Boots has revealed that it is launching 30 new beauty halls across the UK as part of its drive to expand and improve its beauty offering amid tough competition from online rivals and supermarkets.
The new beauty halls are smaller versions of the reinvented beauty halls that can be found in the retailer’s 60 flagship stores such as Covent Garden in London and The Trafford Centre in Manchester. They will feature in smaller Boots stores in towns across the country, including Burton-on-Trent, Grantham, and Newport.
The halls will offer trending zones, discovery areas and consultation spaces, alongside a range of products, including cult brands like Drunk Elephant, Fenty Beauty and MAC. Boots highlighted that the variety of beauty brands stocked in its stores is growing rapidly, with 65 new lines added since the start of lockdown.
Over 100 new Boots Beauty Specialist roles will be added as part of this phase of the retailer’s reinvention project. There are now over 700 Specialists in its stores across the UK, providing personalised beauty and skincare advice.
Meanwhile, Boots revealed that its customers have been buying more beauty products as the UK eased out of lockdown and into the summer. Sales of beauty products in its stores and online increased 85% in the three months ended 31 May compared to the same period the previous year.
The health & beauty retailer said its market share for premium makeup and premium skin is now at its highest on record. It has seen strong sales for its celebrity beauty lines such as Fenty Beauty and Anastasia Beverly Hills and is expecting Kylie Cosmetics to be popular when it drops later this year.
“We are so pleased to launch even more reinvented beauty halls on UK high streets, furthering our position as the UK’s number one for beauty,” said Seb James, Managing Director of Boots UK.
“While our online sales continue to grow, the in-store experience is still hugely important, which is why we have continued to invest in our new-look beauty halls throughout the pandemic and beyond. As we are now out of lockdown and life is starting to look more normal, I am confident that our beautiful new beauty halls will help to drive more footfall into Boots as well as to local high streets more broadly.”
Recently filed accounts for Boots UK showed the business slipped into the red during 2020 amid the tough trading conditions on high streets during the pandemic. The business has been undergoing an overhaul of its store estate and product offering to win back shoppers from supermarkets and online rivals.
The most recent third-quarter results (to 31 May) from Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) show its operation in the UK saw like-for-like retail sales surge up 38.7% year-on-year. This followed declines of 17.9% and 9.1% in the previous two quarters. However, the group highlighted that its stores in travel locations such as airports and train stations continued to struggle.
NAM Implications:
- The halls will offer trending zones, discovery areas and consultation spaces…
- …alongside a range of products, including cult brands like Drunk Elephant, Fenty Beauty and MAC.
- Time to secure your place?
- Now and as part of the inevitable roll-out?
