Die-hard beauty fans can now test and purchase products from their Instagram feeds in one IRL location.
Ricky’s NYC, a chain beauty store with a mix of indie and established brands, opened a concept cosmetic store called “#” (pronounced "Hashtag"), which sells 20 beauty brands made famous by Instagram. The store features eclectic brands like Cocoa Brown, LASplash, Makeup Eraser and Sugar Pill.
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The idea for # was developed in response to consumers who were interested in obtaining social media-famous brands outside their online community.
"Ricky’s NYC has been carrying many of these brands for almost a year but with the rest of the merchandise in the store, these special brands can sometimes get lost in the crowd," Richard Parrott, president of Ricky's NYC, tells Mashable. "I did some analysis on the cumulative sales for all the 'Insta-brands' and the numbers made sense to try and aggregate them in one location. Ignite that with some social gasoline and #BOOM, # was created."
Nyc-Fla-Ky-Nyc # opens 8/15/15. #tiekwondo #NYC #soho #rickysnyc A photo posted by Richard Parrott (@rpnyc) on Aug 13, 2015 at 3:32pm PDT
Parrott searches Instagram, speaks to makeup artists, works shows at Fashion Week and takes advice from customers on social media in order to choose which brands to sell.
"Once a brand is proposed, we research and test with real people to get honest feedback about the quality, and then decide if we want to roll it out to all locations or test market in our top five stores," he says.
Ricky’s NYC is using # to test brands with strong social media presence. If the companies do well in stores, they might be sold at all 27 NYC stores and on Ricky’s NYC website.
Gorgeous eyes by @landofmakeup using #sugarpill Mint Soda, Strangeling, and Countess eyeshadows! Love how this color combo makes her green eyes pop A photo posted by Sugarpill Cosmetics (@sugarpill) on Aug 23, 2015 at 9:06am PDT
Some more swatches of the #ColouredRaine Lip Lacquers coming out on September 12 at 3PM EDT Swatches provided by @theamazingworldofj A photo posted by Coloured Raine Cosmetics (@colouredraine) on Aug 24, 2015 at 5:14pm PDT
Fans will be able to test the makeup before purchasing, a perk not currently possible when shopping for makeup online.
Other store interactions include touchscreen TVs with YouTube tutorials and selfie stations.
"Response has been overwhelming and is only gaining momentum," Parrott explains. "We have already formed new partnerships with brands and plan on launching exclusive products for this store with those brands."