• Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, September 7, 2010 10:43 AM

To grab and hold the attention of cosmetics shoppers, Estée Lauder is revamping its counter designs to allow shoppers to browse products and check prices. And nagging consultants are a species of the past.

Cosmetics have been a mainstay of department stores since around World War I, in part for a reputational boost, Ellen Byron reports. "Cosmetics weren't entirely respectable then," says Geoffrey Jones, a Harvard Business School professor of business history. "They were more associated with actresses, or worse."

Muriel Gonzalez, Macy's chief beauty merchant, points out that it is offering shoppers more opportunities to browse independently throughout its beauty section as it responds to pressures from growing channels such as the Internet. "We see younger consumers in particular who like to test and play on their own, so we're working closely with manufacturers to accommodate that," she says.

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