Elemis have some highly rated products but their Pro-Collagen Marine Cream seems to have a particular appeal to people who want a moisturiser that doesn’t bring them out in spots. The fact that it doesn’t have this downside gets mentioned a lot by reviewers. The other things that come up a lot are that it is very expensive and that a little goes a long way. So what would you do with that information if you were working in the Elemis New Product Development department? You’ve got a winner, but you probably aren’t making as many sales as you might.
One clever idea is to pack it up into a kit with other related products. Bring on the Elemis Pro-Collagen Super System. You get a bigger sale, and you turn people onto other products in your line. You can also sell it as a 30 day treatment regime so you can train your customers to use it more often and so you don’t lose so many sales when people find they can make it last a long time.
It’s a neat idea, and Elemis do this kind of thing a lot and have worked out how to produce a really stylish nice looking pack. Who doesn’t love a nice package full of goodies. It isn’t cheap – indeed at the current median UK income it will cost half a week’s wages. So you will want to make sure your 30 days treatment is worth it.
The only trouble is while the marketing all makes sense, the science really doesn’t. If you want to keep your skin moisturised – which is a good idea – the timescale of 30 days doesn’t really mean very much. The skin turns over in about 15 days so the top layer of your skin has changed twice during the programme. And if the basic product, the cream, is working it really begs the question of what the other products are doing. The trick with moisturising is to get the balance right. You want to put on enough oil to slow down water loss but not so much as to block the pores and cause spots. Adding extra serum and a night cream doesn’t really make much sense. They might be fine products in their own right but there is no obvious rationale to put them together.
But as I have written before, it is emotion not science that drives sales. I have a feeling that Elemis will do well with the Elemis Pro-Collagen Super System set despite my objections.
Measurement of Skin Turnover Rate