The beauty brand market is highly competitive, and the hair tools division is heating up. Legacy brand, GHD, has a fresh strategy on how to remain a top-tier player in the category. Currently, the global hair styling tool market is forecasted to grow at an annual rate of 4.9 percent to reach US $38.4 billion by 2030. With challengers posing some of GHD’s toughest competition yet, the company is taking a proactive approach.
“We have to make sure that we are still uniquely positioned during this cost-of-living crisis, by remaining a significant company in the beauty tech space.” GHD chief executive officer Jeroen Temmerman said in an interview with Cosmetics Business.
The Plan to Strengthen Brand
GHD’s game plan to strengthen its brand position includes expanding into untapped markets and launching new products. The company is also committed to driving innovation and leveraging unexpected technology in stores.
In addition to research and development, the GHD team examined their in-store presence. They asked retail installation specialist, Lime Retail if they could help build an interactive stand to put in stores: “We are thinking about using sensor technology and putting a layer of mirrored glass in front of a standard screen.”
Ross Halford, senior account manager of Luxury Brands at Lime Retail, agreed to make that goal into a reality: “We can use Nexmosphere presence and lift and learn sensors, all of which work well with BrightSign players. But do you know what happens if you put a layer of mirrored glass in front of a normal screen? You reduce brightness by over 50 percent and make content almost impossible to see. Let’s get a high-bright version in the size you want to get the best possible output.” Halford and his team knew Bluefin could get them what they needed.
The Lime team mocked up a comparison demo to show a normal screen with pane of mirrored glass in front next to the Bluefin custom-built, High-Bright 21.5-inch screen with mirrored glass built in. The difference was obvious!
Bluefin International believes in going beyond standard limitations. By designing to unique environments, they enable customers to achieve their goals. Each Bluefin screen comes with the OS built in. For the GHD project, Halford chose BrightSign Built-In as the operating system. BrightSign Built-In works seamlessly with Nexmosphere sensors, all of which are housed in the Bluefin screen itself for a clean, simple design.
Hair Triggers!
When you approach the unit, sensors trigger the screen. The lights, which are also controlled, dim to 20 percent and content referencing the products being showcased plays. Once it finishes, the lights brighten back to 100 percent so shoppers can see themselves clearly in the mirrored glass. A call to action comes up, cueing them to select a product. When they select a product and pick it up, the unique content for that item is triggered, lights dim, and content plays. The Bluefin High-Bright custom screens make all the difference in whether the shopper can see and engage with the content or not.
[Display Drivers, When Image Matters]
This unit design keeps shoppers engaged for longer and acts as a virtual sales specialist for the brand, so they ended up being exactly what GHD needed to complete their beautiful interactive kiosks. “Bluefin really came through and designed for purpose,” Halford said. “GHD has embraced what we’ve recommended and they are really happy with the final product.”
The installation has been so successful for the GHD brand and product sales, “We continue to order more screens as the client rolls out more units,” Halford said. “In fact, they are building out an experience zone on Oxford Street, and have expanded to a two-sided screen format for new units rolling out in other stores in the UK.”
Lime and Bluefin continue to work with GHD as they expand their footprint in beauty stores across Europe.
