Let’s begin with other sectors than beauty. Manami, a trendy pens brand available at the Design Plaza in Seoul, offers everyone the opportunity to choose all the components to make their “own pen".
At Tokyu Hand, you can find the same concept for DIY jewellery, as well as a whole Beauty Line. The "refill" culture encourages Japanese consumers to make their own containers: colour and type, pump, etc. This also corresponds to the take-away culture and the need to always have cosmetic product available, whatever circumstances. This reminds the traveller or urban pack trend, we observed in Olive Young drugstores in Seoul.
Of course, in continuation of this movement, makeup products are joining the band-wagon, starting with the cushion boxes that Asians women always carry with them!
In Seoul, for instance, Innisfree boutiques offer "my Cushion, my style" areas where consumers can choose separately their preferred cushion formula their preferred pack. The cushion shades are sold in refill formats, just below the testers.
Primera also proposes to personalize makeup cases with one of the decors made on demand with the printer in the shop.
So why not matching one’s lipstick colour with one’s preferred pack decor? This is the concept proposed by Etude House "20 colors 20 Cases". A double entry colour chart always each customer to select its preferred option.
Paul & Joe’s special collections are based on the same idea, such as the latest “Les Petits Nom d’Amour” limited edition, seen at Isetan in Tokyo, which explicitly offer to mix and match your favourite lipstick and case.
The customization of the pack thus appears to be a huge field of investigation that brands should monitor closely, especially at the time of the hyper customization allowed by skin diagnostic tools or by apps.
