Jan 21 2009
The Free Cosmetics Give-Away: Report From the Front Line
Great Cosmetics Give-Away
Macy’s and Dillard’s are the only two local retailer’s “participating” in the Free Cosmetics Give-a-way after being ordered to do so by a court which found them guilty of price collusion between 1994 and 2003. Both stores are located in two regional malls at opposite ends of town.
Freebie-lovers at both chains joined a line, viewed a product list and could choose 1 -and only 1 - product from the list. Customers had to print & sign their name - but not enter any contact information. Dillard’s called it a legal document.
Dillard’s had the longest lines at both malls. The west-side Dillard’s had a 50 person line at store opening while the mid-day line at the east-side Dillard’s went down one side of the store and across the back. I estimated a + 1/2 hour wait in that line while the Macy’s wait was only 5 minutes. Both Dillard’s used existing counters and only had 1 processing counter per store. Macy’s set up foldable tables at the entrance to both stores and kept the giveaway separate from the cosmetics area. Macy’s had 2 processing tables at one store and 4 at another. Macy’s had one clerk per counter & multiple counters while Dillard’s required 3 clerks plus a manager to handle just 1 counter. Even accounting for the additional counters Macy’s still had fewer customers than the Dillard’s in the same mall.
Christian Dior and perfumes sold out by mid-day. Products had an approximate $25 value. Some products were in a smaller than normal size to meet this price cut-off.
Macy’s just wanted to get it over with while Dillard’s tried to make it a selling opportunity. At their west side store Dillard’s made shoppers, after signing in, take a stamped receipt to the appropriate cosmetics counter (ie Christian Dior, Estee Lauder…), talk to the commissioned sales rep and sign their contact book. It sounds like good idea but the poor sales reps may be pressured to generate sales from these “leads” that only came in for the freebie.
At both malls shoppers could be seen walking from Macys to Dillard’s, or vice versa to double-dip. Lines at both stores contained shoppers blatantly clutching their samples from the other.
My overall impression is that Dillard’s is a more popular chain with greater sales/sq ft but Macy’s is more efficiently run.
Note that Macy’s is new to our town having taken over Foley’s locations 2 years ago. Foley’s in turn took over the old JC Penny’s and Montgomery Ward locations only a year or two earlier.