Clinique storefront include:
- Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+
- Moisture Surge 100H Hydrator
- Clinique Smart Clinical Repair Line
- Even Better Makeup
- High Impact Mascara
- Almost Lipstick in Black Honey
- Clinique Happy
Clinique is owned by parent company Estée Lauder (EL) , and the brand has indicated it plans to expand its presence on Amazon in the coming months.
"We are thrilled to be strategically expanding our consumer reach in the U.S. as a select few Estée Lauder Companies brands open dedicated storefronts in Amazon’s fast-growing Premium Beauty destination over the coming months, starting with Clinique today," CEO of Estée Fabrizio Freda said.
The Clinique storefront will feature an interactive Clinique Skin Analysis Tool, which was created specifically for its Amazon launch. The tool allows customers to answer several questions about their skin type and concerns and recommends products based on their individual needs.
“Our collaboration to bring Clinique to Amazon Premium Beauty customers in the U.S. is a result of our shared vision to inspire customers through unique shopping experiences and technology, meeting customers where they are, and helping them to explore and discover all this incredible brand has to offer," Amazon GM of U.S. Stores Beauty, Baby, and Beauty Technology Melis del Rey said of Wednesday's launch.
Earlier this year, Amazon introduced Curology to its storefront, a specialty skincare brand that allows customers to access personalized skincare products also based on unique concerns. Curology also offers prescription skincare through its own e-commerce business.
