As we recover from the retail shifts initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s more important than ever for traditional beauty retailers to prove their value to customers with a sales team that enriches the customer experience. Here are three reasons that beauty advisor training is more important than ever.
It’s the Key to Reinvigorating Retail: During the COVID-19 pandemic, brick-and-mortar took a considerable hit, with many beauty retailers quickly pivoting to ecommerce sales. The pandemic fundamentally changed consumer buying behaviors, making it more important than ever for retailers to reinvigorate their brick-and-mortar experiences. Human connection with sales associates might just be the key to getting customers back in store. As Glossier CEO Emily Weiss said in an August 2020 letter, a return to physical retail is an opportunity for connection. “As a digital-first company, we have always viewed our offline experiences as a channel for connection and community, and that mandate has not changed.”
It Drives Awareness & Sales: Over sixty percent of shoppers trust the recommendations of friends, family and influencers when shopping for beauty products–demonstrating the power of a personal narrative. Retailers have the opportunity to capitalize off this buying behavior by equipping their sales associates with their own personal experiences with products. But many beauty advisors have never even tried most of the products on their shelves, making it impossible for them to share a personal story. By increasing sales associate trial and training, retailers can drive awareness and boost sales, initiating the word-of-mouth recommendations that customers trust most.
It Keeps Customers Coming Back: One positive interaction with an in-store beauty advisor is enough to keep customers coming back to the same retailer over and over. But just one negative interaction–where a sales associate fails to answer questions or seems clueless about a brand–can have the opposite effect, underscoring the importance of training in customer retention.
Retailers can’t do this alone: brands must equip sales associates with the training they need to be successful customer advisors. And with indie beauty brands growing like never before, many retail newcomers don’t have the large budgets or experience to execute nationwide training programs.
That’s where Landing can help: our Training Tool makes it easy for emerging brands to create and send training materials in minutes via a simple link. As a retail buyer, you can advise and help brands tailor their education materials in minutes, simplifying the back-and-forth that can often take weeks. Our app makes it easy for retail staff to access training materials on the sales floor just by scanning the barcode on the back of each product. Plus, coming soon: quizzes and games that incentivize retail staff with gratis to learn about indie brands.
