Between its widely heralded digital push into prestige beauty in the U.S. and a gleaming new storefront on the heavily trafficked Piazzale Cadorna in Milan, with a store brimming with dermatology-centric skincare brands à la La Roche-Posay, Vichy and Avène, Amazon Beauty is firing on multiple cylinders. But the question is: Why now? What is Amazon seeing in its crystal ball that’s making it so bullish on physical store beauty?

Given that a good chunk of the industrialized world opens the front doors of its homes and sees at least one Amazon package parked on the front steps, the Amazon logo has become ubiquitous. However, perched at the front door of the new Milan store, the Amazon logo just looks…a little down-market and utilitarian.

Dubbed Amazon Parafarmacia & Beauty, the store features “technology-enhanced shopping” alongside pro consultation services. There’s also a fully operating onsite pharmacy, so customers can stock up on non-prescription meds and vitamin supplements after they’ve finished shopping for crow’s feet-zapping eye cream.

Amazon Beauty, Prelude to a Rollout

In a statement, Giorgio Busnelli, VP of consumer goods at Amazon Europe, noted that the doctor-brand product assortment featured in the Milan outpost will be mirrored, albeit online only, in staggered digital rollouts in Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. Brands including Eucerin, CeraVe, Bionike and Relastil will be steadily available online in a big chunk of Europe.

So that’s evidently stage one — breaking these brands, digitally, into new markets. Of course, it’s not like the French-origin La Roche-Posay, Vichy and Avène aren’t already available in virtually every pharmacy in Europe. And Bionike, Relastil and CeraVe are readily available through Amazon in Germany.

“We’ve designed this store to bring us one step closer to our customers and deliver an innovative experience, merging cutting-edge technology with expert advice,” said Busnelli. “This broadened selection reflects our dedication to meet the needs of our customers, both at our physical store in Milan and online in Europe.”

If you’re wondering why Amazon Beauty opted for Milan for its first beauty and pharmacy outpost instead of tourist magnets Paris or London, maybe the idea was to embed itself in a bustling metropolis. Yes, Milan is a world capital of fashion, but it’s also home to booming finance, media and graphic design industries.

There’s a lot going on there year-round and a massive market of Milanese residents in need of quality skincare and pharmaceuticals who are positive about Amazon. According to Statistica, in 2023, Italian shoppers had a positive perception of Amazon. Online shoppers assigned a score of 7.3 out of 10 for the broad product offering on the marketplace, while they also appreciated the cheap prices (6.2 score points).

But still, Amazon is notorious for testing physical retail and pulling the plug when it doesn’t work. A test in Milan isn’t exactly on the global beauty radar.

Once You Get Past the Logo, It Looks Bright and Shiny

Given that a good chunk of the industrialized world opens the front doors of its homes and sees at least one Amazon package parked on the front steps, the Amazon logo has become ubiquitous. And on that logo, there are a lot of opinions about what it represents, but the Amazon line is that it is a smile conveying customer satisfaction.  However, perched at the front door of the new Milan store, the Amazon logo just looks…a little down-market and utilitarian.

The sparkly glass doors lure customers into a space that looks to be all about bright and shiny drugstore design with white walls, bright lighting and a lot of electronic signage. Featuring a Main Gallery with digital-display product and ingredient learning stations, a “derma-bar” stocked with a selection of the doctor brands where customers can receive a digitally delivered skin analysis, and the pharmacist-manned supplements section, it looks like a jacked-up, Bezos-money version of a traditional European pharmacy.

So, Why Does It All Sound a Little CVS?

I haven’t been to this splashy new concept shop, so I’m framing my highly unsolicited opinion of Amazon Parafarmacia & Beauty on pure hunches. But based on the pictures and descriptions, I have to say I’m getting “CVS in America” vibes. Though the CVS near me, in St. Petersburg, Florida is modestly sized, it has a fairly decent beauty department featuring a well-lit designated area for its marquee-name “dermo” skincare brand, La Roche-Posay.

Our TRR colleague Glyn Atwal visited the store in Milan and reports, “The store is located not in a luxury shopping district but in the vicinity of the busy Cadorna train station. And let’s be clear, this is not a prestige flagship store experience. The store could be a small pharmacy in any French town that is the place to pick up medications and buy a range of beauty and personal care products. So, Amazon’s positioning for this new venture remains unclear. Is it a drugstore, a beauty retailer, or a dermatology service?”

Atwal goes on to share, “Amazon is smart to focus on skincare. It is a rapidly growing segment where personalization is shaping the future of the beauty industry. Sales staff wear white lab coats, creating an impression of clinical expertise. However, this feels somewhat staged. While the coats are free of Amazon branding, will consumers buy into this theatrical approach? 

The selection of brands is quite limited and those seeking luxury skincare or exciting new challenger brands may find themselves disappointed. Is the retail experience memorable? Not particularly. Amazon can do better to leverage technology to create a truly immersive beauty experience—an area where it holds a potentially distinct advantage over incumbents.”

A First Crack at Masstige, à la Ulta?

It’s the high/low mix at the new Amazon Beauty store that has me a bit stumped. The major digital push Amazon has been making into prestige beauty in the U.S. also feels like a disconnect. As hard as Amazon has tried to maintain the look and feel of legendary, visually distinctive brands like Kiehl’s and Clinique in its online storefronts it hasn’t quite gotten there.

The Milan store seems equally neither here nor there. Atwal adds, “Does Amazon have the expertise to compete in the beauty industry? Innovation and technology could set it apart, but for the world’s largest online retailer, this remains a work in progress. There were no price promotions or discounts, which may support Amazon’s desired positioning but contradict what consumers typically expect from the brand.

For Amazon Beauty to succeed in Europe, it must adapt to each market’s unique beauty DNA. For instance, Germany’s beauty market is more value-driven, with luxury beauty accounting for just 25 percent of the overall beauty and personal care sector, compared to 36 percent in the U.S.”

But this is deep-pockets-Amazon we’re talking about. If any company can afford to take a flyer on a concept that might not work, it’s Amazon.