Changing the Way Beauty Does Business

I am back from a little blogging hiatus during which I traveled to several key industry events and recharged my battery a little. Come to think of it, I recharged a number of batteries several times each as I look back on the past month of travel. These days, I don't leave home without battery chargers for my Blackberry, camera, laptop and iPod, not to mention the devices themselves. Some days I need a battery charger for my sense of humor.

There was a press release in the inbox yesterday from the folks at The Benchmarking Company, with details of a recently completed study ranking top 100 beauty brands and top Internet sites by share of discussion. Results say more than 27 percent of women have posted a comment about a beauty brand on a message board, social networking site or blog, and 67 percent of women who participate in these sites are more likely to buy a beauty product if they read a good comment or review about it from their fellow consumers. The report, "Beauty and the Blog," is the first to track and analyze online female beauty behaviors and attitudes while identifying the actual sites and content direction of the dialogs.

"This is an exciting opportunity for the beauty industry to reach and educate women consumers in a way they're proving to be very open to," said Alisa Marie Beyer, president and CEO of The Benchmarking Company. "Women are talking about the beauty brands they are most frustrated with and those they adore with millions of women online. The Internet has truly become the world's largest and most influential water cooler. Providing consumers a place to create and share thoughts and opinions online has the potential to dramatically change how beauty brands do business."

I am standing by my water cooler, awaiting your thoughts...