“If there’s one thing I want my team to get right, it’s the cohesion of messages,” said Minyi Su, head of marketing at Bluemercury. “While personalized messaging is important, we need to make sure that personalization all ladders up to the same theme.”

Balancing broader brand identity with customized recommendations was one of many themes Su focused on at EMARKETER’s Future of Digital Summit on Tuesday.

Turning digital buzz into foot traffic

While social platforms generate brand awareness, consumers still value in-store experiences.

• Beauty shoppers choose to buy in-store primarily for convenience (50.4%) and immediate product availability (45.0%), according to a June EMARKETER survey.

Bluemercury noticed a timely connection between social platforms and foot traffic after the brand’s Vacation Edit, a longstanding bundle of travel-sized products that recently took off on TikTok this year, Su said.

“People were coming into the doors and saying, ‘I just saw this TikTok video an hour ago and I have to have this Vacation Edit,’” she said. “These are new customers, so not only did it sell out…it became an avenue for elevating the brand and increasing brand awareness.”

Building exclusivity and delight through loyalty

Since Bluemercury is a beauty retailer that sells brands available elsewhere, loyalty programs with perks like closed-door shopping events are key to retention, said Su.

“We don’t see the difference between digital and store anymore,” she said. “That’s how loyalty becomes not just a sign up, but a premium experience with the brand.”

Just as Chinese toy company Pop Mart has mastered exclusivity with Labubus, Su aims to bring this energy to Bluemercury. For the holidays, the brand is launching a holiday box only for loyalty customers, she said.

The brand is striving for the “gamification of digital content” that often comes from mass appeal and limited merchandise, said Su.

“When we have these capsule drops and limited-edition moments, we want to make sure there’s this huge digital component to feature the hype and desirability,” she said. “It’s a powerful tool for new client acquisition.”

Pushing peer-to-peer commerce

B2C brands like Bluemercury have found much more success with micro influencers (44%) than mega influencers (7%), per an October 2024 HubSpot survey.

“It’s a balance of inspiration and authenticity,” said Su. “We work with high-reach influencers with millions of followers, but we also have a Creator Content Club that enables our customers to create content.”

Just as the industry has warmed up to working with smaller creators, Bluemercury is predicting a rise in friend-to-friend recommendations, a trend that already exists in Asian markets.

• Pinduoduo, Temu’s sister platform in China, is a popular shopping app that encourages users to make group purchases that unlock discounts.

“I truly believe the next trend is the democratization from influence to commerce in your friend circles,” said Su. “Not only are you seeing content creators who look like you telling you about a product, but you’ll start seeing your friends do so. We’re trusting our friends and people that we know more than we trust big institutions with the current environment.”

Watch the full session.

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