hey guys welcome back thank you so much for coming on to my channel really really really
really appreciate it like thank you so much for jumping onto the channel but before we get started
i have so much knowledge to share so much content to share with you guys with reference to how to
get into the retail market how to penetrate the south african market and to become a supplier for
retailers in south africa which include all the big retailers i've worked with all of them i've
gotten clients to sit in front of buyers so before we get started hit the subscribe button click like
share this video with your friends leave a comment which means so much to me if you leave a comment
because that means um you're engaging with me and you you know you're asking valid questions there's
no such thing as a stupid question ask me anything suggest a video that you like for me to shoot
and that would be yeah amazing i'd really like that so please subscribe so today what we're
going to talk about i actually wasn't going to do this video this is a very impromptu video for me
i was watching a youtube channel i hope the lady doesn't mind me um you know naming her she's
not my friend i just really like um her content and um she does a great job in reviewing makeup
the lady's name is um damasi so i was watching the channel this morning and i thought to myself
you know it's quite important for me to kind of explain this so that it's understood and the
re and what she said in the video was very very educational so she was reviewing a range of estee
lauder an assortment of estee lauder foundations i think the assortment included 44 shades
and in the video she made such an interesting comment and said you know the balance of this
of these shades a lot of the shades are for lighter skinned women and the other balance
which is you know far less than the lighter shades are for dark skinned women and i thought to myself
you know what she's making such a valid point but a lot of consumers or even people are interested
in going to the market don't really understand why the assortment is either that wide or why the
assortment is you know such few shades for for darker for darker toned ladies so before i even
jump onto how we see it in the context of buying this video is going to address how do sales
and sales figures drive the assortment how do sales and sales figures drive the assortment
i know in on my videos i did cover um quite briefly on how buyers look at past history that
is what tells them what to buy for the upcoming season all right so there are range of factors
that um play in you know one selecting a specific assortment i'm just going to mention a few
the first thing that influences buying assortment is the sales figures that happened week in week
out within a season a season comprises of most times four months right so when estellardo was
buying that range that range is influenced but what by but what the by what the consumer is
saying they don't just go up out in the market and say okay we're going to put out 44 shades
and the balance of the shades are going to be for light-skinned women and the other balance of the
shades are going to be for dark-skinned women and we're only going to give seven shades to to the
dark-skinned women and the balance of the 33 are going to be for the light-skinned woman it doesn't
work like that firstly esther louder on its own is quite a i think i would say um premium brand
in the makeup space right so number one consider that it's a premium brand in the makeup space
number two the sales and sales figures influence the assortment number three the trends so i'm
going to cover these three points so number one it's a premium brand so because it's a premium
brand estee lauder went out into the market to understand who is their customer how much do
they make how much do they earn what is their disposable income when it comes to makeup after
they've paid for all the other expenses how much is left in their budget for them to buy makeup
and then they developed a product for that specific customer where did they get that data
they probably at the inception of launching these foundations they had to test the market and to see
what shades are working at what price points and when you walk into an estee lauder you'll
see there's probably a foundation for 400 grand a foundation for 600 red and a foundation for
700 rand each foundation has its own function and does a different thing but fulfills a different
need for that customer and that need it's you guys who tell us what you need retail is all
about the customer it's not about buyers never buy what they want it's not an emotional choice
it's a very scientific it's a very scientific way of choosing product because you have to
look at your data you have to look at what your data is telling you for you to buy a range so
as i was saying choosing product is quite a scientific thing you know for buyers
we never select product that we like everything is data driven you know you walk into
that department and you fall in love with the product that's what we always say i fell
in love with the product because you inherit that department okay so number one sellout is a premium
product so they went out into the market they did their research they understood their customer
and they fulfilled the need of that customer so massage statement in that video was
that the bigger assortment is for the lighter skinned so i think the point that i'm trying to
to make here is that i don't want people to think that you know products are chosen
you know for that color skin people and then our people are not catered for that is not um
what it is but yes there are factors economically that play into being able to afford that product
right and what happens in that in that instance is that estee lauder then will notice that the market
is growing like crazy and let's say revlon has a huge market share for dark-skinned women right
and they want to steal that market what then they will do they will introduce an o open price point
range it's an opp an opening price point opening price point means they will then engineer a range
which is targeted to a larger scale of customers that they are looking for that they want to attain
right so as i was saying you know we never chew we never sit and think to ourselves
let's only cater for this customer the customer is the one who leads us to where you want us to
go the customer is king for retail so everything that is selected is very scientific okay so we've
covered the point that it's um it's a premium it's a premium brand the other thing that i wanted to
to cover is that the shades the 44 shades that they've probably put you know on shelf
it is a trend that has started in the makeup space because if i remember a few seasons ago
a lot of these makeup places they didn't have such a huge and wide range but then there was a huge
shift in the market and there was a huge shift in the trends
where they realized all the makeup brands realized that you know we are such dynamic
creatures as human so many skin tones so many skin colors the comment that she made was so
vital and it was so important that she raised it that she noticed that the 40 of the 44 shades
a lot of the shades were for the white women and the fewer shades with for the black women
and i just want to make it very clear that in the buying cycle it is very hard to
be biased and do an emotional and emotional selection if you are a real and true br buy
at heart because more often than not i can guarantee you a hundred percent of the time
you select product based on data and the data is history sales history how you trade it in a
season the design brief what the designers have picked up in the trends that are happening in
the entire world we're usually influenced by the us the uk and asia and what is your anchor
in your business so you know there are those product lines that you buy in season in season out
that you have no choice but to buy because the customer is always expecting to see
that range in stores and that is basically called your basic range and that that's your money makers
you know that's your core buy that's where you make your your kaching so more often than not i
just want to make it clear that you know buying is a very scientific way of buying and the question
that i wanted to answer was why are there so many shades for white women and the answer to that is
the sales figures is what drives a buy a buy is driven by sales figures and those sales figures
are influenced by what does the customer want what does she want what is she asking for season
in season out so we need to as entrepreneurs and suppliers be quite plugged into your
into your product and to know what's happening and to be influenced by the customer and a lot
of the time if you are doing what needs to be done you will know what you can put forward to buyers
so i think this video was an impromptu video i just wanted to answer that question is why
is there a bigger balance of certain shades um than there are for others
and it's a scientific choice um it's what the customer is voting for week in with week out
and what we do we read the sales and we keep on ordering what the sales are showing us
so yeah thank you for jumping onto my channel please hit subscribe and the like button and share
this video with your entrepreneur friends who you know are in this business and i'll catch you on
my next video is going to cover at what point does a buyer look at your product at what point does a
buyer look at your product please make sure you watch my next video and i'll see you next time