Macy’s/Herald Square Opens Impulse Beauty
The executive team at Macy’s gathered at their Herald Square store in New York City on November 19 to open the much anticipated Impulse Beauty at this location. The retailer currently has Impulse Beauty in 54 doors and is planning on opening an additional 40 more doors this year.
Impulse Beauty occupies what was the Arcade in the Beauty Department. All of the vendors in Impulse Beauty are new to Macy’s, according to Macy’s Inc.’s Cindy Harper, Vice President/Merchandise Manager of Impulse Beauty. “This is a platform that allows us to go after trendy, niche vendors.”
“Impulse Beauty is a completely open-sell gondola format. It allows the customer to touch, feel and play,” explained Ms. Harper. Key items are displayed on end caps.
“It was very important to create a unified presentation of multiple vendors in an image that is a Macy’s statement of our overall corporate image. But we allowed our vendors to have the creativity and the freedom to tell their story in their way,” declared Macy’s
Steven Kolb, Director of Creative Planning-Cosmetics. “We want Impulse Beauty to attract a younger customer, so the space has to be in the right location. We position our graphics, our signage and our vendors so that it is most impactful to our customers. We want to make sure we have a good mix of product and that the merchandise flows together.”
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| Macy’s Impulse Beauty at Herald Square | Bare Escentuals’ installation allows customers to touch and test the products. | Macy’s Nancy Schmidt, Cindy Harper and Muriel Gonzalez at the kick-off of Impulse Beauty at Herald Square |
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| Sue Devitt Beauty’s Eric Horowitz (2nd r.) with Macy’s Steven Kolb, Regina Vespaziani, Ms. Harper and Trevor Hayes | BeneFit and its Brow Bar had already occupied the space where it is currently located in Impulse Beauty. | BeneFit and its Brow Bar close up |
When a new Impulse Beauty opens, vendors come in to train the Sales Associates. Then they return on a seasonal basis to update and train. “We also have training videos,” Ms. Harper noted. “These are used for new Sales Associates or to refresh. The Sales Associates are cross-trained on all brands and are not dedicated to any one line.”
Two brands that already were in this location are M·A·C and BeneFit. Although M·A·C is not in any other Impulse locations, it was decided to not move the brand to another location in the Herald Square store. BeneFit is in Impulse Beauty at other Macy’s. Some of the other brands at Impulse Beauty are Bare Escentuals, Cargo, Laura Geller, Smashbox, Stila, Studio Gear, Sue Devitt Beauty, Too Faced, Urban Decay, bliss®, Clarisonic, Dr. Brandt, Peter Thomas Roth and hair care products including Lea Journo and T-3. There are no fragrances in Impulse Beauty.
According to Ms. Harper, a category that has done well in this destination is the Impulse Beauty on the Go displays. They are adjacent to registers for quick purchase.
The Hot Picks table at the center of Impulse Beauty features the hottest items. “Our Sales Associates throughout the country can pull
the hot items their customers are interested in so each Hot Picks table can be a little unique in every door,” explained Ms. Harper. “It empowers our Sales Associates that they can pick the ‘winners.’”
“We listen to our Sales Associates. What do they want, what’s working, what’s not working. We really make adjustments based on what they and our customers are telling us,” she continued.
Walking the space with Beauty Fashion, Ms. Harper explained that the Impulse Beauty wall has really been animated. “At Urban Decay, we have an amazing False Eyelash presentation that is just blowing out. Urban Decay plays ‘bad girl’ to Too Faced’s ‘girly girl.’ Studio Gear is our brush authority.
Bare Escentuals is a big volume vendor for us. It ranks #1 in many of our stores.” Eric Horowitz, Chief Executive Officer of Sue Devitt Beauty said, “Impulse Beauty has been terrific for us, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. We’ve opened up Impulse Beauty in 45 key markets, which has given us a national presence.” BF