Skin care

Drug Store News,  May 20, 2002  

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Although washing your face may appear to be a simple matter, a creative marketer can always find a way to make it easier for consumers.

And, as is usually the case, consumers will pay for products that provide added value.

Driving this point home is Olay with its Daily Facial Cleanser, whose sales are dramatically outperforming sales in the facial cleanser category as a whole.

Procter & Gamble, which makes and markets Olay, brought the same kind of product innovation to the anti-aging/skin fade/bleach cream segment of face care products with Olay Total Effects.

Products such as L'Oreal Plenitude and Olay Total Effects, like Daily Facials, created a tide that helped lift sales dramatically in their respective segments this year.

In depilatories, the big news came from two As-Seen-On-TV brands: Nads from Aussie Nads and Epil Stop from Tactica.

Supported by millions of dollars of direct TV advertising, Nads and Epil Stop transformed the category, bringing in almost $50 million in incremental sales for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 30.

From their initial merchandising presentations on front-store endcaps dedicated to As-Seen-On-TV products, Nads and Epil Stop did so well that some chains, including Walgreens, began adding one or both of them to their everyday depilatory planograms.

Meanwhile, Sally Hansen and Nair, two of the traditional leaders, continued to show strong growth, as they provided value-priced quality alternatives.

Top 10 brands in drug

Brand/segment                       $ sales (*)  % change

Nads--depilatories                   $30.5         80.1%
Pond's cleansers                     $24.8         12.4%
Olay--moisturizers                    19.3         -6.2
Sally Hansen--depilatories            18.1         25.2
Epil Stop--depilatories               17.9        508.2
Olay Daily Facials--cleansers         17.3        102.8
Olay Total Effects--age/fade          16.5        108.7
Roc Actif Pur--age/fade               15.8          1.2
Cetaphil--cleansers                   17.3        102.8
L'Oreal Plenitude Revitalift--age/    13.9          6.8
fade

(*)Sales in millions
Top 10 gainers in drug

Brand/segment                        $          %      $ (*)
                                   sales (*)  change  change

Epil Stop--depilatories            $17.9      508.2%  $14.4
Nads--depilatories                 30.5        80.1    13.6
Olay Daily Facials--cleanser       17.3       102.8     8.7
Olay Total Effects--age/fade       16.5       108.7     8.6
Dove Facial--cleansers              6.4          NA     6.4
L'Oreal Plenitude Age Perfect       6.1          NA     6.1
age/fade
Neutrogena Visibly Firm--Age/fade   5.7          NA     5.7
Almay Kinetin--age/fade             4.8          NA     4.8
Sally Hansen-depilatories          18.1        25.2     3.6
Johnson's Clean & Clear--acne       9.3        55.1     3.3

Source: Information Resources Inc. for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 30

(*)Sales in millions
Skin care scorecard

                          Total F/D/M (*)            Drug stores
Category/                 $       % chg. vs.       $       % chg. vs.
segment               sales (**)   yr. ago     sales (**)   yr. ago

Facial cleansers     $529.6           9.0%    $231.3           7.9%
Skin fade/age/        308.8          10.6      186.5           6.4
bleach cream
Facial moisturizers   262.8          -4.8      136.0          -6.0
Acne treatments       229.6          -0.3       96.2          -0.1
Depilatories          141.2          35.3      104.8          43.8

                         Drug chains only
Category/                 $       % chg. vs.
segment               sales (**)   yr. ago

Facial cleansers     $196.4           9.1%
Skin fade/age/        159.9           7.8
bleach cream
Facial moisturizers   113.5          -5.7
Acne treatments        81.7           1.5
Depilatories           91.9          45.5

Source: Information Resources Inc. for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 30

(*)Total F/D/M excludes Wal-Mart

(**)Sales in millions

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