EBeauty.com later this month will launch a direct mail campaign with Compaq Computer Corp., Houston, that will offer a free Compaq PC to spas and salons that make a minimum amount of purchases each month from the EBeauty Web site.
This would mark the second major direct mail campaign that EBeauty has conducted since the e-commerce site launched in May. This time it is increasing the size of the campaign by targeting 50,000 spas, salons and other “businesses and medical offices interested in purchasing the products” EBeauty offers. The 50,000 pieces will be dropped all at once.
EBeauty.com is a business-to-business site that offers a one-stop shopping solution to beauty service retailers. Not only does it sell cotton, wax and other makeup supplies, but it also offers massage tables and display cases in which doctors or other businesses would be interested.
Before a business makes a purchase from EBeauty, it is asked to provide certain information that proves it is an actual business. EBeauty calls each of the companies that register as affiliates.
Since launching, EBeauty has signed on more than 5,000 affiliates; 3,000 of them are spas and salons, and the other 2,000 are medical offices and businesses.
The piece for the campaign is still in development, but Julie Khalifeh, co-CEO of EBeauty, New York, said this piece will be similar to the one used in its first campaign.
EBeauty is designing the piece inhouse. It will contain a number of pages mailed within a folder. Included will be an introductory letter discussing the benefits of becoming an EBeauty affiliate; information on the Compaq PC offer; and the Beauty Source Program, a software program that will link directly to the shopping area of EBeauty.com when affiliates turn on their PCs. Those affiliates wanting more information on the offer or EBeauty.com are asked to visit the site or call a toll-free number.
EBeauty decided on the PC offer after research showed it was something that a number of businesses in the beauty industry needed.
“Our research showed us that 50 percent of the 250,000 spas and salons in the country have a computing device,” Khalifeh said. “Thirty percent of those [spas and salons] want to upgrade their systems, and the other 50 percent that don’t have computers, want them.”
