A dear friend of mine recently spoke of how, while making an impulse purchase for a lipstick at an airport, she ended up having a fascinating conversation with a male counter sales guy, who seemed to be a lipstick connoisseur with a massive collection of his own. She noted how he had great insight into how lipstick should be bought, ideally for personality not just skin tone. Was it her gender bias, she wondered, that she was so delighted by this surprising encounter? She travels globally and had never experienced such a knowledgeable and passionate counter sales guy.
The story made me wonder about gender biases in talent hiring for specific roles especially in industries seen as gendered.
Across the world, cosmetics counter sales staff is rarely male (the exception: perfume counter sales staff is rarely female). The field sales force, however, is rarely female, as I note both from occasionally bumping into field sales staff of brands in SpaceNK and Liberty in London, and from my earlier experience in my first and extremely short-lived first job in a well-regarded Indian cosmetics company.
The brand managers in the company were almost all women whereas, barring a couple of stellar exceptions, the field sales force was all men. These men, otherwise traditional, old-fashioned, sometimes married, were the definitive experts on both our products and our consumers. In my short stint, it became quite clear that their job brought them in contact with wholesalers, retailers, and consumers, and whenever a new product was launched, they also gave trial products to their family and got unfiltered feedback from them. This gave them a wealth of knowledge and insight. Whether the company was harnessing it in a structured way, I couldn’t say.
In contrast, the counter sales staff only ever encounters a consumer primed for some purchase, even if not in the exact category she ends up buying. This means the encounters are more narrow in scope, and only if a consumer ends up at the counter in a slow time of day, can she expect a fulsome and deep conversation about the products and the anthropology and psychology of purchasing one colour over another.
In all this, the consumer is, of course, key. Not only does she, peripatetic as she is, encounter the brand in many more locations, she also gets to see the non-uniformities, the vagaries of the brand’s operations in many ways. These can be revealing about the brand’s values and prejudices.
What is stopping the cosmetic industry hiring more men as counter sales staff? Do men not seek out these roles? Or are they actively rejected in an act of gender bias, unless, as my friend noted in the case of the sales guy she met, they are “flamboyant” in their presentation?
And since everything needs to have a business case, by not having male sales staff, could brands be missing a trick in capturing the growing male interest in cosmetics and skin care? The male grooming and beauty market is estimated to be $50Bn and growing.
One could cynically note that keeping men and women segregated helps companies as they persist in charging women, in cosmetics and skin care, a whopping 37% more than they charge men. This is frankly not sustainable as the web is transparent, and women can read labels and buy substitute products and brands.
Change however is coming, slow but steady, it appears. Even if it is in the form of YouTube influencers.
Men could, of course, watch YouTube videos privately but coming to the cosmetics counter in a city centre store is still uncommon. Andrew Snavely, who runs a magazine focused on men’s grooming, thinks this is unwise and notes: “… young professional men find trial and error with products to be an expensive and time-consuming process…”. Could this be because men feel unwelcome at beauty counters to discuss their needs with the mainly female staff? Airport stores, such as the one my friend was visiting, are probably more welcoming because a man could always pretend he is buying for a woman and engage in a conversation about lipstick.
On a philosophical note, everything that frees women frees men too. And vice versa. That includes the freedom to discuss, try, buy and use cosmetics.
Cosmetic brands would do well to watch watch their gender biases and actively hire male counter sales staff, thus welcoming male customers more.
May be over time, both men and women will get better at speaking openly across gender lines about gendered topics.
Because we are worth it ™.