A new face for ethic makeup - ethnic health and beauty products - Hard Lines

Discount Store News, Sept 2, 1991 by Jill Lettich

A New Face For Ethnic Makeup

Better distribution methods and cohesive marketing programs have propelled ethnic cosmetics into the spotlight recently. It has been a long time coming for a category that could generate $600 million in sales for 1991.

Cosmetic companies targeting ethnic consumers believe recent product introductions will bring a new set of customers to full-line and deep discount drug stores at some expense to department stores.

For years, ethnic hair care was the only area given serious attention at mass merchandisers and deep discount drug retailers. Ethnic cosmetics in this market have come and gone quickly since the category was first established in the early '60s. Attempts to create brand loyalty among ethnic consumers, particularly black women, came primarily at the department store level and, except for a few exclusive brands, failed.

Fashion Fair, Flori Roberts and Naomi Sims are currently available brands, but are featured primarily in department stores. Zuri, Posner, Ultra Sheen and Montaj are among the brands in the mass market, but they do not have very wide distribution.

The top mass market brands - Cover Girl, L'Oreal, Clarion and Almay - have always included darker shades as an alternative for ethnic customers. But the selection has not been as wide as some consumers would like.

Today, the category has been given a breath of fresh air at the discount level.

Recent brand name introductions with major advertising support have brought brand credibility to the category. The two newest lines are expected to succeed due to the already established presence of their parent companies at discounters.

Maybelline, which was ranked as the top performing brand among discount store managers in DSN's 1990 Top Brands Survey, introduced Shades of You cosmetics for darker skin in March. It is expected to reach $15 million in sales by the end of the year, according to Robert Hiatt, president, Maybelline.

Pavion Ltd.'s Wet & Wild cosmetics brand also enjoys wide distribution at discount chains. Pavion entered the ethnic category earlier this year with its Black Radiance line. According to Steven Manenti, senior executive vice president, the company hopes to penetrate "15% to 20% of the chains in any given market."

Though increases in space for ethnic cosmetics have not been dramatic, retailers know the category has potential.

"The category seemed to have reached its peak a few years ago," according to Bruce Michelotti, buyer/H&BC, Kmart. "It seems to have flattened out. But we are still seeing some nice increases," he added.

Kmart has ethnic cosmetics in about half of its stores, according to Michelotti. The merchandise is sold on Kmart's standard two-and-a-half-foot or five-foot displays.

In addition to the new lines being tested in selected stores, Kmart merchandises the Posner line of cosmetics.

According to Hiatt, the Shades of You line has a "healthy presence in Wal-Mart and Kmart." It is available chainwide in drug stores such as Revco and CVS.

Black Radiance is currently being tested in 50 Target stores, Manenti noted. Fred Meyer, Meijer and Woolworth are also carrying the line.

"For the most part, we are advising retailers to put the products in the cosmetics area. There is an advantage to having a secondary location near black hair products or signage there directing customers to the cosmetics area," Hiatt noted.

Kmart puts the products in the cosmetics area, reported Michelotti. "It seems to do best there. And that is going to be where a customer is first going to look for cosmetics."

The timing of these introductions is no coincidence. Many manufacturers are finally comfortable enough with their distribution systems to effectively market ethnic cosmetics.

The logistics of distribution had to be overcome in order for manufacturers to take the category seriously, because only a portion of any chain's stores were expected to carry the merchandise. An independent distributor was, and in some cases, still is, the answer for many retailers. However, through electronic data interchange and automated distribution systems already in place at larger chains, the select marketing of ethnic products has been made easier.

"The distribution of the category has not been a problem for us, but it has been a barrier for many manufacturers to do business at all in this market. There were many manufacturers and retailers that did not know how to be selective in terms of what particular chains needed," said Hiatt.

Maybelline is working to service its accounts in even the most remote areas. Where a regional distribution center would only serve a small percentage of stores, Maybelline is even shipping products to specific stores via UPS.

Michelotti noted that ethnic cosmetics is one area where Kmart uses a distributor.

According to Pavion's Manenti, about 60% of the new Black Radiance line is handled through distributors that ultimately serve the retailer. "It's an unusually skewed business where distributors have a disproportionate importance," he said. "Obviously, utopia would be a warehouse situation where stores would be shipped directly."