The era of cosmetics [Archives:2002/43/Business & Economy]
The Road Ahead
BY RAIDAN A. AL-SAQQAF
[email protected]
In a world of increasing confusion and information overload, success can be a hard to achieve objective. Take a minute to reflect on the individuals you consider successful, whether they are world-famous or someone you personally know and admire. What do you think made them who they are today? Talent? Charm? Connections? Or just good old luck? Whether it’s one of these factors, or a combination, or not, there is one that is of increasing importance: looks.
Any business in this world is a business of selling impressions, weather it’s a retail shop or a fancy restaurant. Businesses are adding more and more cosmetics and accessories to their product-lines and services in order to enrich impressions. That is why hotel rooms include fruits and flowers, provide additional services and try to add more value to the accommodation package offered to customers. All such additions are cosmetics, added to create a better look of the hotel, and in turn create a more favorable impression for customers.
Packaging is almost everything today. The way products and services are presented plays a major role in the purchase decision of customers. For example if you were willing to buy a new vehicle, would adding a few accessories mean much to the seller? But it would certainly mean something to you, because what sells is cosmetics. The more cosmetics and accessories products have, the more they will be favored, and more of them will sell easier.
Cosmetics need not be physical accessories; they can be mental images or perceptions. In advertising, for example, marketers and advertising agencies exhaust their resources trying to differentiate their products and services from those of others. As a result, products are not actually sold on the bases of their content anymore, they are sold on their marketability. If you ask any publisher about the key to a bestseller, you would be surprised to know that it is the book’s cover. When you step in a bookshop and see a book, the cover will make an impression on you about the book and the value of the information contained.
The problem is that nowadays the concept of adding accessories and cosmetics has exceeded the importance of other business strategies and affairs with people. People are being judged by their physical appearance now more than ever. If you were to hire an employee, all other things being equal, you would choose the smartest looking. The need is not only to be handsome but to also have the right style of dress and hygiene. This is why those who look forward to having extraordinary success, whether that be in their personal lives or corporate strategies, should add cosmetics.
Endnote: Looks count, whether it’s one’s own personal looks, or one’s corporate image or brand. Looks help create a better impressions about one’s self.
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