This Time It’s A Beauty Store In Milan

Amazon has been trying to break into brick-and-mortar retail for the past decade and been only marginally successful, with the exception of Whole Foods, which it acquired in 2017.

Whole Foods aside, it’s tried physical retail with bookstores, convenience stores, fresh-produce grocery, mall kiosks and popups, general merchandise, and fashion. Currently, only a handful of Amazon Go convenience shops and Amazon Fresh grocery stores are operating.

Now it’s trying again with an Amazon Parafarmacia & Beauty store in the center of Milan, Italy. It will specialize in what it calls “para-pharmaceutical” beauty and personal care products in a techno-enhanced environment to help customers select the right solutions for skincare issues and concerns. And to bridge the gap when a customer needs more personalized service, it will be staffed by on-site pharmacists and skincare experts to provide expert advice and guidance.

“We’ve designed this store to bring us one step closer to our customers and to deliver an innovative experience, merging cutting-edge technology with expert advice,” Giorgio Busnelli, Vice President of Amazon’s Consumer Goods in Europe, said in a statement.

Setting The Stage

Derma-centric skin and personal care brands will be carried in the store, including Eucerin, La Roche-Posay, Vichy, Avène, Bionike, Rilastil, CeraVe. In addition, the store will feature non-prescription medicines and vitamin supplements to support full-body wellness needs.

The store opening in Milan will be complemented by expanded dermatological skincare offerings online in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the U.K. “This broadened selection reflects our dedication to meet the diverse needs of our customers, both at our physical store in Milan and online in Europe,” Busnelli added.

Taking center stage in the Milan store are product displays and an interactive digital “Place & Learn Stations” that provide detailed information about specific products, including ingredients, how-to-use videos and other information. Products are displayed on shelves with electronic shelf labels for immediate help while browsing.

For more personalized advice, a “Derma-bar” is staffed by beauty experts who offer complimentary digital skin analysis and product recommendations based on the customer’s skin type and conditions. The derma-bar also has try-on stations to sample products.

Can Amazon Crack The Beauty Code?

Beauty industry expert Dana Wood finds the high (e.g. La Roche Posay, Vichy, Avène)/low (e.g. Eucerin, CeraVe) mix of product selections confusing, as is the addition of over-the-counter medicines. “I’m getting ‘CVS in America’ vibes,” she wrote in The Robin Report. She also took issue with the Amazon logo prominently displayed on the store front. “The Amazon logo just looks…a little down-market and utilitarian.”

Professor Glyn Atwal at the Burgandy Business School said much the same. “Is it a drug store, a beauty retailer or a dermatology service?” He also questions the store location, not in the city’s luxury shopping district but close by the heavily-trafficked Cadorna train station.

“Let’s be clear, this is not a prestige flagship store experience,” he said and added that with sales staff wearing white lab coats to convey medical expertise, their uniforms feel somewhat “theatrical” and a way to put the Amazon logo front and center.

He believes Amazon’s test launch into dermatologically-enhanced skincare in a real-world setting is smart – “It is a rapidly growing segment where personalization is shaping the future of the beauty industry.”

However, Atwal also observes product selection is limited, unlike on the website where a far greater range of skincare is offered, including over 500 products from 266 brands.

Noticeably missing from the lineup are COSRX and Biodance brands out of South Korea – so-called K-beauty is hot in America. They are the number one and three skincare brands on Amazon, with CeraVe number two, according to MetricsCart.

“Does Amazon have the expertise to compete in the beauty industry?” Atwal asks. “Innovation and technology could set it apart, but for the world’s largest online retailer, this remains a work in progress. There were no price promotions or discounts, which may support Amazon’s desired positioning but contradict what consumers typically expect from the brand.”

Kudos to Amazon for trying physical retail again and plunging into performance skincare which is growing fast and where customers often need expert advice.

Whether what it learns in brick-and-mortar beauty retail will translate to the U.S., the world’s leading market in skincare, is to be determined. However, one would think that breaking into the U.S. physical beauty market in some shape or form is top of mind, though the company said there are “no current plans” for further expansion.