Brief:

• Sally Beauty updated its mobile app and created a social influencer program as part of a major rebrand that includes its first nationwide campaign and reformatted stores. The chain's new motto, "Unleash Your PROtential," highlights its goal of helping consumers with salon-quality makeovers at home, according to an announcement.
• The upgraded mobile app supports features of its mobile-first website, which last year added a "shop by solution" service, and will have exclusive offers. The company last year revamped its rewards program to let customers track their loyalty points in the app and more easily redeem reward certificates.
• The retailer also is recruiting social media personalities to serve as brand ambassadors for its #SallyCrew Influencer Program. The company's website has an application for the program, which will sign five people to a one-year contract for as much as $150,000 in cash, professional business coaching and spokesperson opportunities, among other benefits, per the company.

Insight:

Sally Beauty's nationwide campaign and rebrand is the latest step in the company's strategy to boost online sales and cater directly to consumers instead of salon professionals amid growing competition from online retailers like Amazon. Its mobile and digital efforts appear to be paying off, with e-commerce sales rising 27.4% in Q4 2019 from a year earlier, the company reported in November.

By establishing an influencer program, Sally Beauty can tap into a popular category of creator content on social platforms like Instagram and YouTube, which have made stars out of makeup artists like Michelle Phan and James Charles, who became the first "cover boy" of Coty's CoverGirl makeup brand. More than 70% of Instagram users say they have made fashion, beauty or style purchases after seeing something on the platform, with makeup as a top category.

Sally Beauty in the past year has placed a greater focus on mobile to reach the next generation of beauty shoppers and adjust to their changing buying habits. The company in March 2019 kicked off a mobile-first strategy that included a redesigned website and the ability to shop from its Instagram feed. In November, Sally Beauty expanded its ColorView AI Technology to let customers virtually sample hair color and cosmetics before buying them online or in stores.