ICON’S BILINGUAL WEB SITE
NEW YORK — Taking aggressive action on the Internet, Icon Cosmetics on Nov. 8 launched its bilingual Chinese-English Web site, icon-icon.com, to start reaching customers throughout Asia.
The Web site is expected to draw business from the 1.3 million Hong Kong residents who use the Internet and a much smaller, but growing Internet audience in other countries in the region where it is planning expansion.
The site offers the same merchandise as Icon’s brick-and-mortar store in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, and customers will be able to replenish the products they use by clicking on the items contained in their personal folders. As replenishment was expected to be a major part of the company’s business, the Internet emerged as the appropriate medium to capture business from remote locations, far away from stores.
To train customers to use the Web site and expose them to the additional offerings on it, Icon is rolling out an in-store kiosk. “Customers will be able to log on and see their account, access what they have bought in the past, see their own skin care analysis and our consultants’ recommendations,” said Elliott Yuen, chief executive officer. Using the kiosk, he said, “they will be able to use their loyalty points right away on attractive redemptions in the store.”
Loyalty points for Icon sales made over the Web or in the store are tallied automatically by the point-of-sale software.
The e-commerce front end of Icon’s Web site is built on an application from IBM, Armonk, N.Y., that is integrated with the store’s retail systems, supplied by JDA Software, Scottsdale, Ariz.