This week, Neiman Marcus debuted its Clean Beauty Shop online and across its 43 stores. The company began inching into the category when it debuted its Trending Beauty assortment, including select clean beauty products, in late 2017. The Clean Beauty Shop marks its first full-blown play to message clean beauty to its affluent shoppers. The shop includes an assortment of products across segments, including color brands Kosas and Jane Iredale, hair brand Virtue Labs and exclusives from CBD brand Sagely Naturals.
“In the last year or so, customers have been asking more about the ingredients in our products,” said Michelle Gill, Neiman Marcus Group vp and divisional merchandise manager over beauty. “A lot of that is attributed to how much information there is online from influencers and their own research.”
Neiman Marcus is known for its luxury positioning, which arguably suggests an older clientele who gravitate toward more clinical and science-backed products. Earlier this year, it became the exclusive retailer for LightStim anti-aging products upon opening its Hudson Yards location, successfully selling the brand’s $65,000 treatment beds in store.
“Very often in the past, customers were choosing products that were science-backed instead of being plant-based,” said Gill. However, Neiman Marcus, like many brands and retailers, is now after a younger shopper who is more concerned with clean ingredients. With Trending beauty, Neiman Marcus has seen success. Theresa Palermo, Neiman Marcus svp over brand and digital marketing, said 50% of the category’s shoppers are millennials and Gen Xers.
Clean products have become table stakes throughout the industry. Like Sephora, Credo and Target before it, Neiman Marcus’ clean iteration involves a no-no ingredient list (its collection emphasizes that it is free of parabens, paraffins, phthalates, sulfates, silicones and animal testing), and included products with a clean logo. Online, 816 clean products will be available. Each of company’s 43 stores will have its own curated lineup of clean products, with indicators on tester products as well as on designated cases. Stores will also host events promoting the clean category.
Still, as Neiman Marcus carries many of the most affluent brands in the beauty and wellness industries from the likes of Chanel, Dior and House of Creed, it also is not suggesting that some ingredients like parabens are bad for all customers.
“We want to give customers choice, and that is what we are doing here,” said Gill. “We are focused on speaking to this category, but we want to do it from a luxury point of view. This may be attractive to a customer who is not a totally clean shopper, but wants to learn more, and she can do that with us.”
