Service angle spurs healthy cosmetics growth at Arbor - Arbor Drug

Service angle spurs healthy cosmetics growth at Arbor

At Arbor Drug in Detroit, senior cosmetic buyer David Van Howe said that sales of cosmetics and fragrances are growing at close to double-digit rates, and he believes the cosmeticians are definitely responsible for the growth.

"They are in our stores actively selling product. That's why we're able to grow the category," Van Howe said.

The average chain drug store generates between 5 percent and 6 percent of its total sales from cosmetics, but at Arbor, cosmetics accounts for a much higher percentage, and Van Howe says that's clearly because of the strong presence of cosmeticians.

Cosmetics is also a high-SKU category. Some chains can only turn their inventory twice a year, but Arbor more than triples that average.

"The cosmeticians are aware of what's selling," Van Howe explains. "They know what's hot, so consequently we're never out of stock and we're never overstocked."

All 102 Arbor stores have at least one full-time cosmetician on duty 40 hours a week; higher-volume stores have two.

Arbor also has a cosmetic supervisor program; five supervisors are each responsible for 20 stores, where they train cosmeticians and help with merchandising and planograming.

At Arbor, cosmeticians order and get deliveries once a week. They use sales reports and order books to determine past movements, and they can order singles to help Arbor manage the movement of slower-turning SKUs.

Arbor is currently working on a system that will tie ordering into POS transactions, and Van Howe says that when the chain gets to this point, it will generate even stronger growth for the category. "It'll simply free the cosmeticians up so they can do even more selling," he says.

To keep its cosmeticians informed about new developments, Arbor sponsors one annual all-day training school in the spring, as well as about four vendor schools, usually one per quarter.

Van Howe says his annual school, now in its second year, has turned out to be his most effective educational vehicle. "We give each manufacturer an hour," he says. "They discuss problem areas with the cosmeticians. They show their new products. They talk about upcoming promotions. It's been very effective."

At this seminar, Arbor brings all its cosmeticians in for the day and splits them up into small work groups of 10 to 12 people each.

Van Howe says the smaller groups tend to relax people and to spark conversations. "A girl gets to hear one of her counterparts talk about something that she's also had a problem with, and it really helps to get things going."

Arbor also schedules three or four cosmetic schools a year, day-long events that are focused on one vendor.

"The scheduling depends on whether someone has something major happening," Van Howe says. "We like to use these schools to focus on events that may be a little complicated, but that also seem to provide opportunity for growing the business, like Revlon's relaunch of its eye color category this spring, for example."

Vendor training videos are passed along for the cosmeticians to watch on their spare time, and Van Howe says he has no problem with compliance.

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