Clinique’s parent company Estée Lauder (nyse: EL - news - people ) reported that the company sold more than 3 million units of its Quickliner for Eyes in North America last year. Not only did Quickliner, which retails for around $14, help Clinique grab more than 21% of the total U.S. market share for cosmetics, it was also the biggest-selling domestic cosmetic of the year as well.
The cosmetics industry generates approximately $230 billion in global sales, with trends showing a partiality for high-tech and natural-based products. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the functions of specific ingredients, boosting sales for makeup brands that publicize their techniques.
L’Oréal, the world’s largest beauty products company owns more than 20 brands, including Maybelline–the No. 1 selling mass market brand in the U.S., claiming more than 22% of the North American market share–upmarket Lancôme and salon brands like Soft-Sheen and Carson. In 2004, the last year for which annual data exists, it generated more than $19 billion in sales, up 12.6% from 2003. Lilliane Bettencourt and her family control 51% of the company. Bettencourt, 82, whose father founded L’Oréal in 1907, is the richest person in France, with a fortune estimated at $17.2 billion according to the 2004 Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires.
Estée Lauder, by comparison, whose fiscal year ends in June, announced 2005 sales of slightly more than $6.3 billion. It owns 25 brands, including Prescriptives, Bobbi Brown and M.A.C Cosmetics, as well as Origins, Tommy Hilfiger (nyse: TOM - news - people ) fragrances and Crème de la Mer. Eponymous company founder Estée Lauder died in April 2004. The Lauder family still controls 82% of the company’s voting shares. Estée’s son Leonard A. Lauder is the chairman, and her grandson William P. Lauder was recently appointed president and chief executive.
Other major players in the cosmetics industry, although not as prominent in the premium and luxury niche, include Ronald O. Perelman’s Revlon (nyse: REV - news - people ), Procter & Gamble (nyse: PG - news - people ), Coty and Tokyo-based Shiseido.
There are several reasons behind the growth in high-end cosmetics: the expansion of new markets in Russia and Asia; changing social norms that make the wearing of makeup–not to mention undergoing cosmetic surgery–more acceptable; celebrity worship; promotion within fashion magazines; improvements in the technology that creates makeup; the influence of mass retailers that can offer lower prices, and raising affluence. As makeup becomes less expensive, better and more accessible, more affluent women–and increasingly men as well–have moved away from older brands of makeup and skincare in search of higher-quality new products and more exclusivity.
Today’s best-selling cosmetics are mixture of established and newer brands. Maybelline is still the world’s top-selling brand, with a commanding 7.4% global market share, and is unlikely to be threatened any time soon by a premium brand. In fact, mass brands still accounted for more than 62% of the total sales in 2004, but nevertheless, premium brands remain one of the significant bright spots in an industry that, like many of its customers, could use a little cover up to hide its blemishes.
Via : Forbes Lifestyle

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