Where Is The Growth?
It is report card time for schools so why not give grades to the industry, too? Where is the growth in the mass market when it comes to beauty? Nielsen numbers help paint the picture.
For the 52-week period, ended Jan. 23, overall cosmetics sales in the food, drug and discount industry (including Wal-Mart), rose 2.9 percent to $4.2 billion. That is a nice expansion rate considering growth a year ago was limited to 1.4 percent. Sales are going in the right direction.
As far as the subsegments, the eyes have it. Eye makeup sales rose almost 6 percent to $1.49 billion, making it one of the briskest growth areas. Eyebrow and eyeliners exhibited an increase of 8.4 percent to $458 million. Mascaras were also big movers with sales swelling 7.5 percent. Eye shadow sales suffered, declining 2 percent. Ongoing runway styles emphasizing eyes continue to have a ruboff impact on eye product sales, buyers said.
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While blushes and liquid foundations suffered, there’s bright news in foundation creams and powders as well as concealers. Both grew more than 8 percent. New forms such as roll-ons are igniting interest.
Nail care and color are on fire, growing more than 13 percent to $452 million. Both polish and remover sales jumped.
The decreasing categories include lip and cosmetics kits. Lipstick sales declined 5.3 percent to $675 million. Cosmetics kits took a big hit — declining 14.2 percent to $56 million. Fragrances, sadly, remain a challenge. Women’s scents declined for the period by 0.3 percent to $682 million. But there is a whiff of promise — that was a smaller decline than the 5.6 percent the year before. Men’s is off 4.2 percent, but posted an improvement from the 14.7 percent decrease posted from 2008 to 2009.
So as far as a report card, the industry is faring better but certainly has room to improve.
People, Place and Things
A few words with Unilever chief executive Paul Polman who spoke at the Copenhagen Summit put on by the Economist.
Polman: Companies can reduce their carbon footprint. Those companies that wait to be forced into action or who see it solely in terms of reputation management or CSR, will do too little too late and may not even survive. We have doubled our size while at the same time reducing the environmental footprint. The key to making this happen is to inspire consumers to switch to a more sustainable way of living through the brands they choose.
What’s In Store
An App for OPI: OPI debuted an application for iPhone that can help shoppers browse and search over 200 nail shades. There is also a version of the company’s Try It On Color Studio where visitors can visualize how a color would appear before buying.
CVS Moves: CVS announced several management changes including the promotion of Mike Bloom to executive vice president merchandising and supply chain. Scott Baker has been elevated to executive vice president internal operations and real estate. Beth Wingate has been promoted to senior vice president payer relations. Charley Golden will take on the role of senior vice president construction and facilities management.