USA : Drugstores battle for beauty sales with premium products

Over the past two years, national drugstore chains have added upscale brands and in-store skin care consultants in an effort to attract customers to the local drugstore for cosmetics and skin care purchases. A new study recently launched by Kline & Company aims to find out if these tactics are working. BEAUTY RETAILING USA 2006 will examine the overall retail landscape for the U.S. cosmetics and toiletries industry and determine whether the drugstore purchase channel has been able to gain ground in the $35 billion market. “The cosmetics and toiletries market overall is showing signs of growth at around 4% in 2006, which is the largest increase in the past five years," says Carrie Mellage, industry manager for the Consumer Products practice of Kline's Research division. “And while department stores and food stores continue to lose share, the battle between drug outlets and mass merchandisers is heating up." According to the latest edition of Kline's study, drugstores and department stores each claimed just less than 17% of the U.S.

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