Benefit Cosmetics’ Chiara Figueroa on the Importance of Education in the Cosmetics Industry

When I started learning more about the brand and some of the ways that they were paving the way from a technology standpoint and initiatives and the company culture that they had, that's what really led me to apply. Because for me, that's so important. If I'm going to come back to retail with all this newfound knowledge and expertise, I want to make sure I do it right and be very effective. You're listening to the Retail Experience Podcast, the show for brick and mortar operators and executives looking to drive more revenue by providing a better in-store customer experience.

In each episode, host Bobby Marhamet interviews a retail leader to unpack tactical insights, tips, and best practices that will take your in-store customer experience to the next level. Now, let's jump right into today's episode. Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Retail Experience Show.

Today, we have a very special guest with us, Chiara Figueroa, who is the Senior Manager of Global Retail at Benefits Cosmetics. Kiara, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. I'm excited to be here.

Absolutely. I love your background. That's great. Thank you.

Very on brand. Very on brand. Before we get started, we'd love to learn a little bit about you. Why don't you tell us all about Kiara?

Okay. So my name is Kiara. Nice to meet you all. And my journey in terms of like the retail sector has really, it's been very dynamic and fulfilling, if you will.

Really started driven by a passion for growth and team excellence and just cultivating a lot of great, exceptional customer experiences. So I began my career at MAC Cosmetics as a part-time artist and worked my way up to managing various different stores and teams all over the West Coast and their operations and really driving and leading those top performers, which then laid my foundation to Anastasia Beverly Hills, where I managed multi-million dollar territories, developing training programs for over 250 employees.

And then I would say during really my tenure at Mac and Anastasia, I identified really significant opportunities for growth and integration and technology, specifically in the cosmetic industry. and living in the Bay Area at the time, a hub of innovation. I was really inspired and empowered really to take that transition into tech. So I made the natural transition into the tech sector.

And really my intention there was never to stay in tech, but more so return, go and develop the skills that I needed to return back into the retail industry after I really have a deeper understanding of how to leverage technology to enhance business operations. How do you gain insights to optimize all of the back-end processes at an enterprise level? And how do we equip our sales teams with the technology and the tools that they need to provide a really great, exceptional, best-in-class service?

So after the transition to tech, I held an impactful role at Salesforce working in the retail and consumer goods sector. I'm really enhancing the customer success and helping them achieve their revenue growth. And, you know, that experience, I think, really enriched my ability to drive impactful strategies. And so today I am now the senior manager of global retail experience at Benefit, which is also an LVMH brand.

And I able to really leverage my expertise in business analytics project management to shape the global retail experience and deliver that standout customer service Awesome Awesome Thank you for taking us through that Tell us a little bit about Benefit So Benefit started actually in San Francisco in 1976 by Jean and Jane They were two sisters. And fun fact, they actually, it was either like create a Tupperware brand or a makeup brand. They flipped a coin and ended up with a makeup brand.

And what really put them on the map is there was a exotic dancer who came into their own store and needed nipple tint. So they created one, which is now known as Benetint. So it's like a fun little story. And you know, the rest is history.

I don't remember off the top of my head when they did sell to LVMH and became one of their mesons. So today I manage directly, I think there's 56 countries and we have brick and mortar freestanding boutiques, but we're also in a variety of different retailers offering products. But really what we're known for is our brow services, tints, wax, lamination, things like that. Got it.

What got you attracted to joint benefit? Honestly, I think it was the position first that caught my eye because I couldn't believe that it was like this perfect intersection of my past life and beauty and my new life in tech. So that's really what drew me in at first. And then once I started really looking at benefit as a brand, because Anastasia, as you know, is a direct competitor of Benefit.

So when I started learning more about the brand and some of the ways that they were paving the way from a technology standpoint and initiatives and the company culture that they had, that's what really led me to apply. Because for me, that's so important. If I'm going to come back to retail with all this newfound knowledge and expertise, I want to make sure I do it right and be very selective. Makes sense.

Yeah, I think that merge between tech and doing what you love, that's great. That's awesome. What do you attribute, you've had a lot of success and what you're doing again at Tech and Otherwise? And like, what do you attribute to your success?

Honestly, my managers. To be, I don't think I would be where I am at today if it weren't for the leaders before me who were not only like paving the way and really teaching me, but also granting me the permission to make mistakes. I think that's where all the learning comes from and really being able to manage my business, even if it's a store or managing something at Salesforce or even right now, it's really the leaders that I attribute it all to my success. Without them, I wouldn't be here today.

Yeah. It's usually bosses and leaders and who you work with, right? Exactly. 100%.

What about maybe across the way and across your career? What were some challenges that you overcame? Like some things that you're like, okay, well, this is not ideal, but you found ways to kind of overcome. Well, I would say the biggest one would be when I switched from cosmetics to tech.

Because even from the beginning, during my time at MAP, I realized how explosive social media and the tech industry. Yeah. And I noticed that very, very early on how it was going to completely shift the way that we shop, how we engage with companies, especially in the cosmetic industry. And I remember, for example, I created my store's first Instagram because I had a lot of Instagram famous people in my store and I got a slap on the hand at that time.

And then fast forward three years later, it was like, everyone needs an Instagram. I'm like, I knew it. So I think that was frustrating that cosmetic, I feel like the cosmetic industry was more reactive than proactive which is why I wanted to exit and come back to really make sure that I equipping myself so we could stay ahead of the group Yeah Yeah Using tech to do that Yeah That great That awesome What about as you think about as you said yeah at a high level you all are across 56 countries as you said.

How do you ensure a consistent experience across, you know, all the different locations that you all have? Just building rapport with those global teams. I think that's the biggest thing. That's one of the most fulfilling aspects of my job is being able to connect with so many different individuals in different countries, making sure that I really understand the nuances for each country and just building that rapport.

Because even though I'm managing them, they don't directly report to me. So it's how do you communicate with them to get them to work for you, even though they're not reporting to you? Yeah. So that's really how I'm able to make sure we're consistent across the board.

Yeah. The power of influence for sure. As you think about technology and technologies that you have within your stores, what are some technologies that you all are using right now to be able to create that really good customer experience? I think first and foremost, obviously very easy.

It starts, we do one that is called Booksy. It's a booking tool because yes, I manage the Google My Business and things like that. Make sure you can find us. But what does that initial introduction, that customer journey look like?

Because the drop-off is going to be huge if that booking process is tough. So I think that is one that we've been rolling out pretty aggressively and has seen like huge success so far. I'm trying to think of some other ones back. I mean, yes, just things to help also our teams be work smarter, not harder, you know, to take shave hours off in their day.

Simple things like that move mountains for us. 100%, 100%. How about in this store environment? Are you all using any technologies today or in the future, maybe like try before you buy technologies?

Anything there to be able to allow people to try a new product? I have mixed feelings about that. So we have actually a virtual brow try-on on our website, which is really, really good. I have found in the various companies I've worked there who have tried to roll them out, as a consumer, I don't love it.

I don't want to use it. It doesn't make sense. I want to actually go in-store and try on product, see the swatch. And I'd much rather go to TikTok and see the swatches on someone's arm than do a virtual try-on online.

So I'm not really in love with the virtual try-on. No, I'm with you. I think in-store goes a long way, especially like a lot of this is interesting as you think about what happened during COVID days. and people thought, yeah, you could buy a lot of stuff online.

You can buy commodities online for sure. But, you know, a lot of the stuff where you're either putting it on your face or putting it on your body or like clothes that you're buying, etc. I think in-store goes a long way for sure. Yeah.

What's your number one advice for folks that are trying to grow their locations? You have one, they have five, they have 10. They want to continue to grow. What's the advice that you have for them?

I would say for the cosmetic industry specifically, it would be focused on education and your people. because I have just seen in every cosmetic company that I've been to, the ones that perform top tier, their education is chef's kiss. It's like, are we equipping the people? And it's not just from a, are you asking open-ended question?

Are you being prescriptive? But even in a lot of the market research and customer shops that I've done, it's even simple things are, are we offering to rebook? Are you doing that? And are you introducing new product?

Because when it's done with intention and not in a salesy manner, customers actually feel more taken care of when you do that. Oh 100 Oh I can say this enough Education for the cosmetic industry is key Yeah Yeah Yeah Makes sense makes sense What about as you think about you know one of the questions that we get a lot is how do I know when is the right time to go grow my location? So you all, again, have locations in 56 countries. You're a very large organization at this point.

But as you think about, you know, any sort of guidance that you give to folks saying, hey, I have five locations now. Should I go grow this? Should I not? What do you think about there?

Ours is a little bit more difficult because we're in a lot more retail. than we are than have freestanding boutiques. So it's really up to the discretion of the retailer. And they have their own different...

And quite honestly, even though there's really no rhyme or reason, even though they explain, oh, this is how we calculate it. Like that math does not sound right, but okay. But for the boutiques, depending on the location and the volume, after you, I don't know, finance does that. And once they figure it out, it's like, okay, you have an FTE equivalent of 1.

5 headcount that you can add on. I think it's just like partnering with your internal teams. Yeah, it makes sense. What about, as you think about what's next for Benefit?

You all have a great brand. You're part of LVMH, as you said. But what's next for the brand? What's next?

I think one of the biggest thing is just doubling down on our services and what we do best and what we're known for and just being very loud and unapologetic. And also, I think the other thing, if you look at our product lineup right now, you can't create a full face with Benefit makeup today. So making sure that we're forward thinking that if someone comes in, we do offer a full suite of products for that. Not only that, are the products inclusive?

Do we have enough colors and shade range? Because that might have not always been in the past. We haven't had, you know, like Fenty set the tone of like 50 plus shades. So just making sure that we're being inclusive and we're offering really high quality, full suite of products.

Products, yeah. Makes sense. What about the future of brick and mortar retail? Again, a lot of thoughts around COVID, as we saw a big portion of that came back into Inspire Retail.

But what do you think is the future of Inspire Retail? I think partnering with retailers. I think slowly but surely that having your own brick and mortar, it's not necessarily as valuable as partnering with a Sephora or an Ulta, Macy's, etc. So I think we're going to see, at least for the cosmetics, we're going to see less and less cosmetic stores opening their own brick and mortar and doing some kind of collaboration where they either negotiate bigger spaces and larger gondolas and things like that.

Yeah. But I don't foresee more cosmetic stores opening. It's going to be a lot more partnerships and or a shift to online live shopping and things like that. TikTok shop.

Makes sense. Awesome. That was great. Anything I forgot to ask you that you want to make sure our listeners know about?

I don't think so. But if you haven't had a benefit, lamination, tint, wax, we have so many different locations no matter where you are in the world. So give us a search on Google and we'd be happy to take care of you. Awesome, Kiara.

Thank you so much for spending some time with us today. Appreciate it. Thank you. Absolutely.

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