Things are looking vibrant for beauty at Nordstrom Inc.

The department store is doubling down on the category ahead of holiday with an influx of latest brands and exclusive launches, in addition to more promotional activity in each Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack.

For the quarter ending July 29, net sales on the retailer dipped 8.3 percent, as reported. Beauty, nevertheless, posted single-digit increases and was named a bestselling category.

“Beauty consistently has had a solid performance for Nordstrom,” said Debbi Hartley-Triesch, executive vice chairman and general merchandising manager, beauty and accessories, Nordstrom. “We comprehend it’s a top trip driver overall for us. We all know the sweetness customer is loyal, they spend more with us and we’re all the time searching for recent ways to have interaction with and thank them.”

Promotion is playing a job in rewarding that category loyalty. Through the top of the yr, the retailer’s popular loyalty program, Nordy Club, is giving customers five times points on all beauty purchases. 

Meanwhile, at Nordstrom Rack, the corporate is betting on heightening interest in hair. Space NK is debuting hair shops in 200 doors alongside brands like R+Co, Philip B. and Christophe Robin. As a category, hair is the essential focus. “Hair is a hot category at Nordstrom Rack, so we’re searching for recent brands recurrently,” Hartley-Triesch said.

The thought process is to deliver top brands from Nordstrom’s assortment, like Kate Somerville, MAC Cosmetics, Too Faced, Shiseido, Dry Bar and Clinique, amongst others, in additional convenient locations.

Those brands join the likes of Neutrogena and Burt’s Bees, in addition to what Hartley-Triesch called “best-of treasure hunting.”

At Nordstrom proper, Hartley-Triesch continues to be keen on a high-low mix across its brand matrix, highlighting recent discoveries in addition to heritage beauty brands.

“We work on curating the very best selection and that selection is thru prestige, in addition to emerging brands. It’s all price points: we wish to be a pacesetter in beauty, we wish to encourage through our luxury designer brands like Tom Ford and Dior, and we also take a look at some emerging brands we’ve been in a position to launch like Westman Atelier, in addition to emerging technologies and tools,” Hartley-Triesch said.

Heading into holiday, fragrance is a top priority. “There’s loads happening, especially with fragrance,” Hartley-Triesch said. 

Byredo and Maison Francis Kurkdjian are each expanding inside Nordstrom, along with Sunday Riley and The Strange. The corporate can also be launching Shark in all doors — it’s one in every of the top-searched items on nordstrom.com — and the biotech-fueled fragrance brand Future Society in 20 doors. Grande Cosmetics is launching online.

Exclusives play a vital role in the combination. Recent ones include Westman Atelier Skin Activator Rollerball, Tory Burch Essence of Dreams Layering Oils, Clarins Precious Le Serum and Wealthy Cream and the Kylie Skin Vanilla Bath collection. 

“We work with a few of our greatest brand partners for exclusive launches so the client has something unique,” Hartley-Triesch said.

The Beauty Rituals space, which has iterations each physically and digitally, is Hartley-Triesch’s testing ground for brand spanking new brands and brand types. It’s also where the retailer first debuted Augustinus Bader and Westman Atelier, and has introduced trends from brands marketed as “clean” or sustainably minded, in addition to clinical skincare.

“Once we launch brands, [the strategy] looks and feels different brand by brand, but the general recipe is to have the opportunity to check online and in-store. In-store goes to be a partnership with the brand and what is sensible for them,” Hartley-Triesch said. “We would like to bring the brand story to life, and that’s what we expect of when launching a brand. It’s online, it’s in-store, and it’s that storytelling that connects back to the brand DNA through creative marketing, through social and thru events.”

Hartley-Triesch also sees room for opportunity in paid services, equivalent to those in its Latest York flagship which have ranged from injectables to facial and body services. “Twenty years ago, after we launched Anastasia Beverly Hills in our stores, we launched with brow boutiques and leveraged this in-store, paid service where you’ll be able to get your brows shaped and waxed. There’s a possibility there,” she said, noting that some partnerships are within the works. “We would like to be that one-stop shopping destination.”

Hartley-Triesch can also be making a greater dialogue between the physical and digital channels as a response to consumer behaviors. The Nordstrom beauty shopper is basically back in-store. “The client is regulating itself on how that shopping journey looks,” she said. “We’re continuing to lean in on our digital channel, ensuring that we will connect that to our business, our physical footprint and make sure that that service then connects.”

In true Nordstrom fashion, service is the critical piece. Nordstrom recently introduced a tool for beauty stylists to attach with digital shoppers, who can then pick up products in-store. “The client desires to shop digitally in addition to in-store, and the way we mix that’s how we win,” she said. “Once we give that customer an experience that’s digital and physical together, then we all know we’re serving them on their terms.”

Sustainability efforts have been fruitful, too, each in impact and in driving trips to stores. Nordstrom introduced its beauty takeback program in 2020, which recycles consumers’ beauty products — from any retailer — with the goal of recycling 100 tons by 2025. Last month, Nordstrom hit the halfway point in that goal.