DATA BASE
Q+A
WWD: What do you make of the new Internet beauty destination launched by Nordstrom last Wednesday? Is its arrival well-timed — following the flameout of so many beauty and luxury Web sites in the past 14 months?
Angela Kapp, president of Internet marketing researcher Angela Kapp Consulting and former senior vice president of The Estee Lauder Cos. Online: “‘Beauty now! A whole new way to get your favorite essentials delivered to your door.’ Wow, that’s a big promise to post on a home page. Generally, I have respect for their Web site; Nordstrom.com is one of the best department-store sites out there.
“I think the selection of beauty brands could be added to, but the way it’s organized is in keeping with the brand focus we know cybershoppers want. They’re following the brands, contrary to an earlier misconception that people wanted to shop online by category.
“People do shop for more than one beauty brand in a category, so checkoff boxes might serve nordstrombeauty.com better than its drop-down menus. Nordstrom has one of the best online search engines out there, and we all know no matter when a site launches, it will be refined over time.
“Approximately $240 million worth of investments in beauty pure-plays has gone down the drain over the past year or so. Now, Nordstrom.com is poised to take advantage of that consolidation. Their slow and steady approach makes sense.”