Maybelline, Cover Girl accent category - top cosmetics brands at discount stores - Top Brands, Part 1: Store Manager Survey

Discount Store News, Oct 1, 1990

Maybelline, Cover Girl Accent Category

Maybelline slipped a few percentage points in DSN's latest Top Brands Survey, but it remained the leading cosmetics brand on discount shelves with Cover Girl, Revlon, Max Factor and L'Oreal following dutifully behind for the seventh year in a row.

Though the placement of the top brands remained constant from last year, their importance has shifted. Both Maybelline and Revlon were mentioned less often than they were last year.

In terms of percentage points, those relinquished by Maybelline and Revlon found their way to Clairol, which increased six percentage points, and Noxell, which increased by four percentage points.

Narrowing the Gap

Though this shift did not change the placement, it did narrow the gap between brands and gave Cover Girl, Max Factor and L'Oreal a larger share of mentions.

Though Maybelline and Cover Girl remained far above the other brands, those ranked third to 10th on the survey had results more evenly distributed, at least at conventional discounters.

At upscale discounters, the top five brands dominated, with those placing fifth and below not garnering as many mentions.

Maybelline maintained its first place status through all retail tiers and in every region. Overall, it was mentioned by six out of 10 store managers as a top brand. K mart, Wal-Mart, Target and Ames' managers all mentioned Maybelline most often as a best performing brand.

In most categories, Cover Girl came in second in a number of mentions. Only Target store managers named Revlon, which was third overall, more often than Cover Girl.

While the overall results matched the performances at conventional discounters, there were slight variations at the upscale discounters polled for this survey. In this tier, Revlon came in second; Cover Girl, third; L'Oreal, fourth; with Max Factor fifth.

There was more room for jockeying further down the roster, especially in individual stores. Noxell held on to sixth place overall, but was fourth at K mart. Sally Hansen, which was fifth at K mart, received more mentions this year than last, was eight overall, up two notches from the 1989 study.

At Target, only the top five got significant mentions, while the bottom half of the list got only occasional nods.

Wal-Mart pulled no surprises in this category. Its choice of the Top 10 brands remained consistent with overall survey results.

Almay is new on the Top 10 list. It showed a drop in mentions in last year's survey, but rallied for the 1990 results.

Almay ousted Coty from the Top 10 list. Coty went from 10th to 14th place on this year's study.

Also important on this year's survey were the 11th to 14th spots on the list. The percentage points separating this group from the Top 10 are small. Any shift could mean the toppling of a brand from the Top 10. The brands in these spots, in order, are Aziza, Del Laboratories, Cutex and Coty.

For Aziza it has been a roller coaster ride. The brand, had been in the Top 10 for a few years, but dropped to 12th last year. In the current survey, it inched up to 11th place, just behind Almay.

Regionally, Maybelline still held on to the lead among "all discounters" conforming easily with the regional results.

The most significant differences occurred in the North Central region. Maybelline and Cover Girl tied for first place in this area. Those two leaders were followed in order by: Revlon (26%); Max Factor (15%); L'Oreal (14%); Clairol (11%); and Noxell (10%).

In the West, a change was noticeable further down the chart. L'Oreal managed to edge ahead of Max Factor by five percentage points to place fourth in this region behind Maybelline, Cover Girl and Revlon.

Clairol, which was seventh overall, did better in both the Northeast and North Central regions. It managed to secure fifth place in both areas.

Clairol made one of the biggest jumps in terms of percentage points, increasing its mentions by six points overall. Noxell managed a similar increase in percentage points.

Vendor advertising was the most often mentioned reason contributing to a brand's performance and brand recognition was second.

Because of the nature of the cosmetics industry, it rated high as one of the departments that store managers felt they had significant influence over. Part of that influence, especially in this category, is product placement. Display presentation was the third most important element in a brand's success, according to the respondents.

Individual chains varied in determining other important factors in brand performance. Wal-Mart cited good, low prices as a more important element than product display.

K mart, Target and Ames, on the other hand, said that the display was more vital to the performance than the price.

Regionally, advertising also led the list of performance priorities in the Northeast, South and North Central regions.

In the West, however, one quarter of all those polled said product presentation was more important.

Consistent with Wal-Mart's answers, more store managers in the South, traditional Wal-Mart country, chose good, low prices as a priority.