More Than Cosmetic Changes For Private Label
The advance of premium cosmetic lines for nail care shows a gutsy approach to competing on quality, not just price. Face and nail care normally focuses on nail polish remover, cotton balls, and accessory items. Nail polish itself was never mentioned, because private label wasn't making any. This year, there's not one, but four new private label nail polishes. First comes Sonia Kashuk, the veteran PL cosmetics from Target, Minneapolis, MN. That line has recently expanded into nail polish (it already has an expansive selection of facial cosmetics, like lipstick, blush and eyeliner). JCPenney, Plano, TX, has entered the fray with Mixit cosmetics. Mixit already has name recognition: a large amount of exclusive label women's clothing from Penney carries the Mixit name.
Duane Reade, New York, NY, is using its New York base as the theme for its new cosmetic line, Apt. 5. "Color for the City" and "Around Town Essentials" are two of its Apt. 5 slogans. Apt. 5 is a bold step for Reade, which has a little over 200 stores in New York and New Jersey. Most PL cosmetic launches (if there have been enough so that an average profile exists) are from national retailers. Wal-Mart, Bentonville, AR, is sure to be a market leader in whatever they do, and currently it's a cosmetic label for teenagers called No Boundaries. These items are differentiated from grown-up cosmetics by the glitter in every product, from the nail polish to the blush to eyeshadow. The slogan is "Girl Tested, Boy Approved." These cosmetic lines join up with the Quo line from Shoppers
Drug Mart, Toronto, ON. Quo preceded Sonia Kashuk by a number
of years, although Quo hasn't branched into nail polish as of yet. Sonia Kashuk bottles are cylindrical, also with the brush top taking half the packaging space. Each is $3.39. Apt. 5 bottles are rectangular, evenly half and half of glass bottle and brush top. They sell for $4.50 each. Nail polish from Mixit comes in round bottles with flattened edges, and are $5.00 each. The selling points for all of them come from quality. Although
all are competitively priced, price is not the sole selling point.
Women will price up for the cosmetics they like, and will return
for those items if they're only available at one store. It's a huge
market, and every further step private label takes into it is a
chance to capture new sales. The rest of face and nail care had a largely positive year. Shaving cream leapt 25.4% to $12.3 in sales. Nail accessories and implements rose 18% to $16.1 million. Facial cleansers were propelled 13.4% to $14 million. Essence of Beauty, the expansive premium bath and body line from CVS, Woonsocket, RI, offers several bath accessories. Loofah facial discs and body sponges are stocked along with Essence of Beauty's many soaps and lotions. Kmart, Troy, MI, is also getting into bath supplies, with its Image Essential bath line. Two different nail brushes are offered, for example: one for fingernails and hands, the other for toenails and feet. Wal-Mart's grown up beauty line, Simply Basic, has expanded to now include nail polish remover. The liquid comes in cylindrical containers, a noticeable difference from the tapered bottles that represent most stores' private label. The scents are some of the more popular ones to grace Simply Basic products, like Cucumber Melon. The NEW AT BROOKS sign is up on shelves around the Acne Body Wash from, appropriately enough, Brooks, Warwick, RI. The price is $4.99, compared to Neutrogena's Body Clear at $6.49. Rite Aid, Harrisburg, PA, is expanding its Soaked in Tickles line of children's bath products (with a fish theme) to include Soaked in Giggles (with a hippo as the signature animal, and sour apple as the dominant scent) and Soaked in Cuddles (with a bear as mascot, and a sugar cookie scent). Each item is $4.99. Razor Bucks Private label disposable razors and razor blade cartridges both had slight downturns this past year (3.9% and 3.6%, respectively), but PL razors had a 39.9% increase from sales a year ago, up to $2.5 million. Hannaford, Scarborough, ME, has a 4-count of Tri-Flexxx triple blade cartridges for razor blades. The price gap is a wide one: $3.97, versus $8.99 for Gillette Mach 3. Topco, Skokie, IL, has disposable Twin Blade Plus razors (the Plus being a lubricating strip along the edge). A 5-count is $2.69, but much reduced with special coins Big Y distributes to store card holders. The razors are $1.44 with a silver coin, and free with a red coin. Other coin deals are throughout the store. Aldi, Batavia, IL, has a 10-count of disposable Carlton twin blades for 99 cents. Family Dollar, Charlotte, NC, has men's and women's shaving gel for $1.50. Cotton Food Lion, Salisbury, NC, has cotton swabs in traditional containers, but also stocks them in a 300-count round plastic canister. The plastic is transparent, and the swab sticks come in blue, red, yellow and the traditional white. The 300-count is $2.39, the same price as Food Lion's 500-count in traditional packaging. Q-Tips are $2.49 for a regular 300-count, and $2.99 for a 500-count. Dollar General, Goodlettsville, TN, has jumbo sized cotton balls in a 125-count for a dollar. In a special sale presumably to get customers in the store, Kmart had its triple sized 100-counts of cotton balls for a quarter.
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