Heidi Manheimer and Michael Gould. Photo by Patricia Willis Photography

On September 19, at Manhattan’s The Harmonie Club, CEW president Carlotta Jacobson looked out at the audience and remarked: “Everyone in the beauty industry is in the room tonight.”

She told the enthusiastic crowd she’d been trying to get one of the evening’s guest speakers—Michael Gould, chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale’s—to headline one of the organization’s events for years. But it wasn’t until she paired him with Heidi Manheimer, the first woman chief executive officer of Shiseido Cosmetics America, that he agreed.

Seems the two powerful industry executives have a lot in common—including straightforward, no-nonsense management styles—and a lot to say about consumers and the present and future of the beauty industry, and all those in attendance were eager to listen. The lively exchange between the CEO’s’ brand and retail points of view was moderated by Jill Scalamandre, vice president of CEW—and Coty’s newly appointed leader of skin care brand Philosophy.

Packed house at CEW presentation. Photo by Patricia Willis Photography

The theme of the evening was “Strategies for Profitability,” and the two dynamic executives spoke about various ways to drive business growth, and shared how their corporate partnership and thinking has led to success for both companies.

Both come from manufacturing and retail backgrounds and Manheimer, too, spent many years at Bloomingdale’s. Gould and Manheimer agreed that, while not essential, the mix of experience could be helpful to beauty talent in gaining perspective on the industry.

Manheimer started out on the floor at 59th Street, which she said, helped her to understand the consumer “before going to the other side.” Both agreed that the dynamics of retail have changed, especially in light of the Internet and 24-7 sales opportunities.

(L-R): Carlotta Jacobson, Michael Gould, Jill Scalamandre. Photo by Patricia Willis Photography

But while retail is more complicated, Manheimer said, “The opportunity has never been greater.” She said with consumers everywhere, the challenge is to meet them everywhere.

When it comes to attracting millennials—who will outpace baby boomers by 2014, according to Manheimer—they want “ a seamless transition between online and in-store.” She said they don’t want to be told what to do, “they want to be part of the process.”

A major challenge, of course, is to not only attract new customers, but to keep them. Both CEOs spoke about the difficulties.

Gould stressed the need to establish in-store relationships between beauty consultants and customers to make them want to come back. He said one of the challenges Bloomie’s faces in this regard is that they have so much info on their customers and haven’t done enough with mining it. In addition, he said that only 38% of the store’s customers buy beauty.

Nurturing sales talent has to be a priority. Manheimer conceded, “We have a nice level of loyalty, but we haven’t done enough to get new customers to our product.”

In a retail location, such as Bloomingdale’s, which Gould described as a brand, itself, essentially there are two brands trying to sell the product.

So what is the strategy to make it a win-win situation?

Key, said Gould, “is the relationship with the consumer.” Manheimer agreed: “You need to work with the store; make your event happen in their environment.”

Shiseido just launched a new skin care line to this younger demographic and is promoting it via a digital campaign with Bloomingdale’s.

Manheimer also explained an early lesson learned at Bloomie’s. In Japan, Shiseido’s home base, she said a typical customer would spend an hour learning about skin care, in a private area, behind the scenes. In Bloomie’s, she said, “This needs to take 15 minutes.” She said Gould had advised her “to take the facial event outside and show all the customers what you’re doing.”

Both executives attributed their personal success and the success of their brands not only to the great products, but also to the people that they work with.

Gould added: “Ninety-nine percent of good brands have good people.”

When Scalamandre closed the session by asking the speakers what they hoped their legacy would be, they gave similar responses.

Both said it came down to the people they worked with. They hoped that they would have been able to help make a difference in people’s lives, and would have enabled them to be more, personally and professionally, than they might have thought possible.