Jamie Lane, ARC’s chief executive says the idea to start the store was to responsibly deliver the beauty of tomorrow, today.
Johannesburg - The technology in beauty adds to the overall experience any customer would want to have.
From consultations to skin mapping, technology has made the experience of beauty more seamless and this is something that people will be able to experience at the newly launched luxury beauty destination ARC in Sandton City.
The 500 square metre store is filled to the brim with the best in luxury make-up, skincare and fragrance including brands like Chanel, Dior, La Mer and Guerlain. The store has also set itself apart from others by bringing brands such as Huda Beauty, Wishful Skincare, Kayali, Beauty Blender and Atelier Versace into the country as the official stockist.
Jamie Lane, ARC’s chief executive said the idea to start the store was to responsibly deliver the beauty of tomorrow, today.
“We looked at different retailers around the world and those markets were destination beauty with everything put together in one store and that has really come to life so we wanted to do the same here. It is a ‘prestige’ beauty experience that takes pressure off,” he said.
The different touches throughout the store include different shopping experiences that include consultations and the use of technology to help with the beauty questions they may not have the answers to.
“The customers will get genuine answers and that is the role of technology. We have our service model as such that we don’t have service advisers dedicated to a particular brand. They are brand ARChitects. When we talk about changing the conversation and the beauty of tomorrow, today, we are talking about how you communicate beauty so we want to enable brands to tell their stories.
“When you walk around the store you see blue cards with QR codes for every brand to reveal their personality. If you want to learn more you scan the QR code and it takes you to our site where you can look at all the products and understand more about the brand.”
Lane said the store was also promoting responsibility and sustainability through their packaging.
“We have kick started the sustainability mission, Doing Beauty Better, to achieve an ambitious goal of zero waste. ARC takes a different approach to packaging; rather than requesting customers purchase shopper bags, they’re donating R5 to local environmental organisation, Greenpop, on your behalf, if you don’t take one of their locally-made, 100% recycled and reusable bags.”
He added that their main job was to inform the customer which meant transparency was key.
“There are other things which feed into decisions now as opposed to just buying a product. So we try to provide that engagement with technology so the consumer can do it themselves. If you go through this shop, you have the opportunity to scan, investigate different brands, and interact with a service advisor who can use technology to get to the outcome.
“You can have skin care diagnostics done using technology. We are using technology to present the business. You will see lots of moving mediums feeding throughout the store to really create that view- it is not stagnant, it is moving.”
Lane said while it was still early days, the feedback had been positive.
“We started our online store in April and we have had a lot of interaction through that. Social media has also been positive. It is gaining momentum now, a bricks and mortar store brings it to life.”
Lane said they had big plans in the pipeline to bring bigger brands to the country.
The Star