Top five vendors continue to dominate cosmetics category

Discount Store News, Oct 13, 1986

Top Five Vendors Continue to Dominate Cosmetics Category

The cosmetics department continued to be dominated by the same top five vendors as most of these industry leaders strengthened their position in the discount market.

Once again, Maybelline, best known for its eye care products, received the highest marks across the board from discount department store managers in this year's exclusive Top Brands study.

The survey asked the managers to cite the best-selling name brands in their cosmetics departments.

Both Cover Girl and L'Oreal gained or maintained high recognition with store managers compared to last year's performance.

Revlon and Max Factor, on the other hand, lost a few percentage points but not enough to alter their third- and fifth-place standing on the top 10 brands list.

While Maybelline merchandise is preferred by conventional discounters over upscalers, it continued to be the single most widely recognized brand by discount store managers.

The Maybelline brand was cited by 81% of all the discount store managers surveyed as a primary sales generater in the cosmetics department. Eighty-four percent of conventional discounters and 73% of upscalers mentioned the vendor in the survey.

Cover Girl, the fourth most frequently cited cosmetic brand, had 45% of the mentions this year, the same level as a year ago. Nevertheless, compared showed greater importance to conventional and upscale discounters alike.

The 54% of store managers who cited Cover Girl as a top performer this year compares with 43% last year. Among upscalers, the brand earned 48% of mentions as compared with 28% a year ago.

L'Oreal, known for its hair coloring formulas, rose five percentage points above last year's rating to 17% of all discounters questioned. The brand doubled the number of upscalers responding favorably from 11% to 22% and rose from 3% to 14% of all conventional discount store managers.

Revlon, traditionally much more an upscale line of cosmetics, dropped five percentage points from conventional discounters this year as compared to 1985's results and lost 10 percentage points from upscale discount operations.

Max Factor slipped four percentage points to 25% of mentions this year, with most of the mentions lost from the conventional discounter. The brand had received 28% of conventional and 35% of upscaler mentions in 1985, compared to 20% and 33% this year, respectively.

Dropped from this year's ranking was Cutex and L'Erin, which were replaced by the sudden appearance of Clairol, which grabbed sixth place, and Sally Hansen, a nail care manufacturer which did not make last year's listing but captured the tenth place slot in 1986.

In terms of specific chains and vendor recognition. WalMart represented the greatest number of store manager mentions for Maybelline, Revlon and Cover Girl, the top three performers.

Nearly all of the Wal-Mart store managers surveyed, 98%, cited Maybelline as a primary contributor to sales in their cosmetics departments.

The vendor had the lowest number of mentions at Target where Revlon had a substantial, although secondary, ranking with 76% of mentions.

Among the more notable changes from last year to this year were the increase of Cover Girl mentions at K mart from 36% to 63% and the sharp decline of Max Factor mentions at both Zayre and Target.

Max Factor was cited by 52% at Zayre last year, compared to 6% in 1986. The brand had been cited by 21% of Target store managers in 1985 and 12% in this year's survey.

Zayre had registered 39% of Cover Girl mentions a year ago, compared to only 6% this year.

At Target, 21% had cited the manufacturer as a cosmetics line which provides a substantial portion of category sales, compared to 12% of mentions in the current survey.

Regionally, Maybelline was strongest in the South and West with 88% of mentions. It had good ranking in the Northeast and North Central regions at 71% and 75%, respectively.

The brand's increasing popularity has had its effect on all parts of the country. This year's figures reflect an 8% change since 1985 in both the West and Northeast and 6% and 4% in the South and North Central, respectively.

Revlon, however, lost its footing in the North Central, West and South, declining from 64% to 53% in the North Central; 61% to 52% in the West; and 48% to 47% in the South.

Store managers in the Northeast cited Revlon 51% of the time, compared to 46% a year ago.

While Coty lost the 2% of mentions it had had in the Northeast last year, it gained 14% more mentions in the West and 4% in the North Central this year. The numbers for the southern part of the country were unchanged.