please help !

I am a French student (in a business school in Paris), and for my education, I am carrying out a survey for a fragrance and cosmetics company. The topic of the survey is "the fragrance and cosmetics duty free shops on cruise lines". Information is quite hard to find (as this segment is very small and precise) and I would be grateful if you could give me some information about duty free shops (in cosmetics and fragrances) onboard.

For example, the information I would need are :

Which products and brand are sold? (if you have any catalogue or brochure)

What are the best sellers ?

Which brands do you prefer to buy and which kind of product (75 ml, miniature, coffrets, skincare and so on..)?

How are the shops ? Are the customers free in the shop ? How are the sales people?

Are there a lot of incentives and promotions ?

What are the customer's behaviors, motivations and profiles? why people buy on board (for example : to spend time, because it is cheaper, because they forgot something at home, and so on...)

Do you prefer to shop in the ports of call ? If so, Why ?

I would like to get your personal impressions about that (and your shopping experience onboard) and any other information, which you consider could be helpful to me.

I thank you in advance and hope you will be able to help me !

Aurore

Perfumes

I have never bought any cosmetics or perfume on a ship and have cruised for many. many years. Have been on RCI, NCL, Princess, Cunard, and HAL.

For the last few years we have stayed with HAL.

One reason I don't buy on a ship is because they don't stock Guerlain - I use Shalimar. For cosmetics they never seem to have the shade or brand I use.

So whenever we go to St Thomas, Grand Cayman, or islands that offer duty free prices I stock up on what I think I'll need before I return to the islands on another cruise. Duty free prices are cheaper than here in Pennsylvania and I don't have to pay a 7% sales tax.

I shop onboard on occasion if they carry a brand that I use. My perfume (Moulinard) is difficult to find and is never found on a ship. I wish I could find it at duty free prices. So I substitute with one of Givenchy's brands. The reason I like duty free is to avoid Ontario (Canada) sales tax of 15%. Some of that savings is often offset by the currency exchange from Cdn $$ to US $$. Inventory on the ships is limited however.

Good luck on your studies!

Beth

This is far too complex a question for anyone to be able to answer appropriately for you. It seems every ship is different in what is offered, there is no way for passengers to tell you what every item costs and there's most certainly no way to know what items sell the best. Your best bet is to contact each individual cruise line and ask them those specific questions.

As far as other things are concerned, the shops are operated differently, even on ships from the same company. Some shops are quite small, some are quite spacious, some are very well stocked and some carry only the basics. Perfume seems to be more prevalent than cosmetics because they are sold as "duty free", which means there are no import taxes paid on the item. The selection of cosmetics is very, very limited and therefore probably not a great seller. On some lines the cosmetics are sold through the beauty salon or spa. If a ship carries cosmetics it's usually limited to a few colors of lipstick, one or two foundation colors, maybe a pressed powder and some eye colors. Really not much of a selection.

There's absolutely no way to know the average customer profile. That's another thing you'll have to get from the cruise lines. But I don't think people go on cruises to spend time in any of the shops. My guess would be that they purchase cosmetics because they either ran out of something or they forgot something.

There are generally promotions for perfume, but not for cosmetics. The on board salespersons are generally nice, but not specifically trained in cosmetics or perfume.

Darcie