Shopping is an immersive experience for every individual. It is one of the most personal and individualistic journeys which enables a person to discover and embrace products, be it shopping for a car, makeup, clothes or plants! This journey is about the touch, feel, or visual appeal a person experiences while investing money or emotions into a commodity. Makeup is one such buy; wherein a shopper would spend time trying out palettes, shades, tones, brushes and undertones before making any purchase, unless they stick to their usual products. The offline space allows consumers to experience different variants, textures, silhouettes, and surfaces that precisely fit their style at the moment. Hence, it amplifies the ingrained behaviour of trying and sampling before buying makeup products.

Various offline stores offer makeup trials in the form of swatch tests or one-time makeup looks. The attractiveness of trying products before buying is why product sampling has remained a tried and tested strategy in the marketing mix of thousands of makeup brands for decades, as it allows consumers to experience these unique qualities first-hand.

However, brands relying on traditional product sampling, like in-store activations, have had their share of learnings (including pain points like high costs) that come with it. Sampling also limits the choice & variants the consumer has for trial packs, as brands propagate new or focussed products to the consumer. In addition to this, re-engagement with the consumer becomes almost impossible due to the inability to track the consumer once they walk away with the sample.

This is where Smytten is disrupting the ecosystem. As India's largest tech-based D2C platform, Smytten brings in an innovative alternative to in-store sampling. It allows the consumers to order multiple trial packs across lifestyle categories like beauty & personal care, health & wellness, fragrances, food & beverages and more. When it comes to makeup, there are usually numerous options available in terms of shades, brands, etc. Smytten users can get trial packs of different shades of lipsticks, eyeshadows, foundations, nailpaints and more from over 50 top makeup brands. They can try these products in the comfort of their homes, and check the suitability for themselves before making the final purchase decision.

Most Indian consumers find it hard to select products at a glance as Indian skin types and textures are unique and cover a vast spectrum of colours and undertones. Finding which shade works the best for their skin tone - lipstick or foundation, is tedious and involves a lot of trials. Smytten can now serve millions of consumers the convenience and comfort of makeup trials at home from brands like Colorbar, MyGlamm, Faces Canada, Renee and more; across categories like nail paints, lipsticks, eye makeup, etc. While making trial SKUs available for most product categories, Smytten also gives incentives in the form of cashbacks & trial points so the journey of discovering new products is never ending for the users, thus making re-engagement possible across various touchpoints.