Creator of Huge Lips, Skinny Hips Lip Gloss (at Space NK, Scoop and b-glowing.com), Karen Robinovitz takes us through the trials and tribulations of creating a beauty brand from scratch.
Before I go on, note: Everything I'm blogging right now happened a while ago (at this time, the product is actually in stores, but I want to give you all the background to catch you up on how I got to today).
Purple Lab was on its way -- but homeless.
You can't get any kind of media coverage on a product if there's no place to buy it. So, press kit was put on hold and operation distribution began.
Here's the thing about retailing in today's world. The brick-and-mortar retail model has changed dramatically with the increase of online shopping and the decrease of the economy. Plus, more people are buying from HSN and QVC, which used to be somewhat lowbrow but is now kinda cool.
But I really wanted a presence in traditional stores. There's something about seeing a product in person and being able to touch, smell and feel it.
I was drawn to the idea of a small boutique, where I wouldn't get lost, i.e., Sephora could have swallowed me whole and spit me out. My first instinct was the well-edited chain Scoop, which started in New York City and has locations in Connecticut, Las Vegas and Miami. It's known for spotting all things new, fun and fresh.
The woman who co-founded it, Stefani Greenfield, has since launched her own line of accessories for HSN called "Curations by Stefani Greenfield" – she is my business idol. I have known her forever -- from my journalist days.
While Scoop isn't a beauty destination, it does have a coveted denim selection. So, I figured Huge Lips, Skinny Hips was an appropriate find while shoppers tried squeezing into a pair of size 26 Current/Elliotts (my fave jeans).
When I showed the Scoop girls the product, Greenfield was sold, deeming it "yummy-sexy." Love that – especially because it's such a hard store to get into and one I have personally made more than my share of purchases at!
They asked for a P.O. (purchase order). I didn't have one. I didn't know how to get one. And then I was told the product should have a UPC code (that bar with numbers). Of course I had those, I assured them.
I lied! The minute I left I was Googling. And whatta you know... I found barcodes.com.
Downloaded a P.O. template online, hoping it would suffice. It did.
But the bar codes, not so much. Turned out the ones I ordered didn't have the right number of digits – I bought the wrong codes. So, after we printed the stickers, all 30,000 of them, we had to buy new codes and make new stickers... good times!
The Scoop order wasn't huge, but it's the kind of "door" (a term for store) that is prestigious and all about caché. Magazine editors love it and though it's not widespread, it was a good place to start a brand.
I could finally finish up the press kit – but that's for next week, my friend. Till then...
Mwah!
Karen
Purple Lab Creatrix