Eye makeup

Drug Store News, May 20, 1996

Eye makeups, the second largest segment of color cosmetics, generated 30 percent of all mass market color cosmetics sales in 1995. Sales climbed 4 percent over the prior year.

According to Chicago-based Information Resources, category leader Maybelline was up 8 percent for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 31.

Cover Girl, the No. 2 brand in eye makeups, with a 23 percent share of mass outlet sales, was up 6 percent.

L'Oreal, which has a 12.6 percent of total dollar sales, generated the strongest growth among the top five brands, up 11 percent in dollar sales.

Revlon, right behind L'Oreal with an 11 percent share of dollar sales, was up nearly 5 percent.

Cover Girl s sister brand, Max Factor had a good year in eye cosmetics up 4 percent to a dollar share of 6.9 percent.

Almay, No. 6 in dollar sales, was the only major brand to show a decline in 1995, down 6.6 percent for the year. The two value brands, Wet 'n' Wild and Artmatic, were both up. Dollar sales of Wet 'n' Wild eye color climbed 4.3 percent to a 1.4 percent share. while Artmatic's sales climbed 3.2 percent to a 0.9 share.

Physicians Formula's dollar sales were flat for the year, but an emerging niche brand, Love My Eyes, had to reach an 0.5 percent share of total eye color sales.

Launches drive growth

Much of Maybelline's growth in the category was driven by new launches in the first quarter of the year. According to buyers, Maybelline's Lash by Lash separating mascara was a big winner, while its sheer Natural Accents eye shadows gave the sluggish eye shadow category a much needed jump start.

At the end of the 52 weeks of 1995, point-of-sale data from IRI showed Maybelline and Cover Girl neck and neck for the number one ranking in the eye shadow category. Maybelline's eye shadow dollar sales were up 5 percent for the period while Cover Girl's dollar sales of shadows were down 3 percent.

In mascaras, where Maybelline is the leader and Cover Girl is the runner-up with dollar shares of 34 and 33 percent respectively, both brands registered strong gains. Maybelline was up 9 percent in dollar sales while Cover Girl was up 12 percent.

L'Oreal and Max Factor also had a strong year in mascaras, up 13.4 percent and 18.5 percent respectively L'Oreal also had a good year in the eye shadow category, up 22 percent in 1995, a performance only matched by Revlon with a 23 percent gain for the period.

Sassaby's Jane came out of nowhere to capture a 1 percent share of all eye shadow sales. The performance is particularly remarkable because Jane ended 1995 with distribution only in 3,500 doors, up 100 percent vs. the distribution achieved in its launch year of 1994.

Two other niche brands also made it into the top 10 in eye shadow dollar sales. Del's Flame Glow achieved a 0.8 percent share, but was down 14 percent in dollar sales. Love My Eyes was up nearly 12 percent to a 0.5 percent share.

Total shadow sales were up 0.2 percent for the year while mascara sales were up 8 percent.

Buyers bullish about '96

Buyers expect even stronger growth in 1996. For starters, Revlon is launching a ColorStay line of long lasting mascaras. That will round out the ColorStay presence in eye, which already includes ColorStay eye shadows and ColorStay eye liners.

Revlon's sister division, Almay, is making a forceful attempt to achieve critical mass in the eye color category this year.

Earlier this year. Almay expanded its Amazing Lash Mascara franchise with several line extensions, including a waterproof formulation of Amazing Lash, plus a line of Amazing Lasting Eye Pencils and Eye Color. It also has a Liquid Eye Liner in the Amazing family.

According to industry sources, about $5 million in advertising dollars has been spent so far to support the Amazing brand. The results have been promising. According to one source, Almay's share of mascara dollar sales in food, drug and mass merchandise outlets soared from an 8.7 percent share for the 1;2 weeks ended Dec. 31, to a 12.2 percent share for the eight weeks ended Feb. 29th.

There are also a number of eye color lines that are either just gaining distribution or that are gaining expanded distribution and doing very well. Several buyers singled out Lord & Berry's Dramateyes collection as a very hot line.

Lord & Berrs is expected to continue to do well in 1996. It is extending Dramateyes with three new formulas: thickening, defining and waterproof collections.

Exciting merchandising presentations are also available from a number of other fast-growing niche brands. Nat Robbins was singled out by several buyers for its turns and unit sales.

Several sources said they are doing very well with Prestige and Jordana eye cosmetics.

Other buyers report extraordinary sales of Jane's eye cosmetics, while two buyers said that a new line of makeups targeted to the youth market, M Professionals from Malibu-based Professional Makeups was outstanding.

Most of these lines are either positioned as or perceived as professional eye makeups, reasonably priced alternatives to MAC and Bobbie Brown eye makeups, sold in department and specialty stores.