NEW YORK — In his 25 years in beauty, Tom Winarick, executive vice president of Prestige Cosmetics, has never seen such an intense fight for shelf space in the mass market.
The category was bombarded this year with such mega-launches as L’Oréal’s HIP, Revlon’s Vital Radiance, Maybelline’s Pure and Cover Girl’s Queen, to name just a few. Max Factor dusted off its cosmetics with a fresh look, and Revlon revamped Almay. The space crunch was further complicated by the growth of exclusive European lines at CVS and Walgreens.
Retailers scrutinized every inch of shelf space, often editing lines that weren’t producing up to par. “In business reviews, retailers didn’t just ask for historical data, they wanted us to look forward to what we are going to do,” said Winarick.
Even big-league brands such as Bonne Bell and Max Factor went under the knife. Despite the cuts, Prestige maintained its footage, said Winarick. The brand is carried by more than 17,000 doors in the U.S.
“This is a survivor story,” he said, admitting it wasn’t without sweat that Prestige made the cut as retailers created new planograms. What helped Prestige was that the line doesn’t duplicate what’s sold in most mass market doors.
Prestige emerged on the retail scene in the Eighties as a pencil line. Over the years, the company branched into other categories, most recently foundations. Rather than offer only a few colors and styles — powders versus liquids — Prestige debuted a multicultural palette in various formulations. The company has carved out a niche as a marketer of upscale-inspired products at mass prices.
One example is Let Loose, an automatic loose eye shadow with a sponge applicator. The bottle is spill-proof, a first for the mass market in this form. Another is Color Seduction, a single-step, long-lasting lip formula. In the works is a new mascara called Lash Matrix with a system to fortify lashes.
The items, said Winarick, are designed to encourage shoppers to trade up from the budget brands typically found at mass.
He said Prestige helps drive impulse sales. With the cosmetics market mature at mass, retailers are looking for brands to build add-on volume. For the past few years, retailers have been trying to ignite sales on the peg wall, and promotions have suffered. Now the pendulum is swinging back, yielding a need to bolster register rings with impulse promotions, and Winarick said Prestige was increasing its number of promotions.
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Another reason retailers maintained Prestige’s footage is a new fixture. “We are completing the rollout of the new fixture. It has been six years since our last one,” explained Winarick. The predecessor to this latest look was among the first to bring an upscale wood finish to mass. The new display unit is frosted white and green. “The products really jump off the fixture,” Winarick said. Some retailers likened it to a mass market alternative to Clinique.
Resetting cosmetics has long been a challenge in the mass market. Winarick said the new display is “operationally” superior to most fixtures. It is basically a skeleton with changeable face plates that lock into place. The fixture is available in one-foot increments.
Prestige recently took over direct management of its products in Quebec that had been handled by a distributor. The test was so successful in London Drugs that Prestige is now expanding in Canada. The latest chain to put a bigger emphasis on Prestige is Katz Drug. Winarick hopes to add 500 more doors in Canada in the next 18 months.
International growth will play a bigger role at Prestige, too. Last year, the brand debuted in Boots, where it is a top performer, said Winarick, Other new markets are Greece, Italy, Brazil, France and Spain.
Thrift’s former chief executive officer, Robert Hannan, has stepped in as interim president and ceo of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, following the resignation of Craig Fuller. Hannan had served in this capacity from 1999 to 2000 after the departure of Ron Ziegler. Hannan has more than 40 years of experience in chain drugstore retailing. He took over the ceo post on April 3.