CVS Pharmacy will expand its experiential BeautyIRL concept into almost 50 stores in the US by the end of 2019. The store concept, which is designed to encourage the discovery of new brands and trends, will launch in key markets including New York City, Los Angeles, Miami and Boston. The redesigned beauty department features new social and indie brands, a mini must-have shop, rotational pop-ups and new beauty services provided by GSQ by Glamsquad.
Expansion of the concept into additional cities follows the success of the four pilot locations which launched in August 2018 and comes at a time when CVS Health already looks to roll out more added value services to stores through its HealthHUBs concepts. Other operators are also introducing experiential beauty concepts, including Walgreens Boots which launched a beauty concept in London that offers live product demonstrations, as well as a YouTube studio for video makeovers. Walgreen and CVS are leading the health, beauty & personal care sector, making up 64% of the sector’s sales in 2018.
CPGs must develop strategies to connect with consumers through new touchpoints emerging in the drugstore & pharmacy channel, such as beauty services, telemedicine and in-store health hubs. The focus on added value services will require longer-term joint business plans with retailers to ensure access to data-driven insight, product visibility and integration within hub concepts.
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