During fall of 2007, Elizabeth Arden and Coty signed on with ZoomSystems, a vending machine company. The appeal of selling in vending machine is lower labor costs, and it can remain open for business long after the store closes.

Coty is hoping to attract younger buyers who don’t normally shop at department stores where their perfumes are sold. In addition, the Coty machine allows customers to sample the fragrance by “pushing a button that releases a scented puff of air through a quarter-sized hole below a picture of the fragrance.” The current gold-and-silver Coty machine in Queens Center, New York, uses a touch screen for transactions such as selecting a perfume, or getting instructions on how to return an item.

Moreover, “certain machines have additional high-tech bells and whistles such as a ‘virtual beauty consultant’ at the Elizabeth Arden kiosk, which suggests the best product for a given skin type.” This confirms that Elizabeth Arden’s machines also sell make-up or skincare products besides perfumes.

Buying perfumes at vending machines is both good and bad. One of the advantages is that you no longer have to deal with the salesperson that’s pushing you to sample every scent in the store to make a commission from your purchase. The disadvantage to this very same scenario is the lack of personal interaction with a live representative who might be able to help you according to your specific needs. There are probably many other upsides and downsides to perfume vending machines, but I will not go into detail as many of them depend on individual preferences.

Source: Business Week