Info Site Beautystat.com Launches
by Andrea Nagel
Posted Friday January 23, 2009
From WWD Issue 01/23/2008
Photo By Courtesy Photo
Ron Robinson, a 20-year research and development executive for some of beauty’s leading firms — the
Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., Avon Products Inc. and Revlon Inc., to name a few — had come to believe his role
as a scientist and product developer was contributing to women’s confusion about skin care products.
“I was part of the problem,” he said about his past life, one where he concocted everything from antiaging
serums to acne fighters for the industry’s best and brightest marketers.
Robinson, who most recently served as global director of skin care product innovation at Avon, left the
firm in May 2008 to embark on a new career: informer. For the past seven months, he has interviewed
hundreds of women across the country to find out why and how they make decisions to buy a product. He
was a little surprised by what he found.
“In general, there is a lot of confusion and dissatisfaction,” said Robinson. “I guess there is a sense of
skepticism given the strong claims
Beautystat.com, a Web site he founded with a Silicon Valley technology expert, dedicated to providing
women (and men) with unbiased views and opinions of products, as well as advice on which items may
actually target their specific needs. Currently, the site offers members recommendations on facial and eye
treatments. In the spring, it will offer color, foundation, concealer, mascara, lip, nail and body treatment
recommendations. And in the fall, hair treatments will be recommended.
“My research showed that the information they most rely on is from friends with similar skin concerns.
This site will offer that to them on a bigger scale,” he said.
Beautystat, which launched the first week of January, has about 400 subscribers, most of whom are
Robinson’s friends and family. (He hasn’t yet reached out to the trade or to many of his business contacts
so as to keep the site under wraps.) Given the launch plan, Robinson estimates he will have more than
500,000 active members in less than a year. Each subscriber is encouraged to chat about his or her favorite
products, and also to take part in some site queries. For example, the site’s Voting Booth section asks users
about shopping habits, likes and dislikes and what’s on their mind.
This data has several uses. For one, it allows Robinson to best tailor the online experience to each
individual subscriber, from product recommendations to targeted advertising. It also helps him build a
database of demographic and psychographic data, which can be customized or syndicated to manufacturers
and retailers. Each subscriber also must answer 12 short beauty questions upon becoming a member,
another way Robinson can target info to each user.
Robinson expects to generate about $500,000 in first year revenues on his site. Beginning today, products
can be purchased from Beautystat.com via a partnership with Amazon — however, Robinson’s goal is to
have an affiliate program set up with retailers whereby a subscriber could purchase items by clicking a link
that brings them to a retailer site. A percentage of every sale would go to Beautystat. Robinson plans to
target retailers such as Drugstore.com and sephora.com, among others.
Contributing to most of the site’s content — such as The Buzz, which talks about everything from new
products to trends — is Beautystat’s editor-in-chief, Charu Suri, who also serves as editor to CVS’s in-store
beauty glossy, Reinventing Beauty. Dr. Jeffrey Dover, a dermatologist who sells an eponymous skin care
line at CVS, will also contribute to Beautystat, joining Dr. Adam Geyer, a Manhattan-based dermatologist
who currently has an article addressing eczema on the site.
Robinson assured that Dr. Dover is well aware of the site’s mantra: “Beautystat does not support bias or
favoritism toward any beauty company, product or tip. It simply reports on what works.”
Beautystat looks to grow substantially when it creates applications for Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and
YouTube, the Internet’s major social networking sites. For example, Facebook, said Robinson, has about 25
million female members, many of whom he considers a major source of membership in the coming
months. A Facebook application is planned for February. MySpace is planned for May, and a mobile
application for Blackberry and iPhone users is planned for fall. Creating inbound links from other social
network sites and blogs looks to grow subscriber numbers, too.
Mobile applications is where Robinson’s dream of providing at-a-glance information for consumers has
such large potential.
“What if you could get product info at point of purchase?” asked Robinson, who answered his own
question by saying how many more women would actually make purchases if they could have unbiased
opinions at their fingertips.
Copyright ©2008 Fairchild Fashion Group. All rights reserved.
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