Beautyque NYC is Reinventing

BEAUTYQUE NYC

IS REINVENTING

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Amid the pandemic, a new way to experience beauty has launched disrupting the traditional retail space both for consumers and brands. Beautyque NYC Co-Founders Sonia Khemiri and Sylvie Giret, made a major pivot in their new interactive, virtual shopping, education, and beauty brand experience for customers – all from the comfort of the consumer’s home.

Both Sonia and Slyvie are French

BEAUTYQUE NYC.

born but US-based businesswomen who met and started collaborating after they created their own

kPHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF

skin care lines.

“Beautyque NYC is not only a place to shop. Before anything else, it’s a place to learn about beauty, wellness, and skincare and to discover new brands they connect to”, Sonia explains. “Too many times, consumers are influenced

RETAIL EXPERIENCE FOR CUSTOMERS

by trends, what they should use, buy, or do when it comes to beauty.”

At Beautyque, customers are given the opportunity to understand and make their own choices for beauty and wellness. “Beautyque is a non-aggressive environment where consumers can browse, attend educational, or brand events, look up videos where they can hear directly from the founder what their brand is about, and choose wisely, also by discovering brands not necessarily popular yet, but set new standards in their category”, Sylvie explains.

Before shopping, Beautyque’s primary mission is to help consumers understand, learn, and even in some cases engage with its beauty partner brands.

“We want to bring people topics they’re interested in, that makes them grow and be more confident about their beauty,” Sylvie continues. “And brands that have a solid base, mission, and set of values, and of course high-quality products that deliver results.”

The store experience was important in the design for this new retail and brand experience model. “We want them to feel they’re visiting a store. People miss going to a store, trying products first-hand, talking to someone to help, and shopping in a nice and exciting environment”, Sonia believes. “Creating excitement is part of the shopping experience.”

Integrating a 3D virtual experience is a pivotal difference for Beautyque NYC. “Creating a Web site is so basic

Beautyque NYC Co-Founders Sonia Khemiri and Sylvie Giret.

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and boring, and there are already plenty out there. We wanted to translate and copy what we initially wanted to create in our physical platform”, both Sonia and Sylvie explain. “We did not invent the 3D technology, but we invented the process of combining them all together. The 3D and the Web site to be the closest possible to a real physical experience, combining a showroom and a store experience.”

This experience model also showcases Beautyque’s brands and gives them a place where they can shine and be displayed like in a real store and test the response from consumers to their products and messages.

“With the COVID situation and the ‘new normal’ that is going to come out of it, we believed it was a natural evolution in retail, that both brands and consumers can benefit from”, Sonia adds. “As retail continues to shift, one thing for sure is much is going to be achieved through digital, and stores will become more touchpoints and discovery places, more than ever before.”

This means brands have the challenge to be understood and seen through the digital channels, she continues. “Beautyque helps brands with being seen, and testing and adjusting their messages to strengthen impact. The learnings and adjustments they make through Beautyque will help them adjust their own marketing and expand from there.”

Another consumer benefit for this new retail model is people can join the BeautyQlub where they can be part of a product review and testing program, and access perks all from the comfort of their home and in one retail channel.

“As opposed to traditional stores, we don’t assess our choice of brands on how much success they already have in order to guarantee our own sales but according to how we can help and how their products can benefit the customer”, according to Sylvie.

Beautyque not only is about skincare and cosmetics, it’s about mental empowerment, sexual health, and nutrition. “As the French saying ‘Etre bien dans sa peau’ (feel good about yourself ) is an overall thing we want to offer at Beautyque”, Sonia says. “We want women and men to come and visit us to feel good no matter their age, race, or skin/body issues. We are already starting to create events for mental health and nutrition. And we are planning to do much more to cover whatever makes us feel beautiful even during these tough times.”

Virtual events are a keystone to Beautyque’s educational value. To illustrate, Beautyque held an event in June with two boar-certified holistic health coaches on the topic of managing stress and anxiety both in and out of lockdown. The co-founders also hosted a live product demo with SNOW and Fresh Faced Skincare.

Moving forward, plans are to create both brand and wellness events weekly and welcome brands around Beautyque’s seven beauty pillars: Mental Empowerment, Nutrition, Sexual Wellness & Intimate Care, Skincare; Makeup, and Accessories.

“We’re building Beautyque in a way that it’s a resource center for brands related to Beauty, Health, and Wellness and THE SPACE to go learn and find the last best thing to make consumers feel and look more beautiful”, Sonia and Sylvie say. “In both ways, we love seeing these two communities of brands and customers thrive.” To learn more visit www.beautyque.nyc. l