Beauty for millennials
A fast-fashion brand will be opening a beauty store to offer you a new beauty shopping experience.
BEAUTY has always been intertwined with fashion, and this association is seen in several fashion brands that also sell beauty products and accessories in their stores.
Make-up and beauty accessories may seem like a small part of a fashion retailer’s business but one global fashion brand is planning on setting up a freestanding beauty boutique for its beauty products.
American fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 will be opening freestanding beauty boutiques in the United States.
They plan to have about 10 stores by early 2018 according to market sources, as reported in WWD recently.
The stores will be called Riley Rose with a concept that is described as very experiential, millennial-focused and Instagramfriendly.
Forever 21 offers a range of beauty products including makeup, skincare, haircare, nails, tools and K-Beauty, which will be available at their new beauty boutique. The K-beauty brands include Peripera, I’m Meme and Pony Effect.
The retailer also has its own beauty label and also sells products from brands like E.l.f. Beauty and NYX.
“Our fans already know us for our fashion, and expanding our beauty was a natural progression,” Linda Chang, Forever 21 vice president of merchandising stated in newbeauty.com.
“This dedicated section will Forever 21’s new beauty boutiques will offer a range of beauty products including make-up, skincare, haircare, nails and tools, with a big focus on K-beauty brands including Peripera, I’m Meme and Pony Effect. — Forever 21
allow shoppers to complete their looks and find all their fashion and beauty must-haves in one place.”
“For Forever 21, it has a reputation for younger fashion and fast trends and has sold beauty in store before,” Wendy Liebmann, chief executive officer of WSL Strategic Research told WWD.
“That’s a logical leap into affordable, fashionable, fast beauty for younger shoppers.”
Not bad for a company that was started from scratch by a pair of South Korean immigrants.
Do Won Chang, 63, and his wife Jin Sook, 54, migrated to the United States in 1981 amid a chaotic time in their home country, according to Forbes.
Martial law had been lifted that year, following the assassination of military dictator Park Chung-hee.
“At the time, South Koreans were not living as well. The opportunities were really narrow,” Chang told Forbes.
Forever 21 has 790 stores in 48 countries, racking in US$4.4bil (RM19.1bil) in sales.
The Korean-American couple, with a combined net worth of US$3bil (RM13bil), is listed at No. 222 on The Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans.
The couple’s daughters, Linda, 28 and Esther Chang, 23 – who are graduates of Ivy League schools and had their own career paths – are now working with Forever 21.
With these savvy young heirs taking on the reins, you can bet that the beauty stores and product offerings will appeal more and more to the millennials.