What a Girl Wants
The average teenage girl spends $42 a month on cosmetics. What they don't buy is average packaging
Where do teen girls buy their cosmetics once they're too old for Limit-ed Too and too young for Bloomingdale's? Tony Hirsch believes they're ready for SkinMarket.
Hirsch, the marketing maven who brought HMV Music Ltd. to New York, opened SkinMarket in March at the Beverly Center in California. His philosophy was simple: teens like hanging out with their friends and buying cosmetics, so give them a place to do both.
"The idea came after I ventured into my stepdaughter's bathroom and saw the vast array of products that this young woman used," says Hirsch. "I had the idea for a store that combined her social life with products that were part of her lifestyle."
Teens do not shop at SkinMarket, says Hirsch. They participate in "happy loitering." To keep them entertained, SkinMarket has spacious couches, CD players, monitors playing music videos, teen magazines and over 3,000 products. It's teen paradise, a store masquerading as the average teen's bedroom without parents downstairs to spoil the fun.
"What does a young woman do when she gets to her room?" asks Hirsch. "Her computer goes on, the music goes up, her makeup goes on and her attitude comes out. All I've done is build a store that reflects these interests and lifestyle."
Packaging "Whatever"
SkinMarket is worth watching because it may just be the next Sephora. Getting a package into SkinMarket isn't easy. It has to have that certain teen insouciance, according to Hirsch. "Well, cosmetic packaging can be predictable and fairly bland," he explains. "All of our packages have attitude. They reflect the lifestyle of our customers. Even the instructions for use are different. There is a sense of fun about the packaging."
For instance, SkinMarket sells creamy eye shadows (with names like Bumper Car, Mauvelous Dahling and On, Comet!) in clear pots from HCT Packaging, Bedminster, NJ. The pots have clear plastic lids so teens can see the colors before buying. Clear plastic cases and bases are also used for Shimmy Sticks, a line of nine shades of creams in stick form. The transparent cases allow "No Chance" (pale blue) and "Shame" (pink frost) to shine through.
Packaging is made more complicated by the prices Hirsch demands for his containers. "We keep prices down because we provide quality for the price," he says. "If you don't give great products at the good price, it's bad in the long haul."
Hirsch has big plans for SkinMarket. New stores have been added in California in Sacramento, Riverside and Redondo Beach. His first store outside California opened in July in Las Vegas. Another was opened for "loitering" in August in San Diego.
SkinMarket is the latest addition to non-traditional outlets for cosmetics. Kirsch feels the trend will continue. "The established stores can be quite intimidating for young women who don't know a lot about makeup," he says. "They want a place that's their own, not their mother's."