The beauty social e-commerce for beauty lovers
The video has two versions, a short one and a longer one, lasting five minutes. The backdrop for both is the real location of Purmamarca, one of the most beautiful landscapes in Argentina, in the northwest of the country. The area, which attracts thousands of tourists who visit during all seasons to see, among other wonders, the “Cerro de los Siete Colores”, is an unbeatable environment for Consuelo Chasseing, publicist by profession and co-founder and CEO of For Me Tips, who explains in front of the camera that «in the not too distant future, passion will be the new currency of an economy based on the trust that results from sharing experiences».
With this definition, part of the pitch that she presented to make herself known to investment funds, Chasseing synthesizes the vision of the women’s marketplace and beauty social commerce ecosystem that she founded in 2019 with her partners Romina Mahboub and Denise Henry aiming to impact and sustainably transform an industry that amounted to 70 billion dollars in sales last year, but only 12% came from on-line sales.
For Me Tips seeks to capture 10% of this market in the next five years by connecting, on the one hand, cosmetic brands that need to come into contact with the most genuine experiences that customers have with their products and, on the other hand, to nano and micro-content creators who want to share those experiences obtaining benefits in discounts and free samples and even the possibility of generating income by monetizing their passion through sales, thanks to the recommendations.
Chasseing explains that For Me brand lovers are not celebrities or famous influencers, but they are passionate local consumers of products associated to their well-being and personal fulfillment, they become the axis of communities made up of other consumers who follow them and trust them because they know that they speak and recommend from the heart, with no strings attached. The idea focuses on generating spaces where the participants connect with each other to motivate, help and celebrate each other.
This summarizes a reality of the trust-based economy, where is found that 80% of purchase decisions are made on the recommendation of a close person and that, on the other hand, despite the interactions that occur more and more in social networks, the purchase takes place outside of it, completely wasting the energy, potential, and talent of more than 80 million nano content creators; who actually buy products, try them and share their experiences on Tik Tok, Instagram, and other social media networks.
For Me Tips has already formed a community of more than 360 thousand content creators with operations in countries such as Argentina, where it started in the Mediterranean province of Cordoba, as well as in Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, and Peru, with growth of 10 times its income in the consolidated year-end 2021, the year in which it achieved its first half million dollars.
Its business model is based on geo-segmented insights, with a cost per response model; reviews of qualified products/services, with a cost per review model; traffic to the point of sale and management of upselling with a format by commission and conversion in the investment of digital advertising with a take rate for each transaction.
With For Me Tips, brands can listen to their consumers, capitalize on their recommendations and enhance their sales through influencers with a capillarity that is almost impossible to reach through traditional channels. For brand marketing departments focused on beauty lovers, entrepreneurship is a tool that helps them gain in-depth knowledge of the clients’ profiles and behaviors, enriching their marketing.
«At the same time we are a solution for micro-influencers, which allows them to grow professionally, monetize their content, and be recognized by peers and brands,» adds Consuelo.
The platform has a comprehensive impact plan since it also offers nano and micro-influencers training to learn how to monetize their content and communities through an experience that includes suggestions and knowledge to improve engagement and conversion, a site to share content and drive sales, plus commissions for every sale they convert.
“What we are mainly looking for is that each person who generates a recommendation today can exploit their talent and ability, and really be able to making a living from what they are passionate about, from what they like and is good for them, from what they genuinely consume and have the ability, but also the interest of sharing it with their community and that it becomes a source of income”, says Denise.
“The creativity of content creators and what they share will undoubtedly be one of the big sectors of the economy in the coming years and we really believe that passion, dedication, and personal experience are going to be the new currency and the new way of generating income for people”, she adds.
The three co-founders of For Me Tips launched the venture after working for more than 15 years in the corporate world, in companies in Latin America and the United States.
Consuelo, former director of innovation for Apex America, has collaborated in advertising and innovation with leading brands such as Mullen Lowe, Unilever, Redbull, Copa Airlines, American Express, Nespresso, and Telefónica, among others. Denise, meanwhile, is also Argentinian, mother of 4 children, and was COO at Apex America, while Romina (CTO), born in Iran, grew up in Canada and was development manager at Google, one of the first female engineers to work in large companies in Silicon Valley.
«The three of us met working together and decided to unite our energies and efforts to solve a common problem: helping people to be able to live their passions,» says Consuelo.
«The economy of trust is based on data that has to do with who we are and how we behave and the impact we can have on other people. Thanks to social networks, the multiplicity of solutions and platforms that today allow us to communicate and reach more and more people, has been an unblocking of the expression that has inspired us to connect with passions that take the form of interests, or spaces that we enjoy, where we are protagonists of genuine, and authentic experiences, in which we not only invest time, money and energy, but also later we share it with others,» says Denise.
For Romina «this is the new path of consumption», it is where this effect of Social Commerce is nurtured, where the passion for what that person is doing and sharing with their audience stems from the depths of the person’s interests and that translates into what others not only absorb, but also inspire them».
For Me Tips is based on having understood «that this bond that is generated with each consumer that is watching, that is part of the audience, and that start asking questions to the content creator about how was the experience with a product, how does that make-up remover works, where was the lotion bought, how can it be purchased, if it could also help her even if she has dry skin, all of that conversation had to be part of the formal cycle with the brands,» she adds.
According to Consuelo, the surprising thing about the collaborative economy on which, for example, solutions like Airbnb are based, is not the technology that made it possible, but the great changes that it brings about for society.
It brought a renewed sense of community, spawned more collaboration, and new ideas, and placed great importance on trust, as the foundation of a new economy, tapping into a need that transcends borders and is still full of opportunity.
The trust economy implies an exchange of tangible value in the interactions between the consumer and the brand.
With customers exposed to more than 5,000 marketing messages every day, brands must strive to create that magic moment that captures the attention and facilitates the direct engagement with consumers who, in turn, are looking to buy brands that demonstrate social responsibility and, in addition, listen.
«In the beauty industry, this means, among other things, that brands are constantly looking for real people to try their products and leave their genuine opinions and share it with their audiences so that the message comes from real experiences and has another strength. We connect both», concludes Consuelo.
