Sears and Winn Dixie Offer Consumers Free Beauty Makeovers

Orlando, FL, October 23, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Retail stores are using more third-party companies to assist in sustaining and building their sales in today’s tough economic climate. As budgets get cut and staff is reduced, sales can go into a tailspin as marketing efforts are reduced. By hiring outside firms to bolster their scaled-back marketing teams, chains are finding great results with less investment.

To attract more women to its stores this season, Sears launched its upscale cosmetic and fragrance presentations in 13 stores in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. During September, Cosmetic Promotions, Inc. (CPI), a national marketing and promotional company, assisted in the launch by conducting makeovers for four brands: Yves Rocher, Iman, L’Oreal, and Maybelline. Almost 800 makeovers were completed during the event, which resulted in over 1000 pieces sold over the 2 days – an eye-popping 127% closure rate. The professional makeup artists helped consumers choose the right colors and products for them. Some 77% of the customers had never tried Yves Rocher and 69% had never tried Iman before the event, providing massive exposure to these two exclusive brands. L’Oreal had the highest sales, with almost 15 pieces per store during the event and 400 coupons distributed to stimulate future L’Oreal sales. Each vendor had a total of 104 makeover hours. To get customers into the stores, CPI also had a street team outside the stores distributing flyers. A survey of the shoppers showed that 98% of them wanted more such free makeover events at the stores. A short video was produced of the event for Sears to use in their promotional materials. On December 5th and 12th, the same 13 stores will host a similar event featuring Iman, Rimmel, Milani and L’Oreal brands.

At Winn Dixie, Cosmetic Buyer Karen Lagarde engaged CPI to execute a special makeover/demonstration event in their top 25 stores – most in South Florida. The stores had an event every Saturday during September and four vendors – L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Wet n’ Wild, and Pacific World – shared a professional makeup artist to entice consumers to sample beauty products while doing their food shopping. Winn Dixie sent an email blast out to their Customer Reward Card members in these markets and had in-store signs publicizing the event in the weeks leading up to it. More than 300 pieces were sold during the event. To add value and excitement, CPI worked with six vendors to prepare a free beauty sample bag that was distributed during the event. Winn Dixie is pleased with the sales lift and say they intend to replicate the event before the end of the year.

To further promote these events and give their clients more bang for their buck, Cosmetic Promotions has a dedicated person posting the events on various beauty-related web sites, including the new Freebeautyevents.com. This site is dedicated to listing free events at retail and spa locations across the U.S. Consumers can enter their zip code to see what makeovers, gift-with-purchase, and sampling events are happening near their home. CPI also promotes the brands and the events via their agency web site (cosproagency.com) blog, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. Facebook and Myspace have become a great way to not only promote the events but also hire new makeup artists to add to their current listings of more than 1000 artists and models.

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For more information on these and other events, contact Joann Tyson, President Cosmetic Promotions (joann@cosmeticpromotions.com or 888-644-9916)