Lady Gaga's presentation on Amazon could mark a new era for the retailer – Adweek

In a move that has shocked the beauty retail industry, the upcoming Lady Laboratories beauty laboratories, Haus Laboratories, will be available on Amazon in nine countries starting in September. This launch has the potential to change the brand perception of the e-commerce platform.

"Many companies do not like to be on Amazon because they believe that it is degrading their brand," said Michelle Grant, head of retail sales at Euromonitor, a company that has been in the business. marketing studies. "So having Lady Gaga make an exclusivity with Amazon is very crucial."

Haus Laboratories is expected to go into production in September. Pre-orders will begin on the 15th of this day, July 15th. The line of beauty products includes six collections and nine limited edition duo series, with products such as lip gloss and shimmer powder. With its deployment on Amazon, the line should from the start become global, available in the United States, France, Germany, Singapore and Brazil, according to Business of Fashion.

The Amazon connection also means that the brand will have unprecedented capabilities in the supply chain, which will give it a potential advantage. customers will not be able to try it in person, but they will be able to receive the product quickly. However, says Grant, this could also hurt Haus, as there would be no real element in the hype of the beauty brand, like lines at the door of a store like Rihanna's Fenty Beauty .

"People will not be able to experience this product in space, which is always very important for beauty," said Grant. "She immediately gains international stature, but she has no shop to really market the product as Fenty did with Sephora."

In addition, there is the problem of the Amazon brand. Although the e-commerce giant has managed to create better brand experiences, whether it is a showcase dedicated to beauty products or the removal of third-party sellers who degrade the brand image, it remains to be seen. how Amazon will market the product. According to Grant, the extension of Amazon's advertising and marketing options gives Haus more scope for development beyond the performance-based marketing provided by the platform.

If so, it could lead to more brands accessing Amazon directly. Some digital native brands are already equipped, including the deodorant company Native. A new study from the Tinuiti marketing agency revealed that 26.6% of consumers had chosen Amazon as their top choice for online beauty product purchases, ahead of Ulta and Sephora. Consumer behavior seems to be changing just in time for the launch of Haus, which could lead other brands to start diving into Amazon waters.

"People are changing their minds because Amazon has become very powerful because of the heavy traffic," said Grant. "People are looking for brands there and you're not there and your competitor has to be there."

However, Jon Reily, vice president of global business strategy at Publicis Sapient, said Lady Gaga's popularity will "prompt customers to buy it wherever it's on Amazon," but for those who are interested in trying it, it's an "enigma."

"If she were in Ulta or Sephora or even CVS, she would have more new customers than Amazon, where I suspect the majority of consumers know what they want before they go," Reily said. "I'm not a consumer of the chain, but it seems to me that people would be more inclined to try something in a real environment, such as an Ulta store, rather than trying the new product via a page of product detail. they had no allegiance to Lady Gaga. There is a lot of competition on Amazon. "