Now that we are entering 2012, you may be wondering how you can pump up your sales for the New Year. Reaching your customers for important holidays is key. With February approaching, now is the time to think about how you can help your customers celebrate Black History Month and Valentine’s Day. Here is some background on both and ways that you can attract more sales.

The origins of Black History Month began in 1915, when Dr. Carter G. Woodson and Rev. Jesse E Moorland co-founded the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASNLH) to research and bring awareness to the role that African-Americans have played in history. In 1976, Black History Week turned into a month long observance. So why February? Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation was born on February 12th. Frederick Douglass, a leading abolitionist, was born on February 14th. Every year, the ASNLH chooses a different theme. This year’s theme is African-Americans and the Civil War which will honor African-American efforts to end slavery in the United States.

Did you know that African-American consumers in the U.S. account for $913 billion in purchasing power? Using the CosPro Agency target marketing program to reach this demographic specifically instead of using a one size fits all approach makes sense. African-Americans have nuances within lifestyle, language, and culture that should be used to leverage marketing efforts. For instance, Essence Magazine and Vision Critical Group performed a study that revealed that African-American women spend 80% MORE on cosmetics annually and nearly twice as much on skin care products than general market women do annually. This is a fantastic time to schedule in-store promotions targeting the African America customer. CosPro can create coupons appealing to your target market which is a great way to encourage sales.

Another way to boost sales for February is to target Valentine’s Day shoppers.  It is believed that Americans began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700′s. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making it second only to Christmas. Valentine’s Day is also celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.

St. Valentine’s Day is rooted in Christian and ancient Roman tradition. One legend says that Valentine was a priest in the 3rd century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men so they would be soldiers instead, Valentine performed marriages in secret. Another says that Valentine fell in love with a girl while in prison and wrote her a letter before his death signed “From your Valentine”. Others purport that Christians decided to celebrate Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February to “christianize” the pagan Lupercalia festival which was a fertility festival on February 15th. Also, the Middle Age French and English notion that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season contributed to the idea that Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

In 2011, Valentine’s Day shoppers spent around $15.7 billion on their loved ones (1.7 billion more than in 2010) and retailers reported an increase of 4.2% in comparable sales. This year-to-year growth makes it plausible that 2012 sales will be even higher with advertising and promotion. Since 85% of all Valentine Cards are bought by women, it can be safe to target females by offering a fragrance sampling, Gift with Purchase program or even having a gift basket raffle to encourage sales. Sign up early with CosPro Agency to schedule your promotion. Contact Kristin Bocox at 877 3COSPRO or email at Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com.

The holiday shopping season is already about to begin. PriceGrabber® released the results of its first winter holiday shopping survey, which reveals that 45% of consumers intend to spend less money during the 2011 winter holiday shopping season than they did in 2010. 49% will spend the same amount, and only 7% will actually spend more this year. With forecasts like these, it’s up to the retailers to make their holiday sales surge with important efforts such as in-store demos and promotions, strategic pricing, and marketing.

Some are not spending more due to higher living expenses driving your customers to find better holiday bargains. According to PriceGrabber’s survey, 68% of shoppers say the overall economic climate will affect their overall spending. This is an opportunity to show your customers that your store or brand offers great deals. In store demos are a great to promote the impulse buy around the holidays whether a fragrance gift set or cosmetic/nail set for a stocking stuffer.

27% of the customers who planned on spending more this year said that it would be because of better prices on gifts. Getting your product in front of the customers is certainly one way to get them to purchase yours. Other reasons included more confidence in the economy, being tired of frugality, and increased credit. Shoppers are also confident that they will be able to find a great bargain – 70% said that they expect retailers will offer better discounts this year due to the economy. 75% listed price cuts and free shipping, followed by coupons and blowout sales as the most enticing to get them to products this holiday season. Did you know that Cosmetic Promotions can create coupons for your event to help with sales?

We can also help promote your in-store demos and events on Facebook and Four-Square by encouraging people to check in. For instance, if your customer checks in your store during a sampling event, then they could receive an online coupon good toward their next purchase or one that they could share with their network of friends.

The good news is that 53% of holiday shoppers will start earlier this year to spread out the impact of purchases and 33% are beginning their holiday shopping in October. This means you can start reaping the benefits of your marketing efforts early. Demonstration and sampling promotions will enhance your results as in-store demos usually produce one week’s worth of sales in only 4 hours. By using the CosPro Agency for your in-store events, you’ll benefit from over 20 years of experience and unsurpassed quality of service.

Book your event now by calling Kristin Bocox at 877-3COSPRO ext. 501# or email her at Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Corporate philanthropy makes a difference all around. Not only do your customers care that your company is ethically responsible, but they actually have a preference for how you donate. A recent study called The Checkout revealed that when choosing between two brands that benefit a cause, 43% of women say they choose the brand that donates with every purchase over a brand that donates a fixed amount. The study also showed that disease prevention is the most motivational when making a purchase that contributes to a cause.

Having a percentage of a purchase donated is beneficial for a brand because it encourages repeat purchasing and loyalty. Men tend to lean toward causes where being involved requires a financial contribution rather than emotional involvement, which tends to appeal to women. Therefore, they are more likely to support organizations like The Salvation Army or Goodwill, while women support disease prevention causes like Breast Cancer Awareness.

With this in mind, the CosPro Agency is offering an opportunity for clients to show their customers  that they care about finding a cure for breast cancer by honoring Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.When you book an event with CosPro involving 100 stores or more, 5% of the proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure. In 2009, this offer resulted in $3,900 of donations for the Susan G. Komen foundation. The Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure is the global leader of the breast cancer movement and is the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to fighting breast cancer in the world.

Book your event now by calling Kristin Bocox at 877-3COSPRO ext. 501# or email her at Kristin@cosmeticpromotions.com.

September 15th begins Hispanic Heritage month and Cosmetic Promotions wants to share some of our successful marketing tips for gaining Hispanic clients.

1. Hispanics are very loyal: 61% of those surveyed, said once they find a brand they like, they don’t switch. Sampling is one of the best ways for them to gain confidence in your brand and become YOUR loyal customer. Remember 89% of all first purchases are because of TRIAL – not price or coupon.
2. Hispanic Families shop together and typically on weekends. Consider doing in-store events during weekends in mid-September to mid-October in top Hispanic stores. Cosmetic Promotions can arrange these events in most chains.
3. Hispanic Families spend more time together in activities than other ethnic groups. Consider sampling at Hispanic festivals, parades and community events. Cosmetic Promotions can handle this type of sampling for you. For example, on June 26th we participated for the 6th consecutive year in the San Juan Bautista post-parade concert in Camden, NJ. It is considered the largest summer event in the region with over 30,000 attendees and we distributed 2,000 sample bags to female attendees. Call us and we can come up with a Hispanic Heritage month community sampling plan.
4. Hispanic are less price conscious, but they do use coupons on the brands they ALREADY love: 63% are more likely to use a coupon if it is bilingual. Cosmetic Promotions can do all types of printing and translate from English to Spanish on coupons, easel cards, etc.
5. Hispanics utilize Hispanic media: 82% polled view Spanish TV, 75% listen to Spanish radio and 42% read Spanish papers or magazines. Reassign your budget dollars so that you are placing ads in these vehicles during the September-October time period. Cosmetic Promotions can help you design and place your ads in these publications.

Read About Our Latest Hispanic Event »

Our annual Hispanic sampling program is a way of promoting Rite Aid’s health and beauty products at 10 community events in Hispanic markets. 2,000 bags are distributed at each event to women in attendance. The bags contain a variety of samples and coupons from Smooth ‘N Shine, Palmer’s Cocoa Butter, Halle Berry Fragrance, Benefiber, Kiss Nails, Fantasia Hair Polisher, Lactaid, L’Oreal, S by Shakira Fragrance, Bio Oil and select bags contain a special $100 gift card to Rite Aid for the recipient.

On June 24th, we did exit sampling after the MANÁ Concert in Los Angeles, CA. The world’s biggest Latin rock band brought thousands of fans to downtown LA as they opened the first of a record-setting 4 sold-out nights at the Staples Center. For almost three decades MANÁ has been one of the most popular Mexican pop/rock groups. Winning 4 Grammy’s and 5 Latin Grammy’s to date; the concept behind MANÁ has been a world-music mix of Latin and pop rock. After a long hiatus, MANÁ returned to the stage with an innovative show where they performed songs from their new album “Drama y Luz”, which reached #1 on the Latin Billboards. We had a table setup right outside of the Staples Center with a Rite Aid banner hung in front to attract the crowd as they were leaving the concert. The attendees were pleasantly surprised to see Rite Aid on site. There was a rush of people and they couldn’t wait to open up their bags to see what was inside. We handed out all 2,000 sample bags in less than an hour.

On June 26th, we participated for our 6th consecutive year in the San Juan Bautista post-parade concert in Camden, NJ. It is considered the largest summer event in the region with over 30,000 attendees. The parade is a well-known, family-oriented, cultural and educational event, which always takes place on the last Sunday in the month of June. It displayed a mixture of Latin rhythms and dances from around the region, marching bands and decorated floats that lead into Wiggins Waterfront Park for a grand slam summer concert with the partnership of the largest radio station in Philadelphia. The concert offered a fun-filled day of Latin sounds, exhibits as well as the flavors and aromas of ethnic cuisine. As parade-goers entered the park they were greeted by our team at the Rite Aid booth distributing the sample bags. Our team was able to educate thousands of attendees on the Rite Aid Beauty Guarantee and answered lots of questions about how the guarantee works. Many ladies were not familiar with it and said they would definitely be shopping at Rite Aid soon for their beauty needs. The event was a huge success and before night fall all 2,000 bags had been distributed.

The next event we are scheduled to be at is on July 31st during the Junta Hispana festival at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York. Junta Hispana is a unique Hispanic Heritage event celebrating all 20 Spanish- speaking countries. Working with the consulates, tourism and cultural offices, the beauty, culture, heritage, music, dance, food, arts and uniqueness of each country are brought to one event. The stage features performances for the entire family to enjoy. They have a food court with a variety of cuisine from the different Hispanic countries. Rite Aid will have a Pharmacy onsite where visitors can learn about medications and health issues along with receiving free health screening. The sample bags will be distributed to the ladies as they visit the Rite Aid booth. Rain or shine the lines form early at each of the different plazas and continue all day. No matter where you are inside of the venue there is something to do or learn about the different countries represented.

Nivea will be using reality star Khloe Kardashian-Odom to promote their ‘Good-bye Cellulite, Hello Bikini!’ challenge. The challenge is a four-week program that combines fitness, nutrition, style, and skin care with Nivea Good-Bye Cellulite products. Khloe Kardashian-Odom will use Nivea’s Good-Bye Cellulite fast-acting serum and advanced Good-Bye Cellulite gel cream and document her progress over four weeks via Twitter.

After a successful nail polish and unisex fragrance, pop-singer Justin Bieber is now also launching a woman’s fragrance called Someday. Someday will be debut in June in partnership with Give Back Brands – a company dedicated to donating its proceeds to charity from celebrity endorsed products.

Johnson Products has partnered with 100 Black Men of America and its Collegiate 100 program with its Ultra Sheen Men grooming line. This is a contribution to their effort to build upon their commitment to the African-American community. Johnson Products will be a part of the Collegiate 100 events at the 100 Black Men of America Conference in June. The company will host its Ultra Sheen Men Grooming Lounge for conference attendees and present the Collegiate 100 Chapter of the Year Award. 100 Black Men of America is a national association of leading African-American men of business, industry, public affairs and government with a mission to improve the well-being for African-Americans, particularly African-American youth.

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.

Popular recording artist Nicki Minaj is planning to launch a fragrance sometime in the near future. According to Allure magazine, she wants her new perfume to smell light, yet be something a strong, sensual woman would wear.

In other news, Procter & Gamble’s Pantene is debuting plant-based plastic containers sourced mainly through sugarcane. This move is expected to cut P&G’s fossil fuel consumption by 70% and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 170%. However, the new containers will cost more to process. “As the world’s biggest hair care brand, we need to be there first. We are responsible for healthy hair and also a healthy world” – P&G General Manager of Global Hair, Hanneke Faber. The new Pantene eco-friendly bottles will be rolled out in Western Europe later in the month while the rest of the world will see them over the next 18 months.