Marketing strategies of global cosmetic brands 【Luxury brands】

Let's now examine the five luxury brands Estée Lauder, Chanel, Lancôme, Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent, based on data gathered from visitors to each of their official websites to study how each brand is attracting their customers.

This research was conducted using Dockpit, VALUES' online behavioral analytics tool that enables users to analyze competitor websites and research trends within a browser, using behavioral data that is updated monthly. Takae Kochigami, a beauty analyst who herself worked at an overseas office for a luxury brand, also contributed her perspective and comments regarding the results of the analysis.

Below is data regarding the general performance of each brand's official website between January 2022 and December 2022.

We can see that Dior has by far the highest number of visitors on its website, with 5,520,000 visitors. This shows strong brand awareness among Japanese consumers, the large number of fans, and the success in attracting customers online. Takae Kochigami analyzed the high number of website visitors in the following way.

Takae Kochigami :
"Dior frequently holds events worldwide. One of the reasons for the high number of website visits may be that the events attract visitors."

Chanel has the next highest number of website visits. Of the five brands, Chanel has the longest average time spent on the website and the lowest bounce rate. It can be inferred that they offer high-quality content and there are many enthusiastic Chanel fans. Kochigami states that "the opening of the ‘Gabrielle Chanel: Manifeste de Mode’ exhibit in Japan in 2022 may have also had an impact," and it is possible that the exhibit influenced some of the visits to the Chanel official website.

Lancôme has the highest percentage of new users among the five brands at 72.4%. This may be due to Lancôme's aggressive efforts to attract new customers, and conversely, Yves Saint Laurent, which has the lowest percentage of new users, is focusing on their CRM strategy to establish repeat website visitors and customers. Estée Lauder and Yves Saint Laurent had about the same number of website visitors.

Next, we look at the sex ratio of each brand's official website visitors. The high percentage of female customers is a common characteristic of cosmetics and skincare brands. Estée Lauder's percentage of men is noteworthy.

Estée Lauder has the smallest percentage of male visitors out of the four other brands, at 9.3%.
Takae Kochigami :
"Estée Lauder supports breast cancer research and education as part of its Breast Cancer Campaign, so it's no surprise that a high percentage of their customers are women."

On the other hand, the other four brands have a male ratio of around 20%, a notable difference from Estée Lauder. Dior and Chanel, which have particularly large numbers of visitors, have a male visitor ratio of around 23%. It can be assumed that Dior and Chanel are able to resonate with men, which leads to their high number of website visitors. In this respect, Estée Lauder, which has fewer website visitors than other brands, may be targeting women specifically in its marketing.

Next, we present the age of visitors to each brand’s website. Dior and Yves Saint Laurent have a high percentage of visitors in their 20s, while Estée Lauder and Lancôme have a higher percentage as the age group increases.

The next step is to find out which products and categories are popular based on the most frequently-searched keywords when visiting each brand's website.

The top inflow keyword for Estée Lauder was "Advanced Night Repair," a serum that can be seen advertised in TV commercials.

Chanel tends to be searched by product category, such as cosmetics and eye shadow, rather than by product name. In addition to cosmetics, its fashion items such as bags, earrings, and watches are also frequently searched. It may be that people often consider Chanel items based on "what can be purchased at Chanel" rather than "a specific product under Chanel."

For Lancôme, people searched for its serums and foundations, with its TEINT IDOLE ULTRA WEAR LIQUID foundation ranking especially high. This product is so popular that it has been inducted into a cosmetics website's “hall of fame.”

Dior, like Chanel, tended to be searched for by product category. In the case of Dior, it seems that the number of searches searching by the different ways of writing the brand name are split in the rankings, with people searching for ディオール (written in Japanese), Dior, and Christian Dior.

Yves Saint Laurent's ROUGE VOLUPTÉ SHINE was at the top of the list, along with the "lipstick" product category. This product can be engraved (personalized) and can be used as a gift.

Hand cream was also ranked in the top ten by several of the other brands. This may be due to the psychological effect that "cosmetics are too expensive to buy, but hand cream is affordable," and "as a gift, the luxury brand name makes it feel special."

Next, let's look at the traffic source for each brand. The chart shows the percentage of website visitors from each traffic source, such as organic search and display ads.

*In Dockpit, "social media" includes links posted by official accounts and general user accounts, etc. Inflows via display ads in social media are included in "display ads," not "social media."

Estée Lauder had a particularly high percentage of inflows from social media, suggesting that they are focusing on this as a means of attracting customers. Yves Saint Laurent had the second highest percentage of traffic via social media after Estée Lauder.

Chanel has a higher percentage of visitors coming from organic searches and listing ads than other brands. The brand's high brand awareness is probably the reason for its strength in organic search and SEO. Also, due to the strength of organic search, it appears that the brand is also putting more effort into listing ads.

Lancôme received higher inflows from display ads and affiliate ads than the other four brands.

The number Dior's website visitors across organic search, listing ads, social media, and display ads are around the same, indicating that the brand is utilizing equally. It is likely that the company is able to attract a large number of visitors because of its focus on multiple methods of attracting visitors.

From which social media websites does each brand receive their inflows? The graph below shows that LINE accounts for an overwhelmingly high percentage of the total number of visitors for each brand. This is a trend that can only be seen in Japan, where people are very familiar with using LINE.

Takae Kochigami :
"Reservations for a brand event or pop-up store are almost always registered through LINE. This is due to the fact that LINE is the most popular communication tool in Japan."

On the other hand, in addition to LINE, Chanel is also seeing a noticeable influx of visitors from Instagram. It is believed that Instagram is a good match to convey Chanel's brand.

To find out the preferences among the website visitors of the luxury brands, we took a look at the apps they usually use.

Instagram and MUJI apps ranked high across all brands. MUJI has gained the support of many fans for its fashion and cosmetics and other simple yet high-quality products. It may be that many luxury brand lovers are conscientious of the kind of high-quality, mindful living that MUJI promotes.

Hot Pepper Beauty was also ranked for many of the brands. Hot Pepper Beauty introduces beauty salons, esthetic clinics, fashion, and other beauty-related stores, and can be said to be an app used by both users that are just everyday users to those invested in style. It is likely that luxury brand enthusiasts are mindful not only of cosmetics but also for fashion and beauty in general.

TVer, an official TV streaming service offered in cooperation with commercial TV stations, that allows users to watch popular dramas, variety shows, anime, etc. for free ranked in the top apps used among Estée Lauder website visitors.

TVer has more users in their 40s and 50s, which may be consistent with the trend of middle to senior age groups among Estée Lauder website visitors.

Both GU and UNIQLO ranked across all brands. For Yves Saint Laurent, GU was ranked second. Perhaps consumers feel the need to keep expenses low for non-cosmetics purchases by shopping for expensive-looking affordable items to spare money for cosmetics and skincare. Considering that most visitors to the Yves Saint Laurent website were in their 20s, it is likely that in some cases the products are chosen as treat for oneself or as a gift for an acquaintance.

Takae Kochigami :
"When you are in your 20s, your consideration for fashion and cosmetics may not be the same. When we interviewed a woman in her 20s, she said, 'I can't afford Tom Ford clothes, but I can afford Tom Ford eyeliner.' Moreover, this person preferred a girly style, unlike the luxurious and glamorous Tom Ford brand. I think that many people in other generations think of fashion and cosmetics as two separate things."

According to the "Research on Cosmetics Purchases via E-commerce" in Japan conducted by Lifex, Inc. in 2022, about 60% of consumers "do not check the physical products in stores before purchasing cosmetics online for the first time. The most common reason for this was "because the information from the official (website, social media, etc.) was pretty complete and sufficient.”
Reference: https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000023.000080048.html

High-quality information from official websites and social media can have a significant impact on purchases. In the case of luxury brands, expectations for the brand are high to begin with, and each brand has enhanced the content of its official website and social media to fit the luxury branding. As a result, visitors are less likely to feel uncomfortable after purchasing a product and are likely to receive the image and value they expected.

[Research overview]
・Analysis was based on data from online activity and user attribute information, collected with cooperation from VALUES’ nationwide consumer panel
・Period of data collection: January 2022 - January 2023
*Volume is estimated based on Japan’s Internet population, based on the rate of occurrence among VALUES-owned consumer panel
*Target devices: Both PC and smartphone

▼Data from Dockpit was used in this case study. Dockpit is an online behavior analytics tool provided by VALUES, Inc., and it allows you to access online behavioral data (updated monthly) via your browser so you can research competitor websites and investigate trends. There is a FREE version of Dockpit, so if you are interested in using it, please register below.