Photo: Inside Natura’s São Paulo, Brazil, store.
Natura Cosméticos is the leading cosmetics brand in Brazil, but the beauty company is looking to expand its customer base with a brick-and-mortar approach.
At the end of April, the sustainability-minded brand opened a retail store in São Paulo, Brazil, also home to its global headquarters. The store is one of two operated by the $2.4-billion company, which just a year ago added e-commerce to its direct sales model. Natura opened its first store in Paris eight years ago as part of a multi-channel operation in France.
The São Paulo store was more than two years in the making, including a test run in a smaller Brazilian city, where Natura found that brand recall increased as a result of its brick-and-mortar presence. In the design phase, the company even constructed life-size mockups of two different concepts, in order to collect feedback from stakeholders.
The retail strategy is part of a larger effort to connect to consumers who, historically, have not formed strong ties to Natura. For example, management believes an in-store experience will draw young consumers in big cities, where direct selling is not as widespread, as well as crowds shopping for holidays and other special occasions.
According to João Paulo Ferreira, Vice President of Sales, the model creates important synergies for Natura, attracting shoppers who will eventually buy through all available channels, including the brand’s consultants, who number 1.5 million in Brazil and 400,000 across international markets.
