The cosmetic and skin care market is still showing signs of improvement, with drug stores and mass merchandisers proving to be the most popular channels for cosmetic purchasing. According to a Mintel survey 27% of shoppers said they have made replacement purchases in color cosmetics but avoided splurge products in 2010, down from 33% in 2009. 39% said they actively looked for sales and tried only to buy products on sale during 2010, versus 45% in 2009. Women 35-44 years were the most frequent purchasers (37%) of color cosmetics. The study also showed that mass merchandisers (57%) and drug stores (45%) were the most popular channels for cosmetic purchasing among women of all ages.

Permanent makeup is a growing trend. Similar to a tattoo, an artist inserts the pigment in your skin with a needle, and it never washes off. To perfect the makeup, it can take three to four sessions.

Dolce & Gabbana has launched their makeup line at Saks with famed makeup artist Pat McGrath. The two newest additions to the line are the Summertime collection and the Animalier collection which features a bronzer pressed into a compact with a leopard-print design.

Back to school season is considered the second most important sales period of the year after the holidays. Back to school (kindergarten through high school) spending in 2010 was estimated to reach $21.35 billion, and combined with college spending was estimated to reach $55.12 billion. Even if you’re not selling school supplies or clothing, in-store demonstrations are a great way to attract back to school shoppers to your products.

Teenagers and pre-teens said they used more of their own money for apparel, supplies and accessories in 2010. When it comes to how much influence children have in parents’ buying decisions, 61.1% say their children impact half or more of their back to school purchases. CosPro Agency executed a 150 store back to school event last year and sales exceeded 1,400 – selling approximately 10 pieces per store. There were three brands involved and we distributed over 4,000 samples for one brand while the other two had almost 1,700 demonstrations with their products.

Price is a major driver now, but trust, quality, and familiarity also come into play. Try creating change in usage or consumption occasion by reframing your value. For instance, you might want to position your skincare product as something that saves trips to the dermatologist. Offer solutions that are a convenient response to the consumer’s need, i.e. you can put “save money while saving the planet” on in-store signage about your eco friendly packaging. If your products aren’t obviously school related, then use a tie in. For instance, a hair color brand might say “the prices of books may be going up, but college students can always save on trips to the salon.”

The BIGResearch survey showed 17% of shopping will be in drug store chains. The survey also found one-third (33.1%) of college shoppers will begin hitting the stores one month before school starts, with 23.2% preferring to wait a bit longer and go one to two weeks before school starts. One in five (20.2%) will start at least two months before school starts, 12.6% will wait until the week school starts and 10.9% will go after they’ve already started school. These are the highest traffic times to execute in store demos geared towards back to school.

Your entire back to school campaign (displays, product offerings, etc.) should be tied together. For instance, you could do in store promotions to correspond with your direct mail, TV ads, and print ads in August issues of magazines. Now is the time to start setting up your demos, don’t wait to secure your spot for back to school and contact Cospro Agency today!

Tom’s of Maine has launched a new toothpaste, Simply White. To promote the toothpaste, Tom’s of Maine is partnering with Sheryl Crow’s 100 Miles from Memphis Concert beginning May 7^th.  The partnership will result in the greening of the concert tour, community beautification events in select cities, and a free song download for Sheryl Crow fans. Sheryl Crow was chosen by Tom’s of Maine for her passion for the environment and healthy living. Simply White toothpaste is proven to whiten teeth, but contains no bleaching ingredients. There are also no artificial flavors, preservatives, animal testing, or animal ingredients.

Salma Hayek has teamed up with CVS to launch her own cosmetics line – Nuance. She took off 3 years from her acting career to create the line which debuted with 100 pieces.

Although new products are always great, the value of customer service cannot be ignored. In a recent survey by American Express’s Global Customer Service Barometer, 7 out of 10 Americans were willing to pay an average of 13% more with companies that provide excellent customer service. Sixty percent of the survey respondents believed that companies hadn’t improved their customer service, and 26% believed that companies are paying less to their customer service. Seventy eight percent of the respondents said they would cancel a transaction or not make an intended purchase because of poor customer service.