Australian Iris Smit entrepreneur told CosmeticsDesign-Asia that she saw a gap in the market and jumped on the opportunity to develop Beauty Fridge, a miniature fridge that helps to extend the shelf life of cosmetic products.
“I noticed a lot of media about the benefits of storing your cosmetics in a fridge and saw that people were purchasing bar fridges and repurposing them for skin care. But I could not find a company that was selling a nicely branded and packaged fridge designed especially for cosmetics,” said Smit.
Niched to mainstream
While the Beauty Fridge is a niche product, Smit believes current beauty trends will propel it into the mainstream.
“There’s been a massive skin care popularity spike in Australia recently. And there are more and more preservative-free products on the market that have a shorter shelf life so refrigerating them gives you better longevity. If you’re investing money in good skin care, you’ll want to store it properly and so you can get the most out of it. I believe 100% that it will become part of the beauty routine,” said Smit.
Beauty Fridge was unveiled a few weeks ago on its website and received a good response from the Australian market.
The company has already inked a deal with Australian pharmacy-chain, Priceline, to stock Beauty Fridge come September.
Smit is now eyeing global growth, and is currently in producing the Beauty Fridge with different power plugs for other countries.
“We have been getting a lot of interest from customers and retailers from markets like the Middle East, the UK and the US. We’re already negotiating with some retailers but we will probably offer worldwide shipping from our website as well,” she said.
Building a community
Aside from expanding overseas, Smit has other ambitious plans for her latest brand.
“My goal is to turn Beauty Fridge into an information source for everything beauty. We want our consumers to come to us for skin care recommendations and what works best in the Beauty Fridge. We are hoping to launch a blog for Beauty Fridge where people can get all this information.”
By building its brand authority, Beauty Fridge could eventually expand into skin care.
“It’s very interesting to think that Beauty Fridge could launch its own range of skin care products that are specially designed and work best when refrigerated.”
Smit stressed that finding ways to build a relationship with a consumer was immensely important.
“Involving customers in the brand and making them feel like they are a part of a community is very important for us. We know they are more likely to purchase the product because they feel a part of the process.”
This approach has proven to be successful with The Quick Flick, said Smit.
“With The Quick Flick, we tried to really personalise the experience and be very hands-on with our consumers. We take them on the journey and involve them in the development. They get to feedback on colours, shape and we also get them to vote on names. How we dictate what products to bring out next is very much based on feedback we get from consumers. That's where a lot of the success of The Quick Flick comes from.”
Smit said the company would also prioritise building its relationship with its consumers, which it uses for photoshoots instead of models.
“I want to treat the brand as its own influencer with its own message so people don't just value the brand for the products but also for what it has to say.”
“We want our consumers to see themselves in the brand and send a positive message that makes them feel good about themselves, not play on their insecurities with a false image of beauty that is difficult to obtain.”
Future plans
While Beauty Fridge will keep the company very busy, Smit said it will continue to grow The Quick Flick.
The brand has just landed its first retail deal in Europe with Superdrug and plans to seek out new markets and new consumers.
“We will be launching in the UK through Superdrug soon and the Middle East has been on our list for a while. We only recently started looking into Singapore. We recently participated in the Great Singapore Sale and that performed really well. So that will be a market to look into,” said Smit.
The company is also working on new products, revealed Smit. This year it plans to launch five new shades and a glitter range for the festive month.
Additionally, it is also working on expanding the range beyond eyeliners.
“The whole concept of the quick flick is providing makeup solution that saves time and requires a low skill level. We want to bring out other products that can simplify eyebrow or lip routines for example.”
