Our COPRA Cares social media programme has been running since 2018 inviting our sponsors to share their thoughts and of course to answer some crucial questions relating to our ever-increasing industry.
Please introduce yourself
Françoise Thérin, Head of Europe Beauty Retail at The NPD Group.
How has 2021 been for you and your business, and how have the recent challenges reflected in your business decisions?
2021 was a year of readjustment for The NPD Group, as it probably was for all businesses. We’ve been monitoring sales for the UK Beauty industry since 2010 and over that time we have established strong partnerships with all the retailers that we work with. Our information supports them in understanding market conditions, and this has become even more important in the ever-changing retail environment. As each retailer readjusts their strategy to face the changes in consumer demand, we have also had to readjust our service to suit their needs, and this is what has driven our business decisions.
Can you share any new initiatives you may have introduced?
With retailers facing issues in the supply chain, pricing, promotion and overall profitability it has meant that we’ve had to develop new and innovative ways of measuring these market dynamics. As a global business we’ve been able to leverage the knowledge of our teams around the world to track and measure how consumers are shopping beauty, and to understand if there are any similarities in what consumers are buying and how they are buying it. As life starts to regain a sense of normality and people are once again going out to socialise, Fragrance has been the main driver of growth in beauty across the world however consumers still continue to look for value via promotion. Therefore, our new services look at measuring the impact of those promotions across each category. Future pressures linked to market inflation may mean that understanding the impact of promotions becomes increasingly important as retailers may not want to discount too heavily if margins are compromised.
What do you think is an important quality for those thinking of looking at starting a career or move to beauty/retail sector or any associated business servicing the beauty industry?
I think one of the key qualities required for beauty/retail, and especially in my area of market research, is being able to understand and identify the consumer journey. Being able to understand where consumers are shopping, what they are shopping and why they are shopping helps to define a retail strategy. Once you can review the market in the eyes of the consumer then you can build the right strategy to suit your particular needs, and in my case support that with data to measure the success of that strategy.
How is COPRA important to me?
COPRA is a great way for me to share market insights with a wide range of retailers. No matter how big or how small, each retailer will be experiencing similar issues and I know that the information I share on market dynamics can help these retailers realise they are not alone. Being able to share a view of what is happening in the UK market, and more widely at a Global level, means that we’re able to support retailers in defining a path back to growth during the most challenging of times.
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