\nAnd as a beauty blogger, I have the perfect excuse to go shopping!<\/p>\n
Coming to\u00a0Dubai, I expected to land in the magical world of a\u00a0Thousand and One Nights, shops like the cavern of Ali Baba, a place where shopping centers are bursting with products from all around the world, side by side with novel products unavailable anywhere else.
\nI naively thought my good old Parisian shopper strategies would work here, allowing me to indulge in my passion and benefit my readers.<\/p>\n
But life is not a fairy tale and I had to adapt<\/strong> and evolve to survive!<\/p>\n Moving to Dubai, I was expecting a high class, totally exceptional\u00a0<\/strong>beauty shopping experience!<\/p>\n The coquetry<\/strong> of women in the Middle East is not a legend. They love cosmetics and are very big consumers of everything beauty related. Sophisticated fragrances, innovative skincare products, bold make-up trends, they want to, and do, try everything! Dubai is famous around the world as a major destination for shopping. And shopping is a real touristic activity<\/strong> here. The Dubai Mall is even part of the ‘City discovery’ tour along with\u00a04×4 sand dune bashing in the desert and\u00a0visiting a camel farm.<\/p>\n With\u00a0malls here being gigantic<\/strong>, like everything else here, I was hoping to find plenty of exclusive brands and some very different products to\u00a0those I know from\u00a0Paris.<\/p>\n My expectations in terms of quality of service were to see the same level of service as\u00a0you would in the magnificent palace hotels that fill the city: impeccable! The UAE like to define themselves as a nation obsessed with quality of service<\/strong>, making it a popular destination for tourists.<\/p>\n So naturally, I expect well trained and qualified<\/strong> sales assistants in the shops able\u00a0to answer my (many) questions, aware of the latest and upcoming releases from their own brands.<\/p>\n Finally, Dubai is very focused on digital,<\/strong>\u00a0promoting the integration\u00a0of new technology\u00a0in its\u00a0stores, with multiple initiatives to become a “smart city” it makes sense that purchasing needs to be\u00a0ultra simplified, easy and accessible. So I was expecting to find in stores a digital appearance allowing me to live a unique and innovative “shopping experience<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n The least I can say is that it was a bit of a shock…<\/p>\n In Dubai, there are many brands that you can find anywhere in the world, however\u00a0product launches or makeup collections are usually released very late<\/strong> compared to\u00a0the rest of the world.<\/p>\n And when they arrive (not always the case), it’s often several months late. I tried looking\u00a0for brands I’d never come across before, but\u00a0hunting for new products has been really complicated<\/strong>\u00a0and unfruitful so far in the region.<\/p>\n Many brands don’t have a\u00a0website just\u00a0a simple Facebook page, which is not practical at all<\/strong> to gather\u00a0information! It’s quite difficult to learn about products, launch dates or any other specific information.<\/p>\n I was ultra disappointed with\u00a0Sephora’s lack of \u00a0communication<\/strong> which, despite its presence on social networks, hardly uses them. Its Facebook page is a bit more lively than the rest but its\u00a0Twitter page, that is\u00a04 years old, is currently empty… What’s the point of having a Twitter account if you don’t use it at all, really?<\/p>\n When I think about the conversations and amount of information that can be shared\u00a0this way with customers, it’s such a waste<\/strong>!<\/p>\n As a blogger<\/strong>, I’m basically hunting for news from beauty brands, new releases announcements… If there is something going on in the store, it’s really\u00a0interesting for me to know about it!<\/p>\n One example:<\/strong><\/p>\n I arrived in the UAE at the end of 2013 and at the time, in the beauty sphere, it was all about\u00a0the launch of the Naked 3 Palette by Urban Decay<\/strong>. So I naturally visited the Sephora store at the time of its launch (early December 2013, if I remember correctly)\u00a0as they distribute\u00a0the Urban Decay brand.<\/p>\n The palette was not yet available in the UAE. I asked the Urban Decay sales assistant\u00a0(in Sephora, Dubai Mall) for\u00a0the launch date in the region, she told me April 2014<\/strong> (yes, I was shocked! What\u00a0a long time to wait!!!) So thanks\u00a0Aseya for doing Sephora’s job for them! uneasy<\/span> <\/p>\n Of course you can leave your phone number for a\u00a0call back when they receive your dream product. And speaking of which, I had the unfortunate\u00a0opportunity of\u00a0experiencing the incompetence of some sales assistants, desperate to sell<\/strong>, going as far as\u00a0lying to my\u00a0face<\/strong> to sell something!<\/p>\n They sold\u00a0me a Tom Ford a limited edition lipstick\u00a0from last year telling when I was asking for\u00a0new releases. I know, I should have known better but I wanted to trust them… And yes, it hurt to take\u00a0a Tom Ford lipstick back. (for non lipstick-addicts out there: Tom Ford lipsticks are like the holy grail for us. You need to try it at least once in your life time, it’s like a rite of passage… wink<\/span> )<\/p>\n Being\u00a0lied to <\/strong>has happened to me many times here. Sales assistants who don’t know the answer to a\u00a0question, just lie to my face in general. I guess that the sales assistants are under pressure to make their sales fast and don’t want to risk loosing a sale. People are also in a hurry here in Dubai in general. Another thing I noticed when I wanted to buy some products that I used in France: the prices are much higher<\/strong>! Obviously, I didn’t wait to be in Dubai to\u00a0diligently engage in\u00a0online shopping<\/strong>! ^^<\/p>\n In France however, I was used to\u00a0purchasing clothes\u00a0online, not really beauty products. So I started doing\u00a0research online and I found some quite original online shops distributing very exciting foreign cosmetic\u00a0brands (American, Korean, etc). I could finally get\u00a0access to brands that beauty addicts know very well: Tarte<\/a>, Anastasia Beverly Hills<\/a>, Kat Von D<\/a>, ColourPop<\/a> etc These shops are certainly not authorized retailers for all of these brands (I doubt it very much) so they don’t stock everything and the selection of products is quite random. I really feel that the choice of brands available\u00a0on these online shops is closely\u00a0related to the beauty gurus on YouTube<\/strong>… It actually provides an\u00a0accurate measure of the impact of YouTube gurus on cosmetics clients in the region. And then a few months ago, I had a revelation. I discovered a service called Shop and Ship<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The principle<\/strong>? You subscribe to this service for a few dirhams and they provide you ‘drop point’ addresses in different\u00a0countries to deliver your online orders to. You pay for a national delivery, which is\u00a0often free of charge, as well as the cost of the delivery provided by Shop And Ship (Aramex), which is very reasonable: the price depends on the\u00a0weight. For 1 parcel of a little less than 1 kilo, I paid 77 AED ($20 or 19 euros), still far cheaper than an international delivery, especially for small orders.<\/p>\n This system provides access to shops that are not available here, but also to the local\u00a0prices in these markets. I can find my dear French ‘pharmacie’ products at a\u00a0price I’m used to (my beloved Av\u00e8ne thermal\u00a0water for\u00a05 euros: yeaaah!)<\/p>\n More exotic (for me), I also have access to shops such as Boots<\/a>\u00a0in the UK, or Nordstrom<\/a>\u00a0in the US. For a beauty addict like me, this is heaven<\/strong>!!!<\/p>\n Delivery is quite fast, it generally takes less than 10 days, often a week.<\/p>\n All this allows me to avoid waiting<\/strong> for beauty products that I have on my radar. Otherwise I would have to wait 3 to 6 months longer than\u00a0the rest of the world for the products to launch\u00a0here in Dubai! wink<\/span> <\/p>\n I still have had good experiences in the stores here, I don’t want to make the situation appear worse than it actually is. wink<\/span> <\/p>\n I noticed that very often, I have been very well advised in more technical<\/strong> makeup brand stores: MAC (not always but some shops have some great sales assistants, like those,in the Marina Mall for example), or Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier (sales assistants in Harvey Nichols or Bloomingdales are extremely helpful and professional).<\/p>\n Having been a trainer for a cosmetic brand for almost 10 years, I really think that what makes a difference from one\u00a0sales assistant to another is clearly the training<\/strong> he or she received, especially from the brand he or she works for. As I said earlier, Dubai is obsessed with the service<\/strong>, and here, almost everything can be delivered directly to your\u00a0home. The swatches I can find by searching on Google Images or on a website like Temptalia<\/a>\u00a0help me a lot in my choices before buying a makeup product for example. I recently ordered the new Clinique foundation online, Beyond Perfecting<\/a>, trusting the Temptalia’s swatches and I ended with a product that made me look like a giant orange… #epicfail<\/strong><\/p>\n Buying online in some cases remains quite risky<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Recently, some new digital systems<\/strong>\u00a0to make purchases easier have begun to appear in stores. But\u00a0some\u00a0other solutions and systems are very innovative<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Two examples<\/strong> (from the fashion industry but it can be relevant to beauty as well): When it’s difficult to get\u00a0good advice, these new ways to buy via digital ‘smart store’<\/strong>\u00a0solutions make sense and will probably be successful. In my case, when I see the complexity\u00a0of taking\u00a0faithful product photos for this blog, I still have big doubts<\/strong> about the effectiveness of digital systems such as ModiFace<\/a>, for example. If the system can suggest colours based on skin tone\/eye & hair colour then this may be interesting but a good sales person\u00a0would generally have an eye for this kind of thing and would not be fooled by bad lighting etc. Recommendations need to be precise<\/strong> and a perfect fit for the customer not roughly what may be a match.<\/p>\n Here is how this technology can be used in a store like Sephora<\/a>:<\/p>\nExpectations of a beauty addict who has just arrived in Duba\u00ef:<\/h3>\n
![\"Dubai](\"https:\/\/bonniegarner.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/02\/dubai_mall_gallery.jpg\")
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\nThey are highly connected<\/strong>, always on Instagram or Snapchat sharing\u00a0their latest makeup looks or exchanging\u00a0information on a new cosmetic trend.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nKnowing that tourism and shopping are constantly growing in this city, I imagine the huge economic stakes behind this…<\/p>\nFrom the dream to the reality: what a disappointment!<\/h3>\n
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\nFor example at the moment, MAC has in store ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show<\/a>‘ collection that came out for\u00a0Halloween in the rest of the world… Great timing<\/strong>, don’t you think? wink<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nYet in early January, I realized that a Dubai beauty blogger, Aseya of Pretty in The Desert<\/a> (who\u00a0has become a friend)\u00a0announced on her\u00a0Twitter<\/a> account that she had seen the Naked 3 palette was available at Sephora in the Dubai Mall.<\/p>\n
\nBut I wasn’t very\u00a0lucky with that strategy either, because when I did it, I rarely heard back… I’m still waiting for a call about\u00a0the Defining Eye Liner Pen by Tom Ford from Harvey Nichols in the Mall of The Emirates. I left my phone number 4 months ago<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nIt was a very nice lipstick but as beauty blogger I try to always feature products that readers should be able to find in stores. It’s a #bblogers law!
\nSo I took\u00a0it back.<\/p>\n
\nTo tell you the truth, it basically infuriates<\/strong> me. Why not ask a manager, not a problem for me if you\u00a0get back to\u00a0me later?<\/p>\n
\nBut I just can’t stand it. When somebody lies to me, it gives me the creeps and I don’t go back. Ever<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nOf course, there is a cost\u00a0to\u00a0import products\u00a0from France, but clearly, to pay my Avene thermal water spray 5 times the price I was paying in France, it really hurts!<\/p>\nMy counter-attack strategy: online shopping<\/h3>\n
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\nIndeed, in Paris, I had an amazing choice of beauty products and I haven’t really had bad experiences with sales assistants. Not everything was ideal\u00a0of course, but sadly, the “lie to your face when I don’t know how to answer you” strategy is really something I discovered here. In France, it’s not a drama\u00a0if you can’t answer a question. You go and ask to someone who knows, that’s all. No\u00a0big deal.<\/p>\n
\nThe shops I used the most\u00a0are Alshop.com<\/a>, Estilo.ae<\/a>\u00a0and also Souq.com<\/a>. I called them my “cosmetics dealers<\/strong>.” wink<\/span> <\/p>\n
\nIt’s better to take a look quite regularly, and quickly decide if you want a product: stocks go fast!<\/p>\n
\nEach time a brand is buzzing on YouTube, it quickly appears afterwards on these online stores.<\/p>\n
\nBasically, you just do your online shopping on the site of your choice, in any country, and when you have to give your address of delivery, you give the address provided by Shop And Ship corresponding to the country where you’re making your shopping.
\nThis location contains a code that allows Shop And Ship to know who you are and where to send your order (aka your place).<\/p>\nWhy I still keep on going to the malls:<\/h3>\n
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\nA qualified and trained<\/strong> sales assistant is more effective<\/strong> because he or she will help build customer\u00a0loyalty<\/strong>. With a solid\u00a0professional in front of me, I will trust him or her and I will definitely\u00a0come back to the store!<\/p>\n
\nHowever, none of cosmetics online shops I have spoken above (Alshop, Estilo etc) provide a super-fast delivery<\/strong> (same day or next day delivery) even at a premium, the option just doesn’t exist.
\nThese same sites don’t have any arrangements with physical shops, so that you can pick up\u00a0the product in their store, after shopping and purchasing online.\u00a0The fastest way to get something still remains the good old in store purchase<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nBut sometimes it’s complicated to choose a product without trying it first<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\nDigital technology to the rescue of the stores:<\/h3>\n
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\nThe Dior example in the photo above is just a tablet in a large mirror to introduce the new products for the latest collection, so not really groundbreaking.<\/p>\n
\n– some screens in the fitting rooms of a clothing store to allow you to know if the item you\u00a0are currently trying exists in another color, or is available in other sizes (photo above),
\n– applications for your smartphone that are used to make a selection of articles before you even enter the shop and that you can show directly\u00a0to a sales assistant via your phone so he can just prepare your order for you. Of course, it will be delivered directly to your place.<\/p>\n
\nBut I’m still\u00a0convinced that promoting more appropriate training<\/strong> of the sales team around\u00a0product knowledge<\/strong>, and sales methodology<\/strong> will be more efficient and guarantee\u00a0the\u00a0human side<\/strong> that is really part of the experience<\/strong> of an in-store purchase.<\/p>\n
\nModiFace produces\u00a0smartphone and desktop applications<\/strong> to simulate cosmetics tests on yourself by taking a picture of the person.<\/p>\n
\nBut from my own experience, the sunlight in the morning and the evening or artificial light change dramatically<\/strong> the color of my skin but also the color of the products I shoot. So I’m really not convinced how efficient\u00a0this technology currently is…<\/p>\n