Ethnic cosmetics sales make small but steady gains

Drug Store News, April 3, 1995

Sales of ethnic cosmetics are showing low to moderate growth.

Distributors and those drug chains that are expanding the category to more doors or adding additional lines to their planograms report moderate growth. But cosmetic buyers looking at comparable store sales vs. a year ago say their sales are either flat or up in low single-digit increments. One source attributed the trend to there being nothing new in the category, less advertising for the brands already on the market, and less support from manufacturers for in-store events.

"We're flat in ethnic hair care, but cosmetics is still growing," said Jim Normandin who buys ethnic products for Beauty Enterprises, a major distributor based in Hartford, Conn.

"There was a time when I was a little worried that too many companies were getting into the category and that there was going to be too much product proliferation with all the lines, but that was a couple of years ago and I'm not worried about that anymore," Normandin said.

"We're doing very well with ethnic cosmetics," said Gary Yowell, vice president of purchasing for Jack's Service, a leading distributor located in Oklahoma City. "We're seeing more and more retailers expand their assortment of ethnic cosmetics so they enhance their appeal to the African-American shopper."

Sales leveling off

However Penny Wade, cosmetics buyer for Harco Drug, headquartered in Tuscaloosa, Ala., reported relatively flat sales in ethnic cosmetics. She described the category's recent growth and leveling off as similar to the peaking that statisticians encounter when they measure trends on a bell curve.

"With the launch of Maybelline's Shades of You several years ago, the category spurted up dramatically," she said. "Now there's not as much emphasis on the brands that are out there and the growth has stopped."

One of the fastest growing brands in the category is Pavion's Black Radiance, continuing to show dramatic gains in stores as diverse as Harco in the South and Genovese in the North.

"Black Radiance does very well in our stores," said Revco cosmetic buyer Judy Wray. "We are going to extend its distribution to other ethnic opportunity stores."

"Consumers seem drawn to it because of the price points and the quality," said Yowell.

Reports back on Posner are relatively consistent, suggesting the line is having to work to hold its own against the competition. Ebone has only attained limited distribution, and it seems to be most successful in its hometown market of Chicago.

Reports on the strength of the other brands are mixed. In some chains Revlon's ColorStyle is still doing well. In others, it is not. The same is true for Maybelline's Shades of You.

In New York, Genovese, which has stores in many affluent neighborhoods, reported that ColorStyle sales were softening while sales of Shades of You are growing.

However in Cleveland, Revco, which is a discount drug chain with a large base of value minded shoppers, reported that ColorStyle is doing well, while sales of some less expensive brands are softening.

Revco's Wray is also cutting back on ethnic shades in the Cover Girl line.

"We did a comparison of ethnic stores before and after we put ColorStyle in," Wray said, "and we found that Revlon's cosmetic sales were up after we added ColorStyle to the planogram.

"We did the same comparison with Cover Girl after we put in its ethnic shades and we found that Cover Girl's sales were down. I can't tell you why except maybe Revlon is doing a better job supporting ColorStyle. Also ColorStyle as an individual line has a visibility and presence that Cover Girl doesn't have. People may still perceive Cover Girl as essentially a line for Caucasian women.

There is a definite growth curve for makeup lines targeted to Hispanic women. One of the strongest brands is Pavion's Sola Para Ti. Three buyers who tested Para Sola Ti promotionally said they had very strong sell throughs on their seasonal pre-packs.

One source said that CVS, which has Para Sola Ti in selected Hispanic doors, is doing very well with the line.

The cosmetics buyer for a regional drug chain with stores in Hispanic neighborhoods is also seeing strong sales of Maja which is distributed by Miami-based Fragrance Marketing Group.

Although the line is only in a handful of doors, the buyer said it sells well in the right neighborhoods. This buyer has also had good sell-throughs with Pavion's Sola Para Ti prepacks for lip and nail in shades targeted to women of color.

"We do a lot of research before we open new stores," this buyer said, "so we will planogram a line like Maja or ColorStyle if we feel it is appropriate to the neighborhood. We will also test different lines if our stores report that a significant number of customers are coming in asking for that brand."

Out in the southwest, Jack's Service is seeing some nice gains in another new Hispanic line imported from Columbia. The line is called Jolie de Vogue, and it consists of lip, face and eye cosmetics, but no nail color.

Other relatively new lines, like the Milani lip and nail "matched" color collections for women of color are starting to pick up distribution, particularly in chains like Rite Aid and American Drug's Osco stores, which recently modified their planograms.