Sainsbury’s, the British supermarket chain, is launching Serum Bars into 106 stores this month.
The ingredient-led bars aim to “simplify” how customers shop for facial serums to help them pick the right product for their skin care needs.
Products will be laid out by ingredient instead of brand to help shoppers understand the skin care benefits of certain formulas, said the retailer.
This is after the supermarket giant found that 78% of customers think ingredient hyaluronic acid is now more important than brand name when buying skin care.
It also discovered that only 7% know what a facial serum is and how it can benefit the skin.
“Our customers already love to shop facial serums but struggle to decipher what ingredients will be best for their skin care needs,” said Amanda Steatham, Director of Health and Beauty at Sainsbury’s.
“That is why we have taken inspiration from Parisian beauty boutiques and brought the serum bar concept into the beauty aisles in our bigger supermarkets.”
Brands such as Q+A, L’Oréal, CeraVe, Olay, Super Facialist and Nip + Fab will feature in the Skin Bars, as well as “exclusives” which will be secured by the retailer.
Consumer demand has also driven the move, said Sainsbury's, with the supermarket chain forecasting its customers will buy enough facial serums this year to fill five Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The Serum Bar concept is accessible online via Sainsbury's website too.
Products in the Skin Bars will be laid out by ingredient instead of brand
“Whether you want hydration or anti-ageing from your product, we have laid this out for the first time by skin care benefit rather than by brand – making it easier than ever to shop our extensive serum range,” continued Streatham.
Streatham added that by expanding the initiative out to 106 of Sainsbury’s larger stores and online in July that this is ”the biggest serum bar roll-out of any UK retailer”.
Sainsbury's launched the beauty arm of its business in 2018 in response to customers’ growing demand to be able to access these products in-store.
More than 250 of the giant’s larger superstores across the UK now offer a beauty retail experience, with dedicated cosmetics aisles and on-hand staff to offer advice.