Dermalogica has consistently employed innovative marketing techniques to further its brand. From an “untapped market” launch stratagem to current expansion of its luxury-product customer base during lean economic times, Dermalogica’s brand continues to rise.
Dermalogica Markets to Neglected Segment
In the 1980s, when Jane and Raymond Wurwand founded Dermalogica and The International Dermal Institute, skin care therapists were neither well-respected nor marketed to. The Wurwands "made it their goal to help skin-care therapists become more effective businesspeople. Typically second-class citizens operating in the back rooms of beauty salons, aestheticians were largely ignored by suppliers” (Harvard Business Review, March 1, 2003).
As a skin care therapist herself, Dermalogica founder Jane Wurwand refused to accept the packaging-over-science attitude that prevailed in the industry, and developed the IDI and its subsequent Dermalogica products to bring a level of professionalism and respect to the much-ignored sector. “When you look at apparently unattractive segments through this lens, you often see what others are blind to: opportunities to serve those segments in ways that fundamentally change customer economics” (ibid).
Dermalogica Products Online and iPhone
In response to online competition for its customers in a depressed economy, Dermalogica has begun selling its products through Dermalogica.com. The Dermalogica website offers self-service Speed Mapping, a highly simplified version of their in-person Face Mapping skin analysis, to assist customers in choosing product.
Speed Mapping consists of two steps:
- Choose a skin concern from a menu of 7 options (including Oiliness, Acne, Aging, and Shaving).
- Answer a single follow-up question based on the website visitor's selection ("Do you break out regularly, or only periodically?" or "Do you find that your skin is flaky and dull or tight with fine lines?").
Dermalogica then recommends a multi-product regimen, and suggests additional products and in-store treatments. It’s a smart soft sell with a whiff of science, but nothing approaching the scope of their in-person Face Mapping.
Speed Mapping is also available as a free iPhone App, with plans to expand the application in the future to include a store locator and directory of products.
Dermalogica In-Store Selling Strategies
By creating an immersive, hands-on experience, Dermalogica continues to provide its customers with new opportunities to analyze their pores and part with their cash. Dermalogica focuses on three in-store strategies to increase sales from a loyal and growing customer base.
- Face Mapping®: A free skin analysis which divides the face and neck into 14 different zones “through nuances of texture, temperature and tension.” The skin therapist creates a visual chart and suggests (or “prescribes”) product for the client.
- Skin Bar: A gathering spot where customers can sample product and talk informally with the skin therapists. “The Skin Bar experience often is social. …This brief but informative experience then easily opens into a dialogue about the benefits of professional treatment, Face Mapping and product prescription.”
- MicroZone® Treatments: Twenty-minute facials that focus on one specific problem area of the skin. Available treatments are “based upon the most common client requests, including flash exfoliation, eye rescue, rapid spot clearing, blackhead relief, lip renewal, hand repair and men’s skin fitness.”
Each of these treatments ends with a number of client-specific product recommendations. Skin technicians are generous in dispensing samples to hesitant clients, based on the notion that customers who try Dermalogica will quickly become brand-loyal.
All of the treatments are available at their seven "concept stores" in Los Angeles, New York City, London, Dubai, Auckland, Berlin, and Mumbai. Face Mapping is additionally available at many Dermalogica-sanctioned skin care stores worldwide.
Dermalogica On Tour
In 2008 and 2009, Dermalogica embarked on tours to bring product, professional skin care consultations, and treatments to potential customers. The tours included Face Mapping, MicroZone treatments, advice, samples, and rare Dermalogica coupons.
The 2008 "Know Your Zones" tour visited several colleges, festivals and events throughout California. The 2009 "Redefine Your Skin" tour expanded Dermalogica's reach to Chicago, St. Louis and Minneapolis.
Dermalogica's evolving marketing strategies are keeping professional recommendation and product results at the forefront. As customer expectations shift to online purchasing, Jane Wurwand's company is attempting to stave off unauthorized resellers by providing something that no one else can: the full Dermalogica experience.
Sources:
- BusinessWeek.com
- Rosenblum, David, Doug Tomlinson, and Larry Scott. "Bottom-Feeding for Blockbuster Business." Harvard Business Review, March 1, 2003.
- Dermalogica.com (current & site archives)
- Dermalogica electronic press kit
Christine E. Taylor - Christine E. Taylor is a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Christine is currently writing a series of articles ...
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