Christmas shopping used to mean packed department store counters with last-minute gift seekers jostling beneath twinkling lights and towering holiday displays.
Now, Christmas shopping has moved indoors, with shoppers filling stockings from the sofa and rather than being attended to by sales associates in red-and-green sweaters.
It is shoppers like Quinn Kelsey who keep department store executives up at night.
The 38-year-old Denver resident gets makeup ideas from TikTok videos and other social media content, not from beauty counter salespeople. She uses an AI chatbot to get product recommendations that fit her budget and to see how a specific foundation or lipstick would look on her. When she buys, it is usually from Amazon.
“I use ChatGPT as my personal beauty consultant,” Kelsey said. “Department stores? I’ll walk through one for the decor, but they’ve basically lost me unless I can get the same product-research experience there that I can get scrolling through my phone at home.”
Once the ultimate beauty destination, department stores lost sales and their authority as skincare and makeup trendsetters starting in the late 1990s. That was when the growth of Sephora and Ulta Beauty made shopping for cosmetics more playful and self-service.
But fast-changing consumer preferences have retailers of all types racing to outdo one another for a slice of the $129 billion (€110bn) US beauty and personal care market. The competition is fiercer than ever due to the ease of e-commerce.
Amazon, which has slowly added premium beauty brands to its massive selection, is the nation’s largest online seller of beauty and personal care products, according to market research company Euromonitor International.
Social media has also provided new sources of beauty guidance. Instead of store advisers, many consumers turn to videos from influencers, beauty brand founders, or dermatologists for advice. Shoppers also turn to TikTok and Instagram for information about “dupes” — drugstore versions of more expensive products.
“Stores are more of the showroom, but the spark itself is happening in TikTok,” Jake Bjorseth, founder of the Gen-Z advertising agency Trndsttrs, said.
To keep up, companies with both physical and online stores are investing in upgrades to deliver an experience beauty fans like Kelsey cannot get anywhere else.
Macy’s and Nordstrom, for example, renovated the beauty floors of their flagship New York stores to add more space, ultra-luxury brands and cutting-edge technology. At Nordstrom, customers can book an appointment to get robot-applied eyelash extensions for $170 (€145).
The makeovers were launched in time for the holiday shopping season, which accounts for about one-quarter of all US “prestige” beauty sales, according to market research firm Circana.
Department stores chasing beauty sales are introducing some of Sephora’s self-service features — Nordstrom has installed a “beauty bar” with brightly lit mirrors where customers can try on makeup from different counters, while trying to distinguish themselves from speciality and online rivals.
Executives from Macy’s and Nordstrom said the latest changes were designed to create an engaging atmosphere that encourages shoppers to stay longer and spend more. The overhaul at Macy’s Herald Square included comfortable seating and skin-analysis devices to support products priced at hundreds of dollars.
In the Parfums de Marly section, customers sample scents while wearing a virtual reality headset that immerses them in an 18th-century chateau, the French fragrance maker cites as its inspiration.
“This is the future of beauty,” Nicolette Bosco, Macy’s vice president of beauty, said, referring to the interactive technology the department store considers central to offering shoppers an elevated experience.
The company expects to redesign the beauty departments of 40 more stores. The facelifts are intended to draw shoppers of all ages, Macy’s Inc CEO Tony Spring said.
“We’re trying very hard to take the idea of a department store and make it intimate and friendly and convenient,” he said.
Since becoming chief executive of the department store’s parent company last year, Spring has focused on reviving Macy’s by targeting higher-spending customers who drive sales at Bloomingdale’s and the upscale beauty retailer Bluemercury, both of which Macy’s owns.
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Nordstrom unwrapped the reimagined beauty floor of its midtown Manhattan store in September. It includes an area where shoppers can test beauty tools such as LED light-therapy masks and a “fragrance finder” machine that provides a dry whiff of up to 60 scents.
Nordstrom also expanded the beauty treatment area at the New York flagship and a few other stores to include a medical spa offering Botox and dermal filler injections priced at $575 (€490) to $1,050 (€900).
Sephora redefined beauty shopping by installing mirrors and disposable applicators near compact displays of both tester products and ready-to-grab items.
The DIY concept was in significant contrast to department store counters staffed by beauty advisers who oversaw product sampling and retrieved fresh products from locked drawers.
But even innovators have to renovate. Sephora, a division of French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, is updating its 720 stores in the US and Canada.
The stations where customers have their hair and makeup done are being moved to the side for greater privacy. The chain, known for long cash-register lines, plans to expedite checkouts by equipping salespeople with devices that accept card and contactless payments.
Ulta, which stocks drugstore beauty brands like Maybelline as well as high-end brands, has had in-store hair salons since its founding in 1990. It is adding ear piercing, testing robotic manicures, and plans to add robotic lash extensions, like Nordstrom’s, to its service menu next year.
Walmart has moved into the turf of speciality retailers and department stores with products from higher-end and independent brands. The nation’s largest retailer put beauty counters in 100 stores this year, where customers can try products.
After working at a fashion event at Nordstrom’s Manhattan flagship, Ivan Leon, a 35-year-old freelance stylist, headed to the Tom Ford fragrance counter.
He walked away an hour later having spent $537 (€460) on two bottles of perfume: a unisex scent named Bitter Peach and another named Vanilla Sex.
Leon planned to wear them together, a practice known as “fragrance layering” that he heard about on social media. The Nordstrom salesperson caught his interest by suggesting Tom Ford scents could be applied in tandem.
“It’s kind of cool when you combine two scents and it makes something new,” Leon said. “I think it helps the psyche and builds confidence.”
Leon, who typically buys his fragrances online, offers department stores hope but also represents the uphill climb they face, given customers’ multidimensional shopping habits.
TikTok is not only spawning trends like “tired girl” and “blurred skin” makeup, but is also becoming a place where users discover and buy from new brands.
TikTok Shop, an e-commerce feature the social media platform launched in 2023, has emerged as the nation’s seventh-largest online seller of beauty and personal care products, trailing only Target, according to Euromonitor.
Macy’s and Nordstrom’s online market shares are 1% and less than 0.5%, respectively, and both are declining, the market research firm said.
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Amazon, which accounts for almost half of online beauty and personal care sales, aims to replicate the in-store experience with virtual makeup try-on tools, such as Sephora’s 2016 launch.
Sephora, meanwhile, unveiled in March an AI-powered online tool that uses selfies to identify potential skin concerns and make product recommendations.
