How Many Polish Colors Are Enough?
Zoya has more than 300.
Essie has more than 200.
OPI has more than 200.
China Glaze has more than 100.
Yet each company comes out with 12, 24, and even 72 new colors each year in various collections.
How did this phenomenon come to be? Back in the day, 48 colors was a huge palette. Of the 48 colors, 10 sold well, 30 sold OK and 8 you couldn’t give away.
I think it started based on two premises. The first being competition. One company could boast over another that they had more colors. "Come one, come all, only Essie has 46 different whites and 39 different pinks. Just think of the French Manicure possibilities!"
"You want reds. We got reds. We got OPI Red and 83 more just like it but a tad different. Now you can satisfy every client looking for red!"
"Your client can’t decide what color to wear? Fantastic, let’s keep it that way. At Zoya, we have more than 300 colors and while they decide which color to choose, they can get a haircut, highlight and color and they won’t even notice the time spent in the salon!"
The other phenomenon is when polish companies tied their colors into seasonal fashion collections. All of a sudden, CND and Prada were synonymous. Only if Prada included a bottle of CND polish with their handbags. Hey, there’s an idea!
I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with another consumer commodity with so much selection. Even the best selling gum has only 14 flavors. Crayola still has their box of 64 and do you remember the treat it was when you got your hands on that?
With so much selection, I was bowled over to find out that when CND launches their new collections, it will only be two colors. Imagine that! So simplistic it’s genius. Perhaps this will be the inspiration to rethink marketing to consumers.
But then again, what would we do without over 1000 colors sitting on our warehouse shelves?
Happy Monday!
July 13th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I’ll have to admit that I have about 20 different shades of pink polish. But my all time favorite is Essie Jam n’ Jelly.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:19 am
I’d be interested to see Nail Polish with the post-ponement strategy of paint. The color selection for paint seems infinite. Have a pair of shoes, swatch of fabric, or anything else colorful you want color matched so you can paint your bathroom? No problem, the paint company can match it. And of course, since the paint is mixed at the point of sale – the actual inventory the retailer must carry is streamlined profitably.
Let’s say you had a specific outfit that you wanted color matched… and you could go to your favorite salon and have the color specially mixed for you.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Wow – That sounds like a great idea.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Jill, that sounds great. I do have to say that there are way to many polish colors that I swear they say its new with just a different name on them.
The new wave coming this fall is matte colors. We are already getting requests for them.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Jill’s idea does sound great. But the price point of a machine with that ability, might be a turn-off for most nail techs.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
They used to have kits where you could by them and make your own nail polishes.. I remeber these, you would get a bottle a white base coat and then add splashes of color, shake the nail bottle and your done! Voila!
That would be cool, and you could name it whatever you wanted!
I’m sure Essie would be down! They mix and match there nail polishes, Essie showed us how when she was here on her Birthday! It was awesome!
July 15th, 2009 at 9:09 am
The key to offsetting the “cost of the machine” may be found in the business models of other products.
For example, in our office here we have a fancy “Keurig” machine. (Which is one of my favorite inventions) We don’t own the machine, nor do we lease it, in fact the machine is free for our use – as long as we purchase the coffee from the distributor that is “loaning” us the machine.
Did you know the waffle makers at many restaurants also have a similar business arrangement? And… the fun “Good Humor” ice cream carts, free use of the cart with purchase of the ice cream. I could go on, but you get the picture.
July 16th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Monday is always a difficult day for you. I read and heard about too many colors for the last 25 years from you, but your company continues to carry all the brands you mention above. There must be a reason.
Women need choices, and marketing is not a square science. Please do your job and let the nail polish companies do theirs.
Colors make people happy and get them in good moods. Maybe it’s time to look at colors on your way to the office every Monday !
Have a colorful day !