Andrea Harrison

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Andrea Harrison, the new vice president of beauty and personal care for CVS Health, has a blueprint to continue to elevate the shopping experience at the retailer.

Harrison, a 15-year veteran with CVS, assumed the role from Maly Bernstein, who was promoted to vice president of digital and omnichannel at the chain. Harrison brings a wealth of category knowledge from posts in beauty, personal care, general merchandising and store brands.

She is confident CVS is well prepared in the beauty category, even as the retailer faces stepped-up competition from the new partnerships between Kohl’s and Sephora and Target and Ulta Beauty.

In fact, Harrison believes CVS has a head start, pointing to the chain’s collaboration with Glamsquad, its BeautyIRL stores and efforts such as the Beauty Mark campaign, which promotes and celebrates digitally unaltered photos in marketing materials.

There are now more than 122 BeautyIRL stores that feature rotational pop-up shops spotlighting new and emerging brands, dedicated boutiques for legacy brands and beauty consultants who currently assist shoppers in a contactless manner. Trained specialists are also at the ready when it is safe again to perform beauty services. In fact, CVS is recruiting even more so that the retailer will be ready to go as services resume.

“We are pleased with the performance [of the BeautyIRL] stores. We’ve been a catalyst of change bringing a different experience to mass,” Harrison says.

The assortment has also attracted younger consumers, even during the pandemic, when its doors were open while specialty and department stores were closed.

“They might be there for a prescription or to take care of others,” she said of the Millennials and GenZ increasing visits to CVS. “We are building a place where customers can find access to on-trend brands in a comfortable setting. We hope they can find that oasis where they can get a little guilt-free, stress-free me time.”

Fifty-three of the current BeautyIRL stores are combined with what Harrison sees as a format with big potential — CVS’ HealthHUB. “We are starting to marry the concept of our BeautyIRL with our HealthHUB so shoppers can get the ultimate wellness destination on what will ultimately be hundreds of corners. There is a lot of newness in the wellness space, and the lines are blurry where pure beauty ends and wellness begins,” she says.

The CVS HealthHUBs are an accessible and affordable health destination and one-stop shop for daily health, wellness and household needs. Consumers can speak with experts that they trust — either in-store or online — and receive everything they need to stay on track with their care. Harrison sees synergistic opportunities for wellness and beauty in the format where shoppers can find all their needs under one roof.

Skin health is a prime example of the overlap. Keeping with the professional positioning of drug stores, CVS is adding more derm brands, which now include La Roche-Posay, Vichy, RoC and the newly added Bioderma in selected doors. “It is well known in European beauty models. It checks off all the boxes and is very derm-centric,” she explains about the brand.

“We will we be adding some new things — we are working to co-create a brand with one of our larger partners to create a whole new brand that is a clean formulation but a little more light hearted,” she says.

That brand will also address a growing consumer need CVS has noted — skin sensitivity. “We’re hearing from our pharmacists and MinuteClinics that they are getting questions from our customers all the time about sensitive skin,” she explains.

To provide an important new tool, CVS recently launched a partnership with SkinSAFE, a data-driven platform developed with Mayo Clinic. It tells shoppers what is in products at CVS, and whether ingredients are safe, based on personal standards, specific allergens and physician recommendations. “It is where beauty meets health,” says Harrison about SkinSAFE.

New Sensitive Friendly signage was also introduced to indicate products free from the most common allergy-causing ingredients in sync with Mayo Clinic research results.

With the uptick in that issue, CVS is impacting suppliers to consider eliminating ingredients that are not sensitive skin friendly. CVS has certified a few hundred SKUs that meet its sensitivity criteria.

Harrison noticed several categories gained traction during the pandemic, especially those for which consumers formerly frequented salons, such as hair color and nail (and all accessories associated with nails, such as remover and cotton). “We think some of the behavior changes will be durable in the future,” she says, adding that some consumers found the options more economical and easier than they thought.

CVS is committed to bringing in new brands to always provide something new to try, Harrison says, including in its own brands. “We expanded our Poparazzi brand from just nails to roll-on glitter, ink stamps, temporary tattoos, bath and more. Everything is under $10. We know it is popular because I couldn’t even find the temporary tattoo in my store,” says Harrison with a laugh. “It opens up the fun side of beauty.”

Harrison also applauds efforts of heritage brands to react to consumer demand. “Those brands are starting to crack the code on innovation, and that really moves the needle,” she says, ticking off such launches as L’Oréal’s Revitalift Retinal Serum and its Air mascara. Major brands, she says, are doing more than just churning color and are looking to bring true breakthroughs.

“When people return to stores, we will be able to show them what they need to know about beauty launches in the past six months,” she concludes.