PACKAGING RECYCLING
in-store beauty recycling schemes could be the solution to securing, and maintaining, customer loyalty – in 2023 and beyond.
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As the industry continues to tackle its ongoing problem with hard-to-recycle cosmetics, in-store ‘drop off your empties’ schemes by retailers – where empty beauty items are sorted by material type before being recycled or repurposed – are becoming more mainstream.
UK retail giants such as Boots, Harrods, Deciem and Space NK all have initiatives that enable shoppers to drop off cosmetic packaging into recycling boxes, offering discounts and extra points to encourage customers to take part.
It is a timely move when 45% of UK beauty shoppers are interested in returning packaging if they can take part in a reward system, according to industry analyst Mintel.
Meanwhile, 84% of people globally are more inclined to buy from a brand whose values align with their own, found e-commerce marketing platform Yotpo, which means tapping into the eco-conscious consumer could be an easy win.
“Recycling can be a key driver of loyalty because it shows your shoppers that you care about the same causes and values that they do,” says Fiona
ith UK shoppers embracing more sustainable buying habits than ever before,
Stevens, Director of Marketing at LoyaltyLion, an e-commerce customer loyalty and engagement platform. “But how effective these schemes are currently at driving loyalty is more of a question mark, because I am not sure anyone has got it 100% right.” At the moment, only a fraction of beauty retailers are transparent about the data behind their recycling schemes. Luxury brand L’Occitane, for example, is an anomaly when it boasts that 70,000 items were recycled at its stores last year – and there is no wider data available about how schemes can increase customer loyalty in general. Fiona Glen, Director of Projects at beauty branding consultancy The Red Tree, believes it is because the schemes are still in their infancy.
“I think it is a pretty small percentage of people whose retailer loyalty is being driven by that recyclability element,” she says.
“Customers are thinking about environmental issues, of course, but price and quality always come out on top, especially during the cost of living crisis.
“I think the main reason retailers are currently doing these recycling schemes is to be seen to be doing it.”
REWARDING GOOD BEHAVIOUR Many UK retailers offer discounts or bonus points as a way to encourage customers to take part in drop-off beauty packaging schemes. Boots’ recycle scheme rewards customers 600 Boots Advantage Card points (worth £6) when they return five empty products to one of its stores, while L’Occitane gives 10% off their next purchase.
Department store John Lewis, meanwhile, gives a £5 discount when customers spend £20 or more on beauty products the day they bring their empties in.
So, why have these schemes not become a consumer norm yet? It seems the rewards might not be juicy enough to create that level of behavioural change.
Eco concepts could involve a beach clean day that also allows shoppers to discover a new product before anyone else
34 April 2023
“The two biggest things for customers to be loyal when we are talking about this situation are convenience and rewards,” says Glen. “Taking empty beauty pots back to the store is not convenient because that is not where you finish the products – it is an extra step.
“Therefore, that new behaviour and loyalty can only be driven by a really big
reward, which I am not seeing anybody doing just yet.”
THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX The gifting route is clearly the way for retailers to go but it needs to be levelled up, especially when reward programmes have been shown to make more than 60% of shoppers globally more loyal, found Yotpo.
“People that have a natural affinity to improve their economic footprint will naturally be drawn to retailers with sustainable promotions – like a moth to a flame,” says Karl Taylor, Sales Director at Loyalty Works, which helps companies create customer loyalty programmes.
“But for those that do not factor sustainability into their regular shopping habits, then you have got to find the right level of reward to make it work.” Points and discounts have their place, but it may be time for the experiential to take centre stage. “You could invite customers who use the scheme the most to a beach clean day, where they do their bit for the planet but also get introduced to a new product before anyone else,” says Stevens.
“Or you could allow customers to receive a free skin care consultation with one of your experts in store if they recycle ‘X’ many of a particularly hazardous product via the scheme. “It just feels a bit more tangible and special for the customer than extra points.”
Ideas like this also enable you to introduce customers to new brands in an authentic way and can help to shift excess stock that might soon go out of date, tackling beauty’s other big problem – product waste.
TAPPING INTO THE EXPERIENTIAL Harrods, the British ultra-luxe department store chain, is the first to dabble in the experiential arena with its MyBeauty Recycle & Reward scheme. When customers return a minimum of five empty beauty products to its Milton Keynes branch, they receive discounts on treatments at hair salon Drybar and nail bar Townhouse.
The scheme is currently in a
three-month trial period, so the retailer cannot say what the exact uptake is yet, but it knew to tie the rewards into the store’s best experiences. “We are in the midst of discovering who engages and how to make the recycling scheme as accessible for our
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