What are your thoughts on buying from brands directly versus major retailers?

[greeneyedgirl107]

I see so many haul posts, and they're always a combination of direct purchases and major retailers like Sephora, Ulta and department stores.  I'm curious to hear more about what goes into decision making for BICers as to where a purchase is made from.  There are so many options out there that I thought it would be fun to share the psychology of sales, as well as which outlets tend to have the best deals.  AND, what you value when making a purchase.

[LCResz]

I will echo what so many other savvy BIC shoppers have stated, I shop wherever I can get the best deal/biggest discount. Bergdorfs, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstroms carry all of the brands I love and often have 25% or greater sales. Ulta’s rewards program beats the pants off Sephora’s so they get my business when there’s a good deal going as well. I haven’t shopped much at Sephora over the last few years because the deals and rewards just aren’t as alluring. These days, anything less than 20% off or points for buying power without jumping through hoops will win my hard-earned money, loyalty be darned!

[AshleyEstelle]

I go for where I can find deals and get incentives/points. Generally speaking sometimes buying directly from the brand gives you access to deals you can’t find on sites like Sephora and Ulta. For me I like points though and I get items with my Sephora points almost every order. I love trying minis before I get full sized etc…I buy mainly from Sephora because I can get my points, but I will get something at Ulta if they have a sale or directly from brand depending on the offers. 

[curlychiquita]

@greeneyedgirl107 I buy wherever I can get what I want the cheapest. Rewards programs are nice but price is my deciding factor.

[LoriCrosby]

I found this post after doing a few searches before making a post of my own about Flip. 

For me, I’m going where the deal is, the perks are and sometimes the experience. 

Examples/Hacks 

Tatcha: has amazing promotional deals running every few weeks. Last month I got a free full-sized $75 product with my purchase. I also rock heavy with their subscribe & save deals. 

Viori: It’s my favorite hair product and literally gave my noggin a makeover. Between all of us, I make new emails and recycle their BOGO code (TRYBOGO) I know, I’m awful but I’m a shopaholic that’s not independently wealthy. 😭🤧 

YSL: Has one or two so good it’s whack sales a year. They did a makeup and fragrance BOGO last year. I went hammy ham. Armani does, too. For Mother’s Day they had a sale where if you spend $90 on any fragrance you get a 50ml fragrance free ($122) - tell me why they accidentally sent me an extra My Way gift set?!? Choice samples with purchases at YSL, too. 

Dior: Their rewards program is a joke unless you’re crazy rich and at that point, I doubt they care. However, they have complimentary gift wrapping and crazy fast shipping and although it’s not the most eco friendly choice…the gift wrapping makes for a feel good experience.🥹 Plus you get samples and free travel sizes of some of the things you buy the full-size version. 

Ipsy (formerly BoxyCharm): I’ve grown accustomed to the brands in their drop sales and stock shop through them. 

Ancient Cosmetics: I love not only their constant running clearance of their products but that they’re black owned and family owned. I have a growing collection of their body scrubs, soaps, oils and butters. The butters leave my skin soft for 24 hours! I was sick of buying a jar of air from Truly and getting stains on my clothes if I missed rubbing a spot in. Im over the cake piping of body products. I want product, not air pockets and over-whipped body butter. 

Sephora: I buy all the brands and items that I don’t get better deals elsewhere. I have a store less than a mile away so I typically do same day pickup and they always have it ready within 10 minutes. So that’s a big plus! 

Flip: I’ve been squatting their ads and app for what feels like a year now. I kept seeing it say that if I invited a friend we both get $30. So naturally I invited my second phone to test it out. 😂 I bit down this time because they have a 50% off sale for /kit•sch/ and some great nail polishes were on sale, too. 

I didn’t see $30 credit. But instead it said I’d get 40% off my first order (it was a 24hr expiring deal). I didn’t get that promotional offer on my first account I created without an invite. After doing some reading, it seems the $30 is more like a reward fake money you can use later to ‘buy’ up to 30% discounted from your purchase. 

There’s also an area in your cart that says ‘add 3 free items’ or some such. Those can be added depending on what your cart value is BEFORE discounts are added!! Spend 50 for 1 freebie, 100 for 2, 150 for 3. But the free items are crazy good. Items ranging from frying pans to Olaplex oil to makeup to candles to anything really. Values from $10-100+! 

I figured I was about to get got but took the bait. I added $168 worth of stuffs to my cart (kitsch stuff was already 50% off), added 3 free items (I went for Alterna hair products valued at 48, 38 & 35). Price was ~110 total and if I include the sale prices, 40% off and value of free items my order was valued at around 440 and I saved over $330. 

I’m attempting to post a pic of my order below (minus the nail items I took out already). 

 
I see the image, so now I’ll attempt to post the other stuff. For whatever reason, the Sephora app is awful on iPhones or is for me at least. 

 

For obvious reasons, I’ll be utilizing that app from now on. I’m spoiled so I’ll argue that 7 day shipping is super fast as they claim. And I don’t like the customer reviews because I’m truly sick of hearing “literally obsessed.” That and it’s outrageous to see a child reviewing skincare items. But some reviews are hilarious. I watched someone’s grandma LATHER I Dew Care eye cream on her eyes, face, and mouth. 😭😭😭

Flip monetizes reviews and I think that devalues the authenticity of them. I hope that changes. It’s like the Influenster reviews that give everything five stars because they think it impacts them getting more free stuff. 🤧 However, you make fake money to buy discounts by watching review videos and if you review items you buy & people buy from your review, you make real money you can put in the bank. 

I think that sums up most of what I buy and how I buy it when it comes to skincare, makeup, hair care, bath, body and fragrance items. 

[CattyT3]

I need to tabulate these sales and free item promos into a spreadsheet to get more bang for my buck! 🤑Definitely will look for Tatcha and YSL promotions you mentioned now. 
I lucked out with getting a large size Peter Thomas Roth product for nearly half price and got 4 minis and a few sample packets of other products in an Easter promotion that caught my eye. 

I will say however more than half the brands I love the most, I never would have touched them if I didn't get the variety of samples Sephora gives out with orders - never would I drop $60 + dollars on a foundation after only an in-store swatch because of how criminally badly I would get "matched" to orange foundations and concealers (the woes of olive tone skin). So I think for young me this worked in my favor, but now I know what to look for and have some more experience with identifying formulations that won't suit me, now I can more successfully branch out to brand websites to maximize sale savings.

[WinglessOne]

@greeneyedgirl107  Simple answer: whoever offers the best deal gets my money. 

Longer answer: "the best deal" often involves more than the price of the item(s) I'm buying. It may also involve:

• A valuable-to-me free gift (what that product would've cost me were I not getting it for free) 
• Points multipliers that get me closer to a certain points threshold for future "free" purchases 
• Deciding to use points/rewards I've saved up at certain retailers to reduce my out of pocket spend 
• 3rd party cash back programs (Rakuten, RetailMeNot, Mr. Rebates, etc.) offering a higher % back on purchases at certain retailers at any given time 
• Gift cards I may have for specific retailers 

Also, I get cash back on a couple of my credit cards no matter which retailer I shop with those cards. And some retailers don't carry certain items by a brand, so I have to buy direct from the brand. 

All of this boils down to me being much more of a transactional shopper than an experiential shopper. I still remember the article (don't recall which magazine it was in) from a few years ago in which a Sephora exec said they differentiate themselves from Ulta by catering to experiential shoppers. (Ulta's more geared to transactional shoppers.) That ruffled my feathers a bit, but it makes a lot of Sephora's customer interactions and reward program quirks make more sense. Note that "experiential" probably includes product gratis given to BIC members. It also includes those big, super limited, impossible to get items in the Rewards Bazaar. Anyway, I belong to many retailers' and brands' rewards/loyalty programs and that gets me a lot of deals and occasional gratis. 

[newcarlee]

@greeneyedgirl107 For me, it depends on product, sales or GWP. I would say at least 50% of my beauty products are probably from Sephora because I can combo a few items and qualify for free shipping, not to mention the twice-yearly sales and some really nice GWP, along with samples. I also love Sephora Favorites sets and well, I can only get these from Sephora! 😉

I purchase direct from some brands because they’re not carried by Sephora or Sephora doesn’t carry all their products. Additionally, the direct brands can offer their own GWP or sales and samples as well. 

Ulta is less of an overlap with Sephora and I will get brands like Cerave or Cosrx there. But they also have some nice GWP (I’m such a sucker for these!)

[SportyGirly125]

@greeneyedgirl107 @I go for whoever offers the best price. 

[CattyT3]

I am a sucker for limited time sales - I am slowly learning that *the best sale ever* come around at least 2 times a year so I do not need to panic buy and keep stocking up 🤣
That being said, I have fallen for a few (free trial kit, just pay shipping) and ended up hating everything in the kit, so I will steer clear of those for brands I have not used before.
But if I see a sale of BOGOF or 50%, best believe my loyalty to getting my products from Sephora/ ULTA goes out of the window.
But I do prefer building up loyalty points and points booster on Sephora/ ULTA as it gets me the best samples/ money off value VS if I built up loyalty points on several brands' websites - I use way too many brands to get substantial points everywhere.

Plus a few items I need for my skin/ makeup have either been discontinued at Sephora, so I actually have no choice but to get direct from the brand, such as my beloved First Aid Beauty FAB Pharma Arnica Relief & Rescue Mask 3.4 oz/ 96.4 g - may she reign supreme ✌🏽

[ather]

@greeneyedgirl107  I’m in Canada and my options are limited. I prefer Sephora since I get free shipping. If I am ordering directly from brand’s because I’m in Canada they normally charge shipping and duty. Which makes me order less from specific brands that are at Sephora. Unless they have a product not available at Sephora or they have a GWP I really want. Free shipping is usually what drives me and if the minimum spend is outrageous I am less likely to order.