A closer look at skin care's top 10

Drug Store News,  Sept 23, 1996  by Lisa I. Fried

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Despite the huge proliferation of SKUs in skin care, the top 10 brands in facial moisturizers, facial cleansers and hand and body lotions still garner a 70 percent or greater share of total category dollars and units in all three classes of trade, according to Information Resources Inc.

Given the impact these brands have, Drug Store News analyzed their performance in each of these segments. This proved somewhat challenging, as manufacturers use both Information Resources and Nielsen to track sales of their products. Since each of the research firms use different methodologies, sample sizes, sample classifications. projection techniques and category definitions, reports from each on dollar sales and unit sale trends for brands and categories can vary.

Therefore, we are focusing our attention on market share changes because market share as a relational number does not vary as dramatically as total dollar or unit sales within a category. All charts used here are provided by Information Resources. The text is based on information from vendors who use both IRI and Nielsen, some additional information from IRI and our knowledge of market trends.

Facial moisturizers

In the facial moisturizer segment, anti-aging and alpha hydroxy acid-based products drove much of the growth for the 52 weeks ended June 30. Indeed anti-aging products represents 40 percent of category sales, according to Neutrogena.

While several facial moisturizer brands, such as Plenitude, Neutrogena and Sudden Change, experienced notable dollar market share gains during this period, Oil of Olay and Alpha Hydrox experienced notable dollar market share declines.

Sudden Change, marketed by CCA Industries, was a surprise performer recording double digit dollar sales gains during the period, according to IRI. CCA attributes its success to a bigger investment in advertising, the release of new products and revisions in the packaging for the line.

To increase demand for the five-year-old line, the company doubled its ad budget for television advertising this year. New products driving growth included Under-eye Gel, Neck and Throat Firming Cream, Alpha Hydroxy Facial Cream, Alpha Hydroxy Facial Lotion, and Instant Eye Brow Shapers, according to CCA. The company also recently created bolder packaging for the line that emphasizes the results a user can expect.

Sales of Neutrogena's facial moisturizers were up in the double digits, according to both IRI and Nielsen for the period. Johnson S, Johnson's launch of Neutrogena Healthy Skin drove sales gains for the brand, according to Rosanna McCollough, marketing director for facial care for Neutrogena.

Its success, she said, is based on a positioning that is quite different from a moisturizer. "It's a treatment product that is really good for your skin and treats various skin problems, such as rough and uneven texture, blotchiness and smoothness."

To communicate the positioning, the company has been running ads that tout what all the ingredients will do for the skin. Strong support from dermatologists has also helped the product take off, McCollough said.

L'Oreal's launch of Revitalift Anti-wrinkle and Firming Cream was a major factor in Plenitude's success over the last year, according to Carol Hamilton, senior vice president of marketing for L'Oreal. The company is hoping to expand Revitalift's success even further this year with the launch of Revitalift Eye Anti-Wrinkle and Firming Cream.

Procter & Gamble's plans to take a brand the Oil of Olay Age Defying Series currently in test market-national could change its fortunes in this category. In a three-month test on the West Coast, each SKU of the line ranked in the top 15 AHA-based SKUS for dollar sales, according to the company. However, given the number of brands that currently use "age-defying" in their name (Pond's for skin care, Revlon for cosmetics), the company might want to consider another name. Alpha Hydrox, a strong performer for some time, saw dollar and unit sales drop in the double digits through June 30, according to IRI. Mark Goldstein, president and chief executive officer of Neoteric Cometics, which markets the brand, attributed the declines to the maturation of AHA-based products, inroads by private label manufacturers and strong performances from brands such as L'Oreal and Neutrogena.

While Goldstein asserts that the foot care, body wash and daily SPF moisturizer SKUS in the line have per@ formed well, he acknowledged attrition on some core facial treatment items.

"We recently discontinued one of our products, oil free moisturizer, because it was duplicative. [Consumers] can use our daily moisturizer with SPF instead" he said. Neither product contains AHAs. "We look at how products perform customer by customer," he said, noting that the brand is still a prominent player. "It's a $23 million brand. Our slowest selling product is still in the top 25 percent of CVS, total category sales."