DENMARK. Gebr Heinemann has opened a dedicated colour cosmetics space under its own retail brand – LookLab – at Copenhagen Airport.
The Hamburg-based travel retailer – which, last year, agreed an early extension to its contract at the Danish gateway to 2023 – has introduced the offer in response to make-up having become a global “super trend” category.
The company said: “Gebr. Heinemann (has) worked hard on making this product group more attractive, colourful and more of an experience for travellers through new presentation design concepts throughout 2017.”
“To date these brands have not played a major role for us, but to young people they mean a lot” – Kay Spanger
The development of a dedicated, branded retail store takes that presentation to another level. LookLab features new approaches to cross-branding and a host of new brands with, for example, Stila, Becca, Too Faced and Make Up For Ever as part of the mix.
Meanwhile established, classic players such as YSL and Dior “have been open to presenting their colours in a different way than today” according to Gebr Heinemann Executive Director Purchasing, Fulfilment & Logistics Kay Spanger.
‘Not an evolution but a revolution’
Speaking at this week’s annual press conference in Hamburg, Spanger added: “LookLab is not an evolution but a revolution. It is interactive, there is a selfie point to take pictures which can be transferred to your own mobile, and an app to offer looks that match the brands we have in the store. That offer is cross-branded, which is a totally different approach.
“This is a way to show the industry that we all have to be far more open and ready to develop new ways of showing products in stores. Also, across all categories we have to have more trials, more risks – but hopefully also better results and more success. We have to be more open minded so that the consumer likes what they are seeing.”
Commenting on the new labels at LookLab, Spanger said: “To date these brands have not played a major role for us, but to young people they mean a lot. We are also working with influencers in the Danish market who will talk, on social media, about our new concept at the airport.”
Although only open for a couple of weeks, LookLab is attracting many younger customers and Heinemann is hopeful that the Copenhagen test-bed will spawn further offspring at other locations, particularly where low-cost carriers are prominent.
Spanger said: “If this works – and we are sure that it will – LookLab will become a special part within our future shops of this size. We can’t have it everywhere but we can extract ideas to be implemented in smaller stores.” 
Note: Look out for more from Kay Spanger and his fellow directors in today’s Moodie Davitt e-Zine as the company outlines its aspirations in a fast-changing business and geo-political environment.
