INTERNET: Looks brings click-through beauty to Asian consumers

Looks.com (www.looks.com) has brought the touchy-feely appeal of cosmetics to Hong Kong's increasingly ecommerce-enabled Web community. Launched in December '99 to target female surfers and beauty-junkies alike, the site markets funky brand appeal combined with "the needs and interests of Asian women". "Most Asian women are overwhelmed by the fact that there's so much happening on American sites," said Looks.com managing director Ian Smith. "(But) bandwidth is much lower in Asia, connection speeds are slower and users here are really adverse to downloading plug-ins." Avoiding technologically demanding content as video-streaming, Looks.com advocates down-to-earth marketing and user-friendly browsing. So user-friendly, in fact, that the site is pulling its own set of male advocates purchasing gifts online. "Men have been a much bigger component of our sales than women, and as the site evolves, you'll see more gift-sets and more marketing to the 'shy-guy' consumer," said Mr Smith. Achieving up to 20,000 daily page views, with unique visitorship pushing the 1,000-mark, the site sells "boutique brands" such as Crabtree & Evelyn alongside bestsellers Versace, L'Occitane and US custom-cosmetics house, 3 Custom Colour. "If you're online, where you can't touch, feel and smell, brand is all important," said Mr Smith. Indeed, as adspend figures for dotcoms skyrocket, Looks is brandishing a hefty adspend budget of its own -"in excess of US$2 million" - for 2000. "It's still hugely expensive to advertise online," said Mr Smith. "If somebody's searching for beauty, make-up, or research tips and our banner shows up, we would do really well to have two per cent of those people that see the banner actually click on it." Improving the "hook factor" in banner ads and running special promotions - such as free delivery until Valentine's Day - are tactics to plump-up sales. The site is also poised for a two-month outdoor offensive, costing US$200,000 and rolling out in Hong Kong and Taiwan this week. In the meantime, site content continues to be built around the staple draws of product, ingredient quality and branding philosophy - and is fast attracting surfers from Taiwan and Japan. Sister sites for Japan and Taiwan are planned for launch in March.

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