The golden gifts offered with the Lady Million scent were supplied by Cosfibel subsidiary Mandalay Design.

Gifting Beauty

Premium gift sets and kits showcase products and their unique attributes. Timing and production issues require careful planning and consideration.

Written by Lisa Samalonis, Associate Editor

Arbonne International LLC is known for creating premium holiday gifts and sets, and this year was no exception. And for inspiration, they looked no further than their consultants.

For the upcoming season, the premium direct seller launched a line of fragrances featuring three unique scent profiles—The Dreamer, The Dazzler and The Dynamo, which were developed by renowned European perfume houses and presented in collectable, stylized bottles envisioned by Kay Napier, CEO of Arbonne, Norma Rosenhain, CEO of Creata (which produced the bottles) and Arbonne’s creative team.

“Each fragrance blend features notes and characteristics reflective of the unique personalities and leadership qualities—vibrancy, strength, and beauty—that our Independent consultants embody,” says Napier. Characteristics are carried through to the package via whimsical, collectible sculpted female figures. Each personality is housed in an equally inspired carton printed and constructed by Packaging Spectrum. The 1.7 fl. oz. fragrances are available for purchase from October to December. Single bottles retail for $78; the set of three is $198.

The Market

The trio of Arbonne fragrances and packaging are reflective of the personalities and leadership qualities of the company’s Independent consultants.

While gift sets in the fragrance and makeup segments remain popular, skin care sets and kits are soaring.“In skin care, specifically, the industry has definitely seen an increase in the gift set business, and primarily that is because that is where a lot of the anti-aging programs and regimens are going,” says Karen Grant, vice president and senior global industry analyst, The NPD Group—and a member of Beauty Packaging’s Board of Advisors. “It has become an adjacency to anti-aging overall. So while there are basic gift sets, there are also a lot of sets that have the anti-aging top lines,” she says.

Many times the sets have a full-size entire line of a regimen and offer an enormous value. “Sometimes it is a kit that might include all the different steps in a program, but they may not necessarily be promotionally priced. Often though there is a savings. With many consumers it is definitely a great way to try something or just to replenish as well,” says Grant.

Timing and Production

Eric Allen, director of sales and marketing of Aphena Pharma Solutions, Inc., notes that gifts-with-purchase and gift sets are becoming more popular to entice the consumers to try a range of different products. “A lot of health and beauty consumers get comfortable with certain products, so a gift set is the best way to open their mind to new offerings or a re-introduction of an older product that a customer might not be using today. Gift sets during the seasonal times are a growing market,” he says.

Aphena has been producing gift sets successfully for three to four years and currently is working on four very large gift set programs with different size cosmetic companies. “Planning is everything with gift sets,” says Allen. “These projects started several months back, and are now in production with target launches in the next couple of weeks.”

Because there are many challenges in producing a successful gift set program, Allen notes that brands have to be particular about the sourcing company or contract packaging company they choose. He says that timing and selecting the right production equipment are key issues with gift sets.“If a low volume project is requested, the job costing can be more sensitive because of volume levels and labor-only type of applications. A large national company like Mary Kay, L’Oréal or Avon may request a high-volume project with a small production window that forces automation requirements,” he says. “This will require not only experience but also companies willing to invest in a long-term partnership to cover new equipment investments. Gift sets often have specialty tooling requirements, which can be expensive if the job only runs one year.”

Timing, he emphasizes, is everything. “The sourcing of materials can be very sensitive as well and you might have to plan up to a year in advance for custom items,” Allen explains. “In some cases you can allow six months or even three months, but the less time you plan for it, the less creative you can become on your finished product. Some items are not available in the U.S. at a competitive price for large volumes and going outside the U.S. might be required.”

Creativity and Cost

Beauty-related gift sets have typically been popular end-of-year launches by brands looking to cash in on holiday shoppers, but in many cases, the scale has now changed.

Knoll manufactures gift set packaging with special shapes or highly decorative packages, such as these box versions for Décleor.

The gift sets market took a hit after the 2009 economic crisis when many companies’ immediate reaction was to cut budgets and try to save money on packaging and promotional ideas, explains Ilan Schinazi, Cosfibel CEO. “But it appears clear that this was not a good route. Therefore the trend now is to find good and interesting ideas, but ones that are realistic in terms of value,” he says.

Schinazi notes that the company now has very demanding clients who are looking for innovations at reasonable costs. He says that environmentally friendly packaging and sustainability are on everyone’s mind. “This is and will be a very important trend for all of the industry. The challenge is high because at the same time the ‘premiumization’ of the pack implies the need to use different materials and the recyclability becomes difficult.”

For Paco Rabanne’s point-of-sale animations, Cosfibel subsidiary Mandalay Design supplied the gifts offered with the Lady Million scent. It also realized the solid feminine version of 1 Million. In line with the ultra-feminine eau de toilette and packaging, several gifts were offered this year, including a safe in anodized aluminum containing a sample of Lady Million and a golden pouch with strap.

Reusable, keepsake boxes that offer brand recognition and meet sustainability prerequisites were a large trend this holiday season, explains Joanna Sasso, VP of operations, Knoll Printing & Packaging, Inc. “Packaging that holds the product and showcases it in special ways were and continue to be a focus in the beauty industry.We had a small increase in the amount of flexible packaging we manufacture.Much of that was for container programs.”

Packaging for gift sets and kits pose some obstacles that need to be overcome. “With the rising costs of materials, freight and labor in China, we see pricing as a challenge.Customers are increasing wall thicknesses to 3mm adding several decorating techniques, but are looking to us to hold pricing at 2010 rates,” Sasso explains.

Most of what Knoll manufactures is gift set packaging, which includes special shapes or highly decorative packages.“We did a number of box versions for Decléor, which had die cut leaf patterns on the inside, while the outside was a special sand coating in a leaf pattern, and the boxes were embellished with suede cords and gold-plated leaves,” Sasso says.

Brand Values

Rachel Turner, Chicago Paper Tube & Can Co., Inc., notes that packaging for gift sets needs to have that “wow” factor while also communicating a brand’s image. “The challenge that many of our clients face is choosing packaging that is not only beautiful, but also ties into their brand’s values. For many of our health and beauty customers, all-natural ingredients are a cornerstone of their products. This ‘all natural’ philosophy is extended to the packaging,” she says.

Clients are excited to choose packaging that complements their natural and organic beauty products. “Recent customer requests to know more about the paper we use to make our packaging prompted us to develop a program that gives us accurate information about the percentage of recycled material and post-consumer recycled material in their packaging. Clients can communicate their sustainable message to their customers by printing the information directly on the package or listing it on their website,” says Turner.

The Amazon Rain Lluvia Essentials packaging collection was designed to accommodate a three-product skin care treatment set while reflecting the brand’s core values. The set uses Chicago Paper Tube’s PreviewPak, which serves a dual purpose: hold each bottle securely for shipping through the use of custom paperboard inserts, and create an attractive presentation when the package is displayed opened. “The 100% paperboard profile of this package reinforces the Amazon Rain ethos: promoting the use of sustainable and renewable resources. The organic ingredients used in Amazon Rain’s skin care products are responsibly harvested from the rain forests, helping create livelihoods for the native people in those communities. Choosing an American company which manufacturers in the U.S. was an equally important requirement for the packaging,” she says.

Functional Design

Gift set and kit packaging often has to be adapted to accommodate the product offerings. This can develop over time in a way in which form meets function. Take Del Sol. The company reworked its nail polish gift set packaging several times to achieve the desired goal. All stores offer a “buy 3, get 1 free” nail polish gift set. In the past, the stores used the original nail polish shipping boxes to accommodate customers who needed to carry the polish home, but it didn’t look or feel professional, so the company developed three holiday nail polishes with a holiday gift set box, says Scott Brady, AVP Communications at Del Sol.

However, it still didn’t accommodate the “buy 3, get 1 free” promotion, as the gift-set box only held three polishes. “It worked well for the holiday polishes, but not for our ongoing promotion. This year, we’re introducing a gift-set box that holds four bottles of nail polish and forms a natural bow on top of the box when it’s closed. It will also have a holiday collar that slides over the small gift-set box,” Brady explains.

The brand’s success depends on people knowing and understanding that the products change color in the sun. The gift set packaging displays the color-changing nail polish bottles in such a way that you can see the color-changing icon on the front of the bottle, which indicates what color the nail polish will change to outside in the sun.“It also tells the Del Sol story on the back of the gift set box, explaining more about color-changing nail polish, along with website, features and benefits,” says Brady.

The company creates the nail polish, packages the gift sets in house, and ships to Del Sol stores worldwide from its distribution center in Sandy, UT. “We’re a one-stop shop for our stores—they order the quantities they need, and we fulfill the orders from there,” Brady notes.