LAB LUXURY and RETAIL ® : MARKETING & COMMUNICATION : Retail - Expérience Client - Luxe - Digital in Store - Future of Retail - Commerce Connecté - Omnicanal - Social Marketing - Influence - Réseaux Sociaux -Transformation Digitale

A crop of online beauty start-ups are aiming to transform an industry dominated by a handful of billion-dollar conglomerates and a “try before you buy” philosophy.

When Stowaway co-founders Julie Fredrickson and Chelsa Crowley began developing their line of “right size” cosmetics — priced between $10 and $22 and made in smaller sizes so that they can be easily transported and consumed before the oft-ignored expiration date — there was no question that the company would be born online.

Not only did direct-to-consumer e-commerce offer the nascent brand lower start-up costs and better margins, but “we wanted to reach a community,” explains Frederickson. “That’s why e-commerce is a strong proposition for beauty and personal care. Beauty secrets are meant to be shared,” adds Crowley. Having raised $1.5 million in funding, the duo launched their website in February 2015.

The market for beauty products has been slow to move online. In a 2014 Experian survey of more than 6,600 women, 15 percent said they’d purchased apparel online over a nine-month period, yet only 5 percent reported that they had purchased cosmetics on the web. “Online retailers still represent a small portion of beauty sales, but there is growing comfort with online shopping, particularly as shipping costs dwindle and delivery times continue to shorten,” says Shannon Romanowski, a beauty and personal care analyst at Mintel.

Beauty lovers can try on makeup in this real-time, 3D mirror with just a swipe.