The Challenge
Ruby & Millie, a consumer cosmetics brand with a heritage in the world of professional make-up artists, was launched in 1998 and is sold solely through the Fashion Brand areas of larger Boots stores. But following good initial sales, the brand was losing awareness and market share. Growth was slow; for 2006-07 Mintel was predicting growth of only 4% for the UK market. And the make-up market is crowded; Boots launched fashion brand Jemma Kidd, a direct competitor to Ruby & Millie, in late summer 2006.
The Brief
One of the reasons cited for Ruby & Millie losing market share was its merchandising furniture. Boots commissioned Checkland Kindleysides to create a new design that would communicate the essence of the brand, allow it to stand out and to show the colour cosmetics products off to their best advantage. The display needed to be easy for customers to navigate and to test products at shelf edge, but it also needed to be able to deliver flexible promotions and to use existing Boots Fashion Brand base furniture.
The Design
The new merchandising stand includes a screen showing a make-up artist at work at a catwalk show, endorsing the brand as a fashion authority. It also includes a ‘make-up table’ which, in addition to providing disabled access, encourages customers to play with and test the products, and can be used during a professional makeover or to display promotional materials. Products are now arranged vertically (unlike most brands who display horizontally) and this emphasises the range of colours available. Testers are now located next to parent packs but displayed at a different angle, reducing the previously high levels of wastage due to customers opening non-tester packs, and eliminating the need for specially designed testers. The results Boots reports a ‘phenomenal’ 40% year-on-year sales uplift for the Ruby & Millie range since the new merchandising unit was launched. Sales of nail colour in particular are also ‘staggering’ in a market that is at near-standstill. This increase in sales has been achieved with a reduced number of products, in fact customers perceived that the range had more products and that its packaging had been redesigned after the re-merchandising, when neither was the case. The new merchandising unit is also dramatically cheaper than the old design.
Judges Comments
The judges praised the effectiveness of this entry which demonstrated the achievement of objectives with both hard and soft measures. ‘To achieve these kinds of results in changing both sales and perceptions is very impressive, added to a reduction in costs’, said Peter Williams, CEO of Alpha Airport Group. ‘There are some mega brands in this marketplace and the results here are excellent.’
