Launches spark growth in color cosmetics

Drug Store News, June 22, 1998

The category was driven primarily by second-place Revlon, whose dollar and unit sales were up 17 percent and 12 percent, respectively, for the period, and by fourth-place Maybelline, whose three-outlet dollar and unit sales were up 11 and 13 percent, respectively.

A 9 percent gain in Almay's dollar sales put it in striking distance of Max Factor, currently ranked fifth in total face cosmetics sales. Almay is now only 0.5 percentage points behind Max Factor face makeups. Factor's dollar sales for the 52-week period ended March 29 were down 2.2 percent. Factor and Almay are already in a tie for sixth place in unit sales, with each currently holding a 6 percent share of unit volume.

The only other top 10 brand in face makeups to show double-digit growth was Physicians Formula, up 16 percent in dollars for the period and up 1 percent in unit sales growth.

Category leader Cover Girl was up moderately in dollar sales, with a 4 percent gain for the 52-week period, but unit sales were down 1 percent.

Revlon's growth in face makeups was driven in part by the success of its ColorStay Lite Makeup. Introduced last February, ColorStay Lite is the mass market's first long-wearing sheer makeup.

Revlon's face makeup sales are also being carried by the momentum of its Age Defying and New Complexion brands that, along with ColorStay, have been line extended in the past 18 months.

Maybelline's sales are being driven by its first quarter launch of True Illusion, a liquid makeup that is weightless and formulated to create a "seamless union" between foundation and skin.

Maybelline now has five makeup formulations in the category, and is in a neck-and-neck race with sister division L'Oreal for third place in the category. In unit rankings, Maybelline's moderately priced face makeups are ahead of L'Oreal, with a 12.8 three-outlet unit share, compared to L'Oreal's 7.8 share.

Kathy Horton, category manager of cosmetics for Rite Aid drug stores, said she is optimistic that True Illusion will be great, partly because it is meeting a need that hasn't been met before and partly because Maybelline is supporting the launch with major advertising dollars.

"They've done so well with all the other products they've launched recently, it's natural for them to move into the face makeup category," Horton said.

At Longs Drug Stores in Walnut Creek, Calif., Cynthia category manager of cosmetics, said, "Women today want a more natural look. We're doing very well with True Illusion, ColorStay Lite and the Almay face makeups."

A source for one of the industry's biggest chains also said that sales were very strong for True Illusion and very good for ColorStay Lite and Almay Amazing face makeups.

Almay currently has a three-outlet dollar share of 7.4 percent in the face makeup category, while Physicians Formula has a dollar share of 1.2 percent.

In the past 52 weeks, Physicians' dollar sales of face makeups rose 16 percent, although unit sales were flat, with a 1 percent increase.

Unlike Almay, which has been launching major initiatives in the eye, lip and nail categories in the past two years, Physicians has been introducing unique specialty items primarily in the face cosmetics segment.

The cosmetics buyer for a large regional chain said Physicians has identified "some major needs in the corrective cosmetics segment and is doing quite well in that area. They're delivering some unique benefits."

At press time, a new player had just entered the face cosmetics category and another major player seems to be hovering in the wings.

Del Labs, the Uniondale, N.Y.-based manufacturer that makes Sally Hansen, the No. 1 nail treatment line in both three-outlet dollar and unit sales, and the No. 2 nail color line in three-outlet unit sales, had just acquired Corn Silk from Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Chattem Consumer Products.

Del, which also makes Naturistics, a value-priced full line of cosmetics primarily targeted to teens and 20-somethings, plans to market the Corn Silk brand under the Sally Hansen brand umbrella, in the process bringing Sally Hansen into the face makeup category while hopefully injecting new life into Corn Silk.

To re-energize Corn Silk, Del Labs plans a major print advertising campaign that will break in September. A new light coverage, weightless Liquid Corn Silk makeup will ship this month and be on shelves by July, and Del says more products will probably launch in the first quarter of 1999.

Several buyers have told Drug Store News that Proctor and Gamble is considering a first quarter launch of its Oil of Olay line, a 120-SKU collection of long-wearing, conditioning cosmetics currently in distribution in pharmacies in England.

Although P&G declined to comment on the possible 1999 launch of Oil of Olay cosmetics in the United States, several buyers said P&G is asking them for four to six feet to merchandise Olay.

If P&G does launch Olay in this country next year, it could have a strong impact on the face cosmetics category, where Olay's skin heritage would be expected to create a demand for face makeups. One buyer said she believed there would be a nice "halo effect" that would benefit the face makeups.