From next week, Boots will begin to re-open beauty halls with new safe shopping measures in place, including no contact beauty advice, new product testing methods, upgraded colleague PPE, new social distancing guides and equipment and customer hand sanitising stations.
A recent study by No7 found that 80 per cent of British women were more likely to feel good about themselves if they wore make-up during lockdown. The reason? Beauty products can be a boost for mental health and wellbeing. Beauty brands on Boots.com have been helping customers to feel good during this period, and now thanks to new safety measures, Boots can extend their beauty ranges in store, too.
Joanna Rogers, Trading Director and VP of Beauty at Boots, and CEW Board member says: “The health and wellbeing of our customers and colleagues will always be our first priority. We have explored just how our customers can enjoy our much-loved beauty halls and shop for the beauty brands they love with confidence, in a socially distant way.”
Boots Beauty Specialists will be available to offer brand-neutral advice and guidance through touch-free consultations and can chat through hints and tips on application without the need for physical contact. Boots is also trialling online consultations with its Beauty Specialists following the successful launch of virtual appointments with No7 and Liz Earle advisors. From tailored product recommendations to application tips, customers can get personalised, expert skincare and make-up advice from trusted advisors over the phone or a video call, from the comfort of their own home.
For those who may face the high street with trepidation, Boots is exploring geo-targeted ads that will let people know when their local store is less busy, and customers can also still choose to shop on Boots.com. After limiting some beauty categories on Boots.com to prioritise essential toiletries and medicine orders, we will be bringing back more beauty and skincare products and launching even more, new, cult brands very soon.
“A lot of customers have turned to shopping online since the start of lockdown with hygiene products and toiletries on Boots.com enjoying a huge surge,” adds Joanna Rogers. “During lockdown, sales and searches on Boots.com for skincare and haircare also grew. ‘Hair dye’ was the most popular search term last week, whilst the waiting list for the NEW No7 ADVANCED Retinol 1.5% Complex Night Concentrate had over 100,000 people sign up – the largest ever for a single product on Boots.com.”
Testers for make-up, fragrance and skincare will be removed from stores and will be reintroduced when it is safe to do so. When they return, testers won’t be on public display in the beauty aisles, and will be dispensed by a Beauty Advisor with strict hygiene and hand-washing measures in place. Perfumes will be spritzed onto an individual fragrance blotter, liquid foundations will be pumped into a disposable pot and powders will be swiped with a single-use sponge and placed into a disposable pot.
