Looks Can Be Deceiving

Estee Lauder gives the online beauty market a glossy makeover--but the wrinkles aren't all gone

By Anita Hamilton Monday, June 05, 2000

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    The big question is whether women want to buy makeup online at all. Even the rosiest projections for the entire $25 billion beauty market (which factors in drugstore brands such as Revlon and Maybelline) place online sales at just 5%, or $1.25 billion, by 2003. Much of that could come from refills rather than first-time purchases. "You're not going to buy a fragrance if you've never smelled it or a color if you've never tried it," says analyst Carol Warner Wilke of Credit Suisse First Boston.

    That hasn't stopped sites from devising new ways to promote their perfumes and powders. Procter & Gamble's reflect.com asks women a series of questions, from their skin type to their personal style, and then offers custom-blended products not available in any store. Newcomer 2glow. com eschews the superstore approach, opting instead for streamlined Top 10 lists of soap, lipstick and lotion that have been rated by consumers. On all the sites, improved onscreen colors are making it easier to tell when a red is more fuchsia than rose. And three firms--AromaJet, DigiScents and TriSenx--are developing low-cost scent machines that could attach to a computer and emit perfume and other aromas by next year.

    So when you see someone hunched over her computer terminal, nose pressed against the screen, don't be alarmed. She may just be trying a free sample.

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