Teens; new foundation of cosmetic buyers - Beauty Care Merchandising

Discount Store News, June 17, 1991 by Jill Letich

Teens: New Foundation of Cosmetic Buyers

It may burst some bubbles, but the rosy cheeks found on many young teenage girls may actually be a pink blusher.

Retailers and cosmetic manufacturers should be happy to note that in a survey of young women ages 13 to 21, more than 85% reported wearing powder-based blusher. Even more use lipstick and eye makeup consistently.

These and other statistics compiled in the Global Research/Seventeen magazine 1990 Cosmetic Survey reveal that young consumers are serious about looking good. They are also spending quite a bit of money to achieve that goal.

Overall, drug stores are the most popular place to buy cosmetic products and were the big winners in capturing young consumers' dollars. Discount/-variety stores came in third, behind department stores as a whole, but did manage to edge ahead in certain categories.

Discount stores rated first in purchases of eyebrow products. It followed closely behind drug stores in the purchase of nail polish, nail hardener and mascara.

According to Susan Clarke, research manager for Seventeen, the numbers for discount/ variety stores held their own when compared to 1989. In earlier research, discount and variety stores were separate categories so that accurate comparisons are difficult, she said.

No matter where the products were purchased, what was impressive about the latest findings was the amount of money that respondents were willing to spend to look their best.

Surprisingly, foundation was the most expensive item purchased by this young age group, averaging $7. However, a full 25% said they had actually spent $10 or more on their last purchase of foundation.

"There seems to be more of this age group going into department stores to buy some of their cosmetics," said Clarke. "That is a relatively new development that may have added to the cost of an item such as foundation."

In fact, she noted that while no one brand markets to this group specifically, it does not prevent teenagers from spending money on what is an "adult" cosmetic brand.

Spending for this age group on cosmetics, in general, was up about 3.2% from 1989. Citing the Rand Youth Poll, Alan Kalish, director of research at Seventeen, noted that in 1989, 13- to 19-year-old girls spent $339 million. In 1990, this age group spent $350 million. The increase occurred despite the fact that there are fewer teenagers in the population today.

Those teenage girls seem to be spending money enhancing the look of their eyes.

Of all the categories in the survey, more young women said they used eye makeup than any other product. A full 96.2% of those responding said they used some type of eye makeup. Mascara, eye liner and eye shadow were the most popular forms.

On average, however, less money was spent on this cosmetic. The price for eye shadow averaged $5.10, but 25.5% said they had spent only $3 on their last purchase of eye shadow.

The majority of respondents were also very saavy about the use of eye makeup. There were 58.6% of respondents that said they used two or more eye shawdow colors at one time. A full 25.2% said they used three or more colors at one time. There were only 16.2% that said they use only one color at a time.

According to Clarke, there are two interesting developments in the 1990 findings. There was a large increase in the use of lipstick. This seemed to be in place of lip gloss. In addition, a higher proportion of respondents are using eye liner.

Of the 90% of respondents that said they used lipstick, 51.5% said they used more than they did a year earlier. While the average price of a lipstick was $4.70, 27% did spend between $5 and $9 on their last purchase.

Pink was the lip color of choice, noted 41.6% of respondents. Following closely behind was coral (25.4%). Red, clear and the plum/burgundy/wine palette registered about 10%.

On average, $3.40 was spent on eye liner. Of the 78% of respondents that use eye liner, 34.1% reported increased use over last year.

Both the eye liner and lipstick categories were influenced by the fashion magazines. "I think you are more likely to see models in magazines wearing eye liner now, so it is more acceptable," Clarke said. "It was just not done a few years ago."

Another product area that performed well in this survey was chapped lip products. It came in second after eye makeup in total usage. The category also outpaced lipstick. There were 91.3% of respondents that use chapped lip products, and use them frequently. Of all users, 47.7% said they used these products more than once a day.

It requires a shopping spree of every two to six months to keep up with the cosmetic needs of 13- to 21-year-olds, according to the survey.

For frequently used items such as lipstick, face powder, foundation and spot cover-up, purchases averaged every two months. Mascara and nail polish have a slightly longer shelf life and were only bought every three months. Eye shadow, eye liner and nail hardener had the longest life. These items were purchased only every four to six months.