a publication of wwd · 2021. 1. 14. · january 15, 2020 a publication of wwd as the lines between...
TRANSCRIPT
-
JANUARY 15, 2020
A Publication of WWD
As the lines between mass and prestige become ever more blurred, Beauty Inc examines the dynamics of a rapidly changing market. For more, see pages 8 and 9.
PLUS: L’Oréal Paris’ Delphine Viguier-Hovasse and Black Opal’s big comeback.
ISSUE#38
-
Beauty Bulletin
Tk Caption
Ch
iqu
et
ph
oto
gra
ph
by
Ge
org
e C
hin
see
; Kra
me
r b
y A
my
Fra
nce
s P
ho
tog
rap
hy;
Cla
rin
s b
y K
elly
Ta
ub
/B
FA
.co
m
2
JANUARY 15, 2020
THE BUZZ
By the Numbers: Mass Market Beauty, Past and Future 2020 data from IRI points to beauty's bright spots in the year ahead. BY JAMES MANSO
WHILE 2020 PROVED TO BE a nail-biter of a year for the mass market, data from IRI shows that the nail category actually ended up on top.
Data from IRI, ending the week of Dec. 27, showed nail products exhibiting double-digit growth for the year — but other categories were not so lucky.
"If you were a beauty manufacturer in the cosmetics space, it’s been a really, really, rough year," said Lisa Mulyk, senior vice president, at IRI. "Makeup sales are down double-digits, people moving inside aren’t seeing the need to put makeup on, unless they’re on a video conference."
The year ahead contains equal doses of uncertainty and opportunity. "Until everything opens up, you’re going to see the categories ebb and flow," Mulyk said. "Anything related to self care is going to win if you can talk about the benefits of it."
Here, the top 10 mass market categories in beauty, ranked by percent growth.
1. unisex hair coloring: +70.7 percent
2. artificial nails: +40.2 percent
3. nail treatment: +18.6 percent4. nail polish: +14.5 percent
5. facial moisturizers: +14.3 percent
6. home perm kit: +13.9 percent7. depilatories: +10.7 percent
8. eyelash adhesives: +9.8 percent
9. hair conditioner/ creme rinse: +7.5 percent
10. sharpeners: +6.8 percent
TOP 10 MASS-MARKET CATEGORIES
Source: IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm. Time period: 12 months ending the week of
Dec. 27.
Procter & Gamble is phasing in its new chief financial officer. Andre Schulten will fill the role, effective March 1. He succeeds Jon Moeller, who will stay on as vice chairman and chief operating officer of P&G. Schulten is currently the senior vice president of baby care, North America.
“Andre is well equipped to take on this role with a distinguished career in finance and accounting, as well as critical business leadership,” said David Taylor, chairman and chief executive officer of P&G, in a statement.
Schulten will report to Taylor in his new role.
L’Oréal has named Blanca Juti its new chief communications and public affairs officer, starting April 1. She will also join the beauty maker’s executive committee.
Juti succeeds Lucia Dumas after a three-year term. Dumas has left the company in order to pursue her career elsewhere, L’Oréal said in a statement released Tuesday. Juti joins from the Heineken Group, where she had served as chief corporate affairs officer since 2015.
Virginie Courtin-Clarins, a granddaughter of Groupe Clarins founder Jacques Courtin-Clarins, has been appointed deputy chief executive officer and head of corporate social responsibility at the French beauty maker.
“In this new capacity, Virginie will expand and accelerate the brand’s ethical and sustainable commitments and practices, which includes a strategic plan to see Clarins become a certified B Corporation within the next three years,” Groupe Clarins said in a statement.
Courtin-Clarins has held numerous roles within the company. Most recently, she has been focusing on developing the group’s CSR strategy, which involves caring for people and the planet.
Amanda Baldwin, president of Supergoop!, has been named chief executive officer of the brand, effective this month. She succeeds founder Holly Thaggard, who is staying on as chairwoman of the board and will maintain her focus on product development.
“Since she joined the team in 2016, Amanda has been dedicated to this mission alongside me, seeing the company through an unprecedented era of growth. Amanda shares my belief in creating change, investing in a sustainable, long-term vision and the importance of creating a powerful brand and company culture,” Thaggard said in a statement.
Tony Sciortino is also joining the brand as both chief financial officer and chief operations officer. An alumnus of both Coty Inc. and Unilever, he joins from Barnet Product Corp., where he served as CFO.
The brand named Natalia Obolensky its general manager of Asia Pacific, where she will be responsible for driving growth in the region. Obolensky most recently held the same title at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty.
L’Oréal USA selected Stephanie Kramer as the new general manager of SkinCeuticals, effective December. She follows Christina Fair, who was recently named the president of the active cosmetics division, North America.
Kramer most recently served as the global senior vice president of
marketing, product innovation and retail at SkinCeuticals, a team she joined in 2019. Prior to that, Kramer was the vice president of global marketing at Kiehl’s, where she created Made Better, the brand’s sustainability program.
Industry veteran Clare Horner has been named beauty director of Harvey Nichols, with immediate effect.
Horner, whose experience covers sales, buying, marketing, merchandising and operations, succeeds Jo Osborne, and will report to chief executive officer Manju Malhotra, whose promotion was revealed last week.
Malhotra said Horner’s “unique experience makes her ideally positioned to spearhead beauty, and further develop the category across both our online business and physical stores.”
Coty has announced two new board members, giving the board a woman majority.
Effective Dec. 18, Anna Adeola Makanju and Mariasun Aramburuzabala Larregui joined the board of Coty Inc. Makanju is currently the global policy manager for content regulation at Facebook, and previously served as a special adviser for Europe and Eurasia to President-elect (and then Vice President) Joe Biden. Aramburuzabala Larregui is the current president and chief executive officer of Tresalia Capital.
“What makes me particularly excited about their joining our board is that they are also deeply passionate about beauty. For a company like Coty, that aims to become the most product-centric beauty company, this passion is invaluable,” said Sue Nabi, chief executive officer of Coty, in a statement.
Maureen Chiquet, former CEO of Chanel, has joined the board of Credo Beauty.
“Now more than ever, people are choosing to support companies who are transparent and create products that are safe and align with their values. I’m thrilled to be a part of this clean beauty revolution and to work with a company leading, redefining the beauty industry,” Chiquet said in a statement. She is the fifth woman to join Credo's board, putting the female majority at more than 70 percent.Chiquet began her career in beauty, having worked in marketing at L’Oréal Paris in 1985. She transitioned to fashion in 1988. —WWD Staff
The Latest Beauty Executive Moves
from top left: Andre Schulten;
Blanca Juti; Virginie
Courtin-Clarins; Amanda Baldwin;
Stephanie Kramer; Clare Horner;
Maureen Chiquet
-
NEW COLLAGEN PEPTIDE24
http://bit.ly/39wf2XZ
-
4
JANUARY 15, 2020
NEWS FEED
THINGS SEEM TO BE looking up for Cover Girl.
It’s been a rocky several years for the
legacy mass brand. Following a sale
from Procter & Gamble to Coty, it has
struggled to remain relevant at a time
when young consumers are discovering
new brands on social media and
shopping for makeup outside its core
distribution channels, drugstores and
mass retail. A much-hyped re-brand
in 2018, aimed at drawing Millennials
and Gen Z consumers, was deemed
more or less a flop by Wall Street, and
sales failed to recover.
But with chief executive officer Sue
Y. Nabi at the helm, it’s a new day at
Coty, and the company is confident
that 2021 will finally be Cover Girl’s
time to shine. Even before Nabi
joined, executives were hard at work
on re-branding the rebrand, a scaled-
back Cover Girl that focuses on easy,
natural makeup looks and “clean”
formulations.
Here, Andrew Stanleick, Coty’s
executive vice president, Americas,
speaks about his plans for the brand.
How is Cover Girl doing? Andrew Stanleick: Cover Girl is 60 years old, an absolutely national
treasure. It’s a really loved brand
— we’re still number one with
the part of the brand [targeted at
older consumers], Simply Ageless
foundation. But with this new product
— the Cover Girl Clean Fresh, which
is this range of beautiful, clean, vegan
and cruelty-free foundations — we
launched earlier in the year, we’ve
brought that younger customer into
the brand. We probably hadn’t been
having that dialogue and engaging
with [that consumer] in recent years,
so it’s wonderful to be overindeixing
on Gen Z…and bringing in consumers
of different diverse races and ages.
We just looked at the recent data and
we’re [overindexing] 135 percent on
Hispanics, which is a really important
part of the market.
We’ve got a wonderful brand, which
perhaps hasn’t been given the right
support and love. What we’ve done
is to really go back. We went back to
our core foundations and DNA of the
brand. That’s really what Clean Fresh
has been — driving the start of the
turnaround and where we’ve seen
growth.
Cover Girl Clean Fresh is the first
clean, mass, vegan, cruelty-free
[makeup line] at mass scale. When
we [originally] launched Cover Girl
59 years ago, it was the first clean
foundation. Launching Clean Fresh
earlier in the year, [we saw] that
more consumers are looking for
this kind of clean [makeup]. So [it
appealed to our core] and for the first
time in a number of years it’s enabled
us to talk to Gen Z consumers.
Do you think the future is to turn
the whole product line clean? A.S.: The whole concept of clean is something which more and more
consumers are seeking and retailers
are requesting it. It’s something you’ll
continue to see innovation on from
Coty. On Cover Girl, specifically, there’s a
lot more coming. In the short term, our
brand won’t be suddenly be [entirely]
clean overnight, but over time we’ll be
bringing in ingredients where possible,
which are clean and sustainable.
Were there any elements of the
initial relaunch that worked and
that you’ve kept?
A.S.: We’re going back to basics.
The relaunch after the merger, one
could argue, was rushed. The brand
had been in decline for some time.
The brands that were doing well
and taking off on Instagram were
speaking to a consumer, a trend…that
wasn’t what Cover Girl stood for. We
tried something that we’re not. We
want to go back to producing at scale
clean products that work, as opposed
to offering looks from Instagram that
take 30, 40 products to get right.
People don’t really have time for that,
so we want to get back to providing
solutions.
The initial relaunch spoke
very overtly about diversity
and inclusivity. How are you
incorporating those elements?
A.S.: Diversity has always been part of the Cover Girl story. [During] the
relaunch, we added a number of
diverse spokesmodels, who we’re still
proud to have [as members] of the
Cover Girl team.
Looking at the Nielsen [scanner]
numbers, it looks like every major
mass makeup brand is down. How
problematic is brick-and-mortar
retail for the category right now?
A.S: The mass channel has been
depressed but is slowly recovering. We
seen tremendous growth online. On
Amazon Prime Day, Amazon grew 60
percent and I think Cover Girl grew 112
percent. We’re seeing the same trend
online with other retailers, particularly
Target — online across all our divisions
and products is really accelerating, and
it’s month-over-month.
Andrew Stanleick on the Future of Cover GirlThe executive says the brand is getting back to growth. BY ELLEN THOMAS
AUSTRALIAN-BASED skin care
brand Ultraceuticals is expanding to the U.S.
The launch was initially set for
early 2020 but was pushed back due
to the health crisis — until now.
“The U.S. market was really
interesting strategically to us for
many reasons,” said Karen Wilkin-
Donachie, chief executive officer. “It’s
very attractive size-wise. It’s also very
competitive. To some degree now, the
space is crowded with a lot of choice.
But where we saw opportunity was
the gap in very few brands, if any,
serving the professional skin channels
with a strong focus in commitment.”
Ultraceuticals, founded in 1998 by
cosmetic physician Geoffrey Heber,
partners with medical spas, beauty spas
and salons to reach consumers. In the
U.S., Ultraceuticals’ products will be sold
through professional retail channels,
as well as direct-to-consumer at
Utraceuticals.com, where online revenue
will be shared with those partners.
To date, Ultraceuticals has signed
on three U.S. distributors and expects
to have four more by June. The brand
anticipates being present in about
150 U.S. locations nationwide by the
end of 2021 with approximately $8
million in retail sales.
Since the impact of COVID-19 hit,
Ultraceuticals has pivoted to focus
on hosting weekly online webinars —
both professional and educational —
and has seen growth as a result.
“We’ve been doing more than we
ever thought we could virtually,”
Wilkin-Donachie said. “When we
do a virtual consultation versus a
guest going online to buy a product
themselves, the sale is more than
double. It reinforces why we feel
the aesthetician is so fundamentally
important in the relationship with
the consumer.
“In some markets we’re in double
digit [growth] through this new
way of working, virtually, with our
partners and consumers,” she added.
Dr. Heber, alongside a team of
Australian chemists, creates cruelty-
free, clinically proven skin care, using
“patented delivery systems” and
ingredients like vitamin A, vitamin C
and alpha hydroxy acids. The brand
will launch in the U.S. with a line of
over 30 products; prices range from
$31 to $117.
Australian Skin Care Brand Ultraceuticals Launches in the U.S.The company continues to partner with professionals at medical spas, beauty spas and salons as part of its strategy to reach consumers. BY RYMA CHIKHOUNE
Tk Caption
Ultraceuticals products include its Ultra Protective Antioxidant
Complex ($70), Ultra Energising Mask ($56) and Ultra A Skin
Perfecting Serum ($93).
-
V I R T U A L
F E B R UA RY 25
DigitalForum
AS WE HEAD INTO 2021, the digital acceleration that started in 2020 is
— if anything — picking up speed.
E-commerce sales continue to outpace brick and mortar and an ever-
expanding array of retailers are angling in on beauty. But the exponential
growth of digital goes far beyond sales. At the 2021 WWD Virtual Beauty Inc
Digital Forum, we will turn a lens on the key issues impacting business in
the year ahead.
Topics will include leveraging data analytics to drive personalization, the
evolution of social selling and emerging platforms that are driving community
engagement. We'll also look at how large organizations are pivoting to
better optimize digital opportunities, and dig into next generation
direct–to–consumer strategies.
ATTENDEE INQUIRIES SUE J IN LEE [email protected] | EVENT SPONSORSHIP AMANDA SMITH [email protected]
EVENT SPONSORS
For more information visit fairchildlive.com
REGISTER NOW!
THE PACESETTERS: TRACKING BEAUTY’S DIGITAL ACCELERATION
https://cvent.me/RbB4Gnhttps://cvent.me/BQEXnNmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
-
6
JANUARY 15, 2020
NEWS FEED
DESIRÉE ROGERS, the former chief executive officer of Fashion Fair
Cosmetics and social secretary under
President Barack Obama, and Cheryl
Mayberry McKissack, formerly the
CEO of Ebony Media, have a plan to
build a world-class beauty company
for women of color.
The duo are starting with a refresh
for Black Opal, the decades-old beauty
brand they acquired from Mana in
mid-2019. The brand has tapped
actress and singer Ryan Destiny Irons
as its first ambassador. Black Opal is
also releasing a slew of new products
in makeup and skin care that eschew
parabens, mineral oils, phathalates
and other ingredients.
“There are three things we thought
about as we worked on this business
over the past year and a half... a real
understanding of the target customer,
increasing the brand awareness and
growing the sales,” Rogers said.
For 2021, industry sources expect
Black Opal to have around $10
million in sales.
The brand's new products aim to
build off of Black Opal's historical
expertise in complexion products,
Rogers said.
In makeup, the brand is launching
a Pressed Translucent Powder in
eight shades, Oil Absorbing Pressed
Powder, Colorshine High Shine
Lipgloss, Colorsplurge Matte Lipstick
as well as Creme Lipstick, Precision
Eye Definer, Precision Lip Definer,
six eyeshadow palettes and Lip and
Cheek Tinted Balm. All of the brand's
products will cost less than $20.
In skin care, Black Opal is
launching lip oil, two lip balms and
a brightening skin-care line with
exfoliation and brightening bar
soaps, liquid exfoliating toner and
brightening and plumping serum.
The fragrance-free skin-care line
was developed in partnership with
dermatologist Caroline Robinson.
“We’ll be following up with face
products, oil reduction producing and
then shaving products,” Rogers said.
“What’s important to us, as we
look at color and look at products, is
to make certain that they work on a
variety of skin tones. The lip balm for
example will be closer to women of
colors’ lips — it won’t show up white
or anything like that,” Rogers said.
All new products are formulated
with Black Opal's new ingredient
standards in mind, and gradually,
existing products will be reformulated
to meet those standards, Rogers said.
Black Opal's new products will be
on display at new retail partner Ulta
Beauty later this month. The brand
is launching in 100 doors, including
Ulta’s Michigan Avenue flagship
in Chicago, and online, with the
possibility of rolling out into more
stores in the future.
“Consumers will clearly be able
to see that this is a Black-owned
company. It’s written right on the
gondola,” Rogers said. “That’s what we
proposed to Ulta, and they were very
comfortable with it. When I go into
Ulta today, I don’t see anyone saying,
‘Hey, we’re a Black-owned company
focused on women of color.’”
In addition to Ulta, Black Opal is
sold at Walmart, CVS and Rite Aid,
where the brand will be featured
in the Store of the Future concept,
Mayberry McKissack said.
Black Opal also plans to ramp up
digital offerings, and has partnered
with Perfect Corp. in order to create
virtual try-on options for customers.
“We’re bringing out some of that
technology onto our digital platform
so that we can create the experience
also from a digital perspective,
for women of color,” Mayberry
McKissack said. “One of the things
we found is that a lot of the major
cosmetics and skin-care companies
have been using the technology but
we don’t see a lot of the cosmetics
companies that are owned by people
of color — we think that technology
and the opportunity to have that
customer experience really needs to
go to our audience.” The company is
also working with Google to create
makeup try-on options through
there, as well, she noted.
“One of the things we know that’s
very important for our audience —
we are our audience — is the whole
foundation match,” Rogers said.
Beyond the YouCam and Google
offerings, Black Opal will offer an
option to plug in a foundation shade
from a different brand to learn the
corresponding Black Opal shade,
as well as online consultations with
beauty experts.
To ramp up marketing
for all these efforts,
Black Opal has hired
Irons, who has 2.6
million followers on
Instagram, as its first
brand ambassador.
“She comes from the
heart of the country,
one of these women
of color communities in Detroit. We
think she’s very relatable,” Rogers said.
When working with the company,
Irons specified that she wanted a
diverse group of people working on
set, and campaign images were shot
by photographer Quil Lemons. There’s
also a charity tie-in, at Irons' request,
with Mercy Education in Detroit.
In a statement, Irons, 26, said she'd
been using Black Opal products since
she was 16, and could always find a
shade the worked for her skin tone.
“Representation matters in beauty,
so I love that this brand is Black
and female-owned. I hope people
can see themselves in me and love
the products that were created with
them in mind,” she said.
“When you think of someone
certainly at that age who has already
defined for themselves what they
want to be and how they want to be
perceived and how they want to give
back — that’s part of our mission as
well,” Mayberry McKissack said.
Black Opal’s revamp is just one
of the projects that Rogers and
Mayberry McKissack have taken on.
The two are also readying Fashion
Fair for a relaunch in the fall, they
said, and would consider adding
brands into their portfolio.
“We’re always open to looking at
brands,” Rogers said. “Our collective
really focuses on women of color. Right
now, we are focused on the brands
that we have and making certain we
deliver them correctly and we surprise
and delight and enchant all of our
consumers, but we’re always keeping
our eyes open for other companies that
may fit nicely into the portfolio that we
can manage and direct.”
Building a Beauty Empire for Women Of Color, Starting With Black Opal Under new owners Desirée Rogers and Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, Black Opal is launching at Ulta with new products, cleaning up formulations and aiming to be the go-to brand for women of color. BY ALLISON COLLINS
Ryan Destiny for Black Opal.
One of Black Opal's new eye shadow palettes.
Black Opal
lip oil.
De
stin
y p
ho
tog
rap
h b
y Q
uil
Le
mo
ns
-
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT RACHAEL DESANTIS, BEAUTY DIRECTOR AT 203-581-3868 OR [email protected]
Masterclass Webinar Series:
Showcasing top level brand executives who will share their strategic vision and strategies to
implement in 2021 and beyond
BeautyVest Webinar Series:
Taking a deep dive into emerging brands, markets, innovation and leadership
Partner with Beauty Inc Editors on the virtual event medium of the moment, focusing on the following topics:
202 1W E B I N A R S
mailto:[email protected]
-
8
JANUARY 15, 2020
DEEP DIVE
LATE LAST YEAR, mass-market
beauty retailers were dealt a one-two
punch. The first blow came from
Ulta Beauty, which in November
announced a deal to open 100 shops-
in-shop in Target Stores; less than a
month later, Sephora unveiled a long-
term deal with Kohl’s that calls for up
to 850 stores over the next three years.
For the other key contenders in the
mass market ring — Walmart, CVS,
Rite Aid and Walgreens among them
— the questions raised by the deal are
many and monumental.
How best to penetrate the elusive
prestige market and meet prevailing
consumer demands? Stay the course
or seek a partner? Compounding the
challenge is another question: Are there
any remaining beauty concepts that can
fit snugly into a mass-market giant?
The latest two blockbuster
partnerships aren’t expected to be
the final story.
“This a trend that is here to stay
— store within store. Even more
important is partnering up to invent
on behalf of the consumer,” said
Sunny Jain, president of beauty and
personal care at Unilever, during the
Beauty Inc Awards in December.
Forging beauty partnerships
between class and mass is not new
— CVS flexed its muscles with a
partnership with Glamsquad, which
serves as a centerpiece of its Beauty
in Real Life format, while Birchbox
inked a symbiotic deal for stores
under Walgreens’ roofs.
But with Sephora and Ulta Beauty
— the two heaviest hitters in specialty
beauty retail — accounted for, who is
left for other mass marketers to lasso?
“QVC does a phenomenal job in
beauty; they have beautiful brands.
There is an opportunity to bring
it to stores and do shops within a
shop that would make sense and
create a win for consumers,” said
Alexandra McClay, a beauty industry
consultant at Next Level Strategy.
QVC has partnered with Sephora
to promote brands on the channel,
but McClay thinks Walmart could
be a viable option, especially since
the two retailers have different
enough demographics to encourage
incremental sales.
Other ideas bandied about the
industry include reviving the pared-
down Beauty Brands retailer (which
filed Chapter 11 in 2019 and sliced store
count to 22 plus online) and serving
up a physical space for online beauty
e-commerce businesses like Dermstore.
But not everyone is convinced that
large mass retailers need to partner
up to develop a prestige strategy.
“I think it would be interesting
for retailers to develop their own
personalities,” said Stephanie
Wissink, managing director of
Jefferies. “CVS can further develop
a niche as a ‘clean, good for you’
retailer to dovetail with its already
strong skin-care position. Walgreens
can leverage the Boots’ European
reputation in beauty.”
Bruce Teitelbaum, CEO and
founder of RPG, agreed that Walmart
has the most potential out of the
mass retailers that haven’t engaged a
beauty powerhouse, but believes that
the nation’s largest beauty purveyor
can build its own concept.
“Walmart does sell exclusive brands
and can create a self-contained shop
within the store,” Teitelbaum said.
“Its large stores and captive audience
make it ripe for further elevating the
beauty experience.”
Noting that Walmart stores are
visited by 150 million shoppers per
week, he continued, “There is a huge
opportunity to create a beauty space
[rather than team up with a beauty
retailer] and do it in a way that hasn’t
been seen in mass.”
While many pinpoint Walmart as
ripe for a relationship, the chain is
opting to pursue its own path for
now, according to Musab Balbale, vice
president and general manager for
Walmart U.S. Beauty.
“We are focused on expanding
our assortment to offer the trending
products consumers are looking
for,” he said. “Following social media
trends and working directly with our
brand partners, we have been able to
bring our customers great products,
including offerings from The Lip
Bar [now TLB], Wild Primrose and
Hairitage. We’re excited about
Mass Retail Comes Into Focus As the lines between prestige and mass continue to blur, retailers are taking a multipronged approach to reinventing their beauty departments. BY FAYE BROOKMAN
Ph
oto
gra
ph
by
Afr
ica
Stu
dio
/A
do
be
Sto
ck
-
9
JANUARY 15, 2020
DEEP DIVE
upcoming launches as we focus on
wow-worthy products that we know
our customers want,” he said in a
statement.
Other retailers are looking to
pursue a more health-based approach,
capitalizing on the proximity of the
in-store pharmacy and the boom in
wellness and self-care.
The clinical positioning of mass
doors with pharmacies puts them in
position to benefit from the wellness
boom in particular, noted Tracy
Holland, executive chairman and
cofounder of HatchBeauty Brands.
“Fifty percent of the products we are
launching this year are something
you put in your mouth,” she said.
Rite Aid, the nation’s third largest
drug chain, is doing just that.
“We are doubling down on beauty
in our Store of the Future,” said Erik
Keptner, chief merchandising and
marketing officer.
Rite Aid opened its first Store of
the Future prototype in Newberry
Township, Pa., last October, designed
to interweave wellness and beauty.
Rite Aid currently has three such
stores, with more scheduled this
year as part of a $700 million store
overhaul that was fine-tuned during
the pandemic. The format also serves
as testing ground for concepts that
can be replicated chainwide.
Efforts to elevate the beauty
experience include a high impact
discovery zone in the department, a
bevy of new brands, a “play” table for
sampling (currently limited in scope)
and access to trained beauty advisers.
“What we are doing in beauty ties
directly to our new brand mission
to fuse traditional medicine and
alternative remedies providing people
with products for a healthy mind,
spirit and body,” Keptner said.
Pharmacists have been freed up
to spend more time consulting with
patients — even about personal care.
In beauty, the assortment is focused
on cleaner formulations, vitamins
and supplements, and cosmetics that
help consumer express themselves.
Rather than partner with a prestige
retailer to secure brands, Rite Aid is
putting its muscle behind building
brands. One example is Doll Face,
which is a brick-and-mortar exclusive
to Rite Aid.
“Doll Face is aligned with our target
customer,” Keptner said, describing
the retailer’s core consumers as
women 25 to 49 with “children,
parents and pets, who are looking
for attributes such as organic, cruelty
free, fair trade and chemical free.”
Tom Winarick, CEO of Doll Face
Beauty, said Rite Aid has been
proactive in changing the mass
market status quo. “They have
allowed us to break some traditional
chain drug ‘rules’ to offer a truly indie
brand approach to their mix,” he said.
Too often, nascent brands have
been limited to access in chains
because of demands for big
advertising budgets, large orders and
inventory buybacks.
Other brands that are new to Rite
Aid include Arches and Halos, W3ll
People, Ella + Mila, Fleur and Bee,
Essano, Hempz, Clarisma, Purezero
and The Seaweed Bath Co.
“We want to work with brands,
including digitally native ones,
looking for a brick-and-mortar
footprint,” said Keptner, citing the
retailer’s agility — it has roughly 2,500
stores versus more than 9,000 at CVS
or Walgreens — as a key selling point.
CVS continues to elevate its beauty
proposition, too. Beyond an alliance
with Glamsquad and the Beauty Mark
campaign, the retailer has upgraded
its selection with a spotlight on
ingredients, exclusives and service.
“We are ahead of the curve,” said
Andrea Harrison, the new vice
president of beauty and personal
care at CVS. “We’ve been a catalyst of
change with Glamsquad and bringing
a different experience to mass.
We’re pleased with the performance
and we’ve seen growth among
Millennials and Gen Z, even during
the pandemic.”
With a robust prescription
business, CVS has sizable foot traffic,
and the goal of beauty, said Harrison,
is to offer access in a “comfortable
environment to have guilt and stress-
free me time.”
Further leveraging its health
positioning, she said CVS is starting
to marry the concept of the BeautyIRL
format with the HealthHub format,
a total wellness destination with
expanded health clinics, health
screenings and wellness rooms for
seminars or yoga classes along with
access to dietitians and respiratory
specialists. By the end of 2020, CVS
had 122 BeautyIRL stores — 69
were stand-alone and 53 combined
BeautyIRL/HealthHub stores.
“The boundaries between health
and beauty care are blurring. Many
aspects of beauty speak to wellness
and we have the opportunity to bring
that under one roof,” Harrison said.
Skin health has emerged as a huge
category for CVS, which continues
to add derm brands such as the
newly stocked Bioderma. To further
differentiate itself, CVS recently
launched SkinSafe, a data driven
platform developed with the Mayo
Clinic that can tell shoppers what
is in products at CVS, and whether
ingredients are safe based on
personal standards, specific allergens
and physician recommendations.
New “Sensitive Friendly” signage was
also introduced to indicate products
free from the most common allergy-
causing ingredients, reflective of
Mayo Clinic research results.
Meanwhile, Walgreens has taken
a multipronged approach, including
the Birchbox collab, a new loyalty
program, more masstige brands like
Boscia and 30-minute pick up at store
service that includes beauty. The
company did not comment on plans
to build out more Birchbox concepts,
but last year Birchbox CEO Katia
Beauchamp said plans call for 500
small shops.
Whether or not that will come to
fruition is not certain, but one thing
for sure is the continued blurring of
the prestige and mass world.
Rose Fernandez, CEO of Algenist,
believes that the clinical nature
of drugstores, which dispense
vaccinations, could open doors for easy
access to injections of a different kind.
“With drugstores trusted for flu
shots — and perhaps at some point for
COVID-19 immunizations — can they
serve as convenient spots for Restylane
or Botox?” she said. “Imagine you
don’t need an appointment and you
can go into a drugstore with a licensed
staff and be in and out.”
Rather than partner with a retailer,
maybe the next frontier includes an
aesthetic bar like Alchemy 43, which
could conceivably be connected to the
mounting number of medical clinics
in mass doors.
Nicci Levy, the CEO and
founder of Alchemy 43, doesn’t
rule out the possibility. “Since our
microtreatments are so trust-based,
partnering with brands that have
worked hard to cultivate loyalty with
their customers makes sense for us,”
she said.
Sonia Summers, founder and
CEO of Beauty Barrage, said the
often-overlooked grocery industry
including upscale food retailers
and wholesale clubs, might be ripe
for building specialty shops, too,
particularly given the connection
between beauty and food.
“Whole Foods already has a
customer that spends more, and their
beauty department is screaming for
help,” Summers said.
Serving the swelling consumer
demand for wellness could portend
a future for clean beauty retailers
such as The Detox Market or Follain
to team up with a heavy foot-
traffic chain, much like Credo has
collaborated with Ulta Beauty.
But while the potential of such
collaborations makes perfect sense,
hurdles exist. For one, many prestige
brands — clean or conventional —
are loathe to expand to mass market
distribution.
“If we wanted to be in Target, we
don’t need Ulta to help us,” said one
prestige beauty executive.
And then there’s the difficulty of
operating stores-in-store. The Detox
Market partnered with Holt Renfrew
for a clean beauty presentation in
2015. While founder Romain Gaillard
said the concept was successful in
generating greater exposure for the
participating brands at a time when
the sector was in its infancy, the
challenges were considerable.
“Clean beauty needs to be
explained, it is not self-serve,” he said.
“There are also logistical questions
such as who owns the inventory. And,
there is the question of whether the
brands want to be there or not.”
Whether mass merchants build
their own or court specialty retailers
to better reflect the fast-changing
beauty landscape, one thing is
certain: Change is here.
“The big takeaway,” said Alicia
Grande, CEO of Grande Cosmetics,
“is you really have to go where the
consumer is now.” ■
1. Wellness will play a huge role as mass retai lers look to reinvent the in-store beaut y experience. 2. Beauty’s big specialt y players — Sephora and Ulta Beaut y — may be spoken for, but other options exist for mass retai lers looking to ink prestige par tnerships. 3. Big retailers are looking to smaller brands to help elevate their proposit ion, and increasingly making it easier for indies to operate in a big box environment.
Key Takeaways
Inside a revamped Rite Aid.
-
10
JANUARY 15, 2020
MASTER CLASS
HAD SOMEONE TOLD Délphine
Viguier-Hovasse during her university
years that one day she would run
L’Oréal Paris, the world’s largest
beauty brand, the executive would
likely have been extremely surprised.
“My background is a scientific one: I am an engineer in agronomy,” said
Viguier-Hovasse, who graduated from
the Institut National Agronomique
Paris-Grignon with a specialty in the
genetics of plants and vegetables.
“My passion is biology in general, and
it started very early in childhood.”
Studies took her to various tropical
and emerging countries, but then
she was drawn by L’Oréal’s focus on
science, and research and innovation
for a career. So Viguier-Hovasse sent
her résumé to the group’s laboratories,
hoping to land a job there.
“A guy from human resources told
me: ‘No, you have to do marketing. I’m
pretty sure you’re good for marketing,’”
said Viguier-Hovasse, who took a bit of
persuading before acquiescing.
That was in 1997, when she joined
the group and spent six months in
sales. There were stints at L’Oréal
Paris cosmetics, Gemey-Maybelline
and Gemey-Maybelline Garnier
in France. She served as general
manager of LaScad for four years,
during which time Cadum was
purchased and integrated.
Viguier-Hovasse was president of
Carita and Decléor International,
and Garnier’s global brand president
for more than four years, while
repositioning it in the natural space.
She became general manager of
L’Oréal Paris in June 2019, marking
the first time a woman held the role.
Here, the executive discusses the
mass market, key goals and what she
loves best about the beauty business.
L’Oréal Paris returned to growth
in 2020, despite the sluggish
makeup segment. How is each
product category performing now?
The brand is beating the market this
year, clearly, and accelerated in the
second semester. Hair color has really
been the driver, followed by skin
care and hair care. The only category
which remains difficult is makeup.
For me, it has been a wake-up call
to see how much consumers are
attached to the hair-color category.
We are starting to develop a lot of
digital tools to explain how to use
hair color at home. The market took
off extremely quickly. It has been a
fantastic digital transformation.
We stay on a very good trend in
hair care and skin care, especially in
China, the U.S. and Brazil. Of course,
we struggle on makeup. You wear a
mask, stay at home, and so put less
makeup on. I hope to turn makeup
very quickly back to growth again.
How are you seeing the mass-
market channel evolving for
beauty overall?
The mass market will stay very
dynamic because having accessible
beauty products is a right for everyone.
We have a lot to do in the emerging
and developed world. We will
transform the consumer experience
with more online plus offline. Very
often, the consumer, even before
buying a product in brick-and-
mortar, is searching, Googling, trying
the products with virtual try-on tools.
So we have to make an experience
which is much more integrated.
What does the huge acceleration of
e-commerce due to the pandemic
portend for mass-market beauty
overall looking ahead?
There’s a practical reason you buy
your beauty at the same time you buy
your food in brick-and-mortar stores,
so it will last. And I think we have
many opportunities to make a better
experience there.
I often compare that to the music
industry. Sometimes you hear
[prerecorded] music and sometimes
you go to a concert. When you go to
a concert, you have a 3D experience,
which is very different and you never
forget. For a consumer that has a
physical experience with a brand
it’s something she’s more likely to
remember.
We have to make e-comm more
sustainable, making sure that we
group consumer purchases in one box,
made with sustainable packaging,
delivered with electric transportation.
There’s a premiumization of mass
in the U.S., like with the deal
between Ulta Beauty and Target.
What are the ramifications of this
for mass-market beauty players?
We are observing a valorization of the
U.S. market with specific lines that
are more expensive because they are
more concentrate or professional, or
differently formulated — like sulfate-
free. We are seeing a kind of stretch in
the price scale of the U.S. beauty market.
The U.S. is a very expert,
competitive market. Women there
are super aware of what’s happening.
There is a need and a demand from
the consumer to have efficient and
very specific products in the mass
market, but they are at an accessible
price compared to the other channels.
E-commerce globally has
blurred the lines. You used to have
consumers buying only in selective
or professional channels for hair
care, for example. With e-commerce,
everything is a bit mixed — on
Amazon, some Ulta e-comm
platforms or even in Ulta brick-and-
mortar — consumers also discover
new brands that could be more
accessible or expensive.
We have seen the consumer is
circulating much more from one
channel to another. The mass
retailers saw that, so they are also
wanting to have different brands —
more expensive — to really animate
that and follow this trend.
What are your top three priorities
for L’Oréal Paris in 2021?
The brand’s mission: women’s
empowerment — that we aid women
to achieve their goals — is for me the
number-one priority of the brand.
The pandemic has been very difficult
for many women on the planet.
My number-two priority is skin
care. In this pandemic moment,
restoring the skin barrier, making
sure you have skin in the best
condition possible, is very important
for the consumer.
And then hair color, hair care
and returning makeup to growth.
But I’d rather say I will create
strong, innovative products in every
category. More than thinking about
categories themselves, I’d rather
think about the big star products
that can be bestsellers in e-commerce
and brick-and-mortar. The consumer
is not buying a brand, she’s buying
products she loves within a brand.
What do you love best about the
business of beauty?
The power you are giving to the
consumer. You are giving women
armor. My mission is to give them
products to make them stronger.
How do you relax?
I’m afraid I don’t relax so much. I
read a lot, do a lot of sports. I have
the chance to have a great family —
great kids. I don’t know if I “relax”
with them, but for sure, they give me
energy, youth and courage. And my
husband, of course.
What is your favorite question to
ask during an interview?
I like to ask: “What have been your
difficulties, and how did you face them?”
Délphine Viguier-Hovasse L’Oréal Paris’ global brand president on the evolution of mass-market beauty, key goals for 2021 and what she loves best about the business. BY JENNIFER WEIL
DIRECT CONNECT: @lorealparis
-
#WorthIt
Experience the video:
lorealparisusa
You’re worth it. Three words we have all heard, at least a thousand times. Right?You’re worth it. But do you really understand what that means?
It is a beautiful reminder to us all that we have worth.
You have reason and rarity. There is value in each and every one of us. Including you. That is precious, and even on the days you might not feel it,
you never depreciate in value. Those words are there to remind you. Even if the harshest words are the ones you say to yourself.
Do not doubt yourself, and this time, tell yourself: I’m worth it! And I know you will always say it like you mean it.
I’m. Worth. It.
Because you are. And always will be. Got that?
“
“
-Viola Davis
https://bit.ly/39r4xFi
-
12
JANUARY 15, 2020
LAUNCH PAD
AFTER A tumultuous 10 months of holding back on new launches, the
mass market’s biggest players are
preparing an influx of product debuts
to heighten consumer interest.
Consumer behavior — and how
quickly it will evolve — hinges
upon the coronavirus pandemic, as
consumers continue to don masks
and spend more time indoors.
“Consumer behavior depends on
how long we're in lockdown,” said Lisa
Mulyk, senior vice president, strategic
solutions group at IRI. “If it sticks,
you're still going to see a lot of the same
trends that we saw over the last year.”
Whether it's a D.I.Y. approach to
hair care, consumer interest and
education around skin-care, or
traction with long-wear cosmetics,
the mass market is hedging its bets
on consumer behavior sticking to the
COVID-19-caused trends — at least
for the first half of 2021.
Shampoo, conditioner and coloring,
which have grown 1.3 percent, 7.5
percent and 7.2 percent according
to IRI, are a top focus for Unilever,
who has new hair launches in Shea
Moisture, Dove, Nexxus, Tresemmé
and Suave. “We have a lot of
innovations in the hair category,”
said Esi Eggleston Bracey, executive
vice president and chief operating
officer, beauty and personal care,
North America at Unilever. “This has
been an enormous shift, especially
for Black women, who averaged more
than seven salon visits per year before
COVID-19. Black women have started
new hair-care and styling routines at
home as they look for products and
resources to help solve hair needs.”
In the same solution-oriented
fashion, SheaMoisture’s Wig &
Weave Tea Tree and Borage Seed
Oil line launches this month with
seven stockkeeping units. The
products, which include a shampoo,
conditioner and detangler, bonding
glue, mousse, oil spray, bond release
spray and scalp soother, range in
price from $7.99 to $9.99.
At Dove, the focus is on moisture
and repair. Dove’s new Hair Therapy
range targets hydration, breakage
and dry scalp with shampoos
and conditioners focusing on
each concern, alongside leave-in
treatments for scalp and breakage
concerns. “With limited access to self-
care outside of our homes, our brands
are innovating with technology
advancements that are typically
more prevalent in premium skin-care
products. Dove Hair Therapy, which
just launched, provides hair care with
potent moisturizers and ingredients
that lean into the skinification of
hair,” Bracey said. “The collection
features ingredients like vitamin B3
and hyaluronic acid.”
Unilever isn’t the only company
leveraging the skinification of hair —
at Johnson & Johnson, Neutrogena’s
skin-care line, Hydro Boost, now has
treatment counterparts in the hair
category. “We wanted to bring the
skinification of hair in, and we have a
big Neutrogena launch this year that’s
bringing skin-care ingredients to hair
care,” said Hanan Wajih, director of
marketing for Vogue International,
the J&J segment responsible for
distributing hair-care products.
“We’re also encouraging consumers
to be able to do what they would do
in the salon but at home on their
own.” Neutrogena’s Hydro Boost Deep
Treatment Mask with Hyaluronic
Acid will launch for $11.99.
Over in skin care, consumers are
expected to remain engaged with their
at-home skin care regimens as well.
“Skin care is something people have
put a lot of time and effort into and
they’re doing a lot more of it at home,”
Mulyk said. The category itself grew 2.8
percent year-over-year, according to IRI.
Retailers have also taken notice
of consumers’ growing awareness of
ingredients. “One of the things we are
excited about continuing to build out
this year is the idea of skin health,”
said Andrea Harrison, vice president
of beauty and personal care at CVS.
“As a retailer who's in health overall,
we're also always looking at bringing
the best of health and beauty. We
know that the customer sees those
things as very closely aligned.”
Ingredient callouts have been a
winning strategy for L’Oréal Paris,
given the popularity of its Derm
Intensives line. Nathalie Gerschtein,
president of the consumer products
division at L’Oréal USA, expects
consumers to stay invested in their
skin. “Last year, L’Oréal Paris had
really high rates of engagement, and
I’m expecting it to continue into this
year,” she said. “Our Derm Intensives
line, and each of the specific
ingredients we’ve been bringing to
the mass market have been very
successful.” To that end, the brand
is launching its Revitalift Derm
Intensives 0.3% Pure Retinol Serum
later this month for $36.99.
Ingredient callouts have become
part of Olay’s go-to-market strategy as
well. “A behavior we’ve noted this year
is the increase in search on skin-care
ingredients, like collagen and retinol,”
said Eric Gruen, vice president of Olay
North America. “Olay’s new Collagen
Peptide 24 skin-care line answers
our consumers’ search queries for
ingredients with a product that has
been formulated with our highest
concentration of collagen peptides
and niacinamide.” The Collagen
Peptide 24 line, which includes a
cleanser, moisturizer, serum and eye
cream, debuted earlier this month,
ranging in price from $7.12 to $28.99.
Color cosmetics leaders are also
seeing growing interest in ingredients,
but consumers remain more focused
on what's left out of the formulas.
“It's certainly becoming more of
an expectation around the mid- to
premium price points within mass,
which is where we play, and that is
why it's important for us to continue
to drive ‘clean,’” said Kevin Shapiro,
senior vice president of U.S. marketing,
consumer beauty at Coty Inc. Cover
Girl's latest play in the clean space is
LashBlast Clean Mascara, which is
vegan, cruelty-free and priced at $7.99.
Cover Girl isn't the only brand to
focus on eyes. In fact, Mulyk said
its one of the areas with the most
opportunity. “We anticipate an ongoing
focus on eye for at least the first half
of the year, depending on how long
it takes for people to feel safe to not
wear a mask,” she said. “From a color
standpoint, we're also expecting
heavy emphasis on long wear and
foundations and face products that are
a little bit more resilient, so they can
withstand being under a mask.”
Longwear complexion products
have helped E.l.f. Beauty, which
tracked growth in 2020, despite facial
cosmetics falling 20.9 percent, per
IRI. “I'm bullish on the category,” said
Tarang Amin, chief executive officer of
E.l.f. Beauty. “We've seen real strength
across our lineup, especially in our
complexion business. So whether you
wear a mask, whether you're caught
on Zoom, things like our Poreless
Putty Primers or Camo Concealers,
these are products that you can use
every day,” he said. E.l.f. is taking the
aforementioned concealer into the
foundation category with Camo CC
Cream, which launched for $14.
Although Amin is all-in on
complexion, he's confident in a strong
return for the rest of the category.
“At some point, there will be enough
vaccines, people will be able to get
around to their normal lives. When
that happens, I do think there'll be a
pent-up desire to express yourself.”
Mass Market's Biggest Launches In the First Quarter Clean beauty, hair care and long-wear color: where the mass market is hedging its bets in 2021. BY JAMES MANSO
The beauty section inside a CVS.
-
13
JANUARY 15, 2020
LAUNCH PAD
Shea Moisture Wig & Weave 2-in-1
Conditioner & Detangler, $9.99
This multitasking product from Shea Moisture's new
line plays to the DIY beauty trend of the past year.
E.l.f. Holy Hydration Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm,
$10
E.l.f. is making the most out of its Holy Hydration cream successes with a cleansing
line extension.
Garnier Whole Blends Sulfate-Free Remedy Coconut Oil & Cocoa
Butter Shampoo & Conditioner, $8.49 each
Garnier's new reparative line of products protect against heat and styling
with sustainably sourced ingredients.
L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Derm Intensives 0.3% Pure Retinol Serum,
$36.99
Retinol is the latest ingredient addition to L'Oréal Paris' popular Derm Intensives line.
Olay Collagen Peptide 24 Collection, $28.99
Olay's latest collection
hopes to cash in on its buzzy, consumer-
researched hero ingredient —collagen.
Dove Hair Therapy Breakage Remedy
Leave-On Treatment, $6.99
Having heard the consumer demand around for salon-style treatments, Dove's answer boosts hair fiber
strength.
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Healthy
Scalp Deep Treatment Mask, $11.99
Neutrogena's Healthy Scalp
launch capitalizes on the skinification of hair with
hyaluronic acid as its hero ingredient.
Thayers Radiance Boosting
Serum, $10.99
New parent L'Oréal is boosting Thayers with this new serum which features
1 percent vitamin C.
E.l.f. Camo CC Cream, $14
E.l.f.’s taking the success of its camo concealer into the
foundation category.
Cover Girl LashBlast Clean Mascara,
$7.99
Cover Girl is amping up its clean offerings with a vegan
alternative to its classic Lashblast mascara.
NYX Professional Makeup Total Control Pro Drops
Foundation, $15
NYX Professional Makeup's vegan complexion launch offers buildable coverage.
Physician’s Formula Matte Monoi Butter
Bronzer, $15.99
Physician's Formula's new bronzer boasts a
matte finish and skin-care ingredients.
Revlon So Fierce Chrome Ink Liquid Liner, $10.99
Given mask wear, Revlon
makes a long-wear appeal to the interest in eyes.
Color Cosmetics
Skin Care
Hair Care
Pacifica Glow Baby Brightening
Peel Pads, $14
Pacifica is bringing an exfoliating counterpart to
its bestselling serum to market.
Aveeno Sunflower Oil Blend
Shampoo & Conditioner, $8.99 each
Aveeno's latest launch plays
to heightened consumer interest in hair repair with its
signature oat formulation, boosted with sunflower oil.
-
14
JANUARY 15, 2020
LAST CALL
In Pursuit of Wellness Designer Norma Kamali chronicles her lifelong journey with wellness in her new book, “I Am Invincible.”
BY JAMES MANSO
WHEN NORMA KAMALI FIRST became invested in her own wellbeing in the wake of the AIDS crisis, yoga classes weren’t a typical form of exercise and green juice was far from ubiquitous. “I felt uncomfortable talking about it because when I did, people just said, 'Oh she's a cuckoo bird,’” Kamali said. “Eventually, I realized the more I talked about the power of confidence and self-esteem, which comes from a healthy lifestyle, you can really have a fulfilled life.”
Several decades later, Kamali is
sharing her wellness secrets. Her new
book, “I Am Invincible,” serves as a
manual with health and wellbeing
wisdom for women of all ages. “At
75, I know my purpose is to share
this information,” Kamali said. “The
book is a handbook for women, men,
obviously can use it too. It takes
women from their 20s into their 80s.
Women have specific issues they deal
with that they haven't been able to
really communicate about openly
until the last, maybe 10 to 15 years.”
Although Kamali makes the
case for a plant-based diet,
intermittent fasting and rigorous
supplementation, she said the
building blocks for wellbeing are
much more straightforward. “The
three pillars of a healthy lifestyle
are sleep, diet, exercise and that's it.
There is no makeup, there's no dress,
there's nothing that will be more
important,” Kamali said. “I think
about sleep as restored exercise that
we do every night to help restore the
stress and the excitement of the day
we just experienced so that we're
ready to take on the next day. There's
nothing better than getting nutrition
through diet and eating healthy food.”
Having seen wellness' trajectory,
Kamali thinks the category will
take a turn for the technological. “I
know people who are very involved
in [artificial intelligence] and it is
just staggering to see the data and
the information that we each can
have individually about our genetic
composition, what will be good for
us, and the things we individually
can benefit from,” Kamali said. “It's
going to be a huge driver for the
pharmaceutical industry.”
Norma Kamali's new book, "I Am Invincible," comes out on Feb 2.