P&G’s Beauty sales are up; net down.
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Overall, P&G saw revenues and profits rise for the quarter. In beauty, sales were $4.7 billion, up 9 percent, while earnings dropped 2 percent to $589 million. Clairol’s Nice ‘N Easy Perfect 10 was highlighted for its performance as was Cover Girl’s Lash Blast mascara.
Clairol’s Perfect 10 appears to be custom-made for recessionary Americans, who are visiting their hairdressers less frequently. (P&G’s report said professional hair was off in the low-single digits in developed markets.) According to retail sources, Perfect 10 is being used by women for touch-ups so they can delay expensive visits for professional hair coloring.
P&G also said prestige fragrances were up in the mid-single digits, though with divestitures, they were up only in the low-single digits. On a morning business show, vice chairman Clayton Daley said that the only consumer resistance appeared in high-end fragrances and skincare.
Avon earlier revealed that North American beauty sales were down by 6 percent for the quarter to nearly $594 million. It appears that the American middle class consumer has scaled back their beauty purchases across the board. This means beauty is in its first full-blown recession in the States, as consumers are looking for ways to save money.
In the upcoming The Informationist, we will be looking for bright spots in beauty and how manufacturers can navigate these perilous times.