DIOR OUT TO CAPTURE MORE SKIN CARE SHARE
Byline: Jenny B. Fine
NEW YORK — Christian Dior Perfumes USA in the past has struggled with its moisturizer business. It also missed out on the first wave of the alpha-hydroxy boom. But the company hopes to gain momentum with next month’s national rollout of Capture Rides, its entry into alpha-hydroxy.
Dior hopes Capture Rides will do for its facial skin care business what Svelte did for its body care franchise.
“We were really absent up until now in the alpha-hydroxy arena,” said Caroline Geerlings, senior vice president of marketing. “We see Capture Rides as a true locomotive for our skin care business, and feel it will help us increase our facial skin care business by 50 percent next year.” Industry sources project the product will do $5 million wholesale in its first year, meaning it will generate 20 to 25 percent of Dior’s facial skin care business.
The product comes in a 1-oz. size, for $45, and a 1.7-oz. version, to retail for $68.
Dior prelaunched Capture Rides — the fifth product in the Capture skin care franchise — at 55 Nordstrom doors in late December, after introducing the brand in Europe in September. It will roll out to the firm’s full U.S. distribution of 700 doors at the end of next month.
At Nordstrom, the product has lived up to expectations, according to Peggy Mansur, the chain’s divisional merchandise manager. “From the time it hit the market, it went right into being Dior’s leading [stockkeeping unit],” she said.
To support the launch, industry sources estimate the company plans to spend more than $3 million on advertising and promotions. Six-page inserts will appear in the March issues of W, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Town & Country and Gourmet magazines, followed by single-page ads or double-page spreads every month through June.
In addition to distributing about 250,000 miniature samples, Dior is offering an introductory gift-with-purchase, the first time it has done so with a launch. The gwp will consist of travel sizes of the company’s Capture facial treatment and Equite Exfoliating Gel, packaged with a mirror.
Company executives hope Capture Rides’ multibenefit claims will set it apart from its competitors. In addition to wrinkle-fighting properties, the new item has an SPF of 8 and antioxidants to combat free radicals and environmental pollutants. Geerlings maintained that since the product’s alpha-hydroxy ingredient is derived from Vitamin C — and therefore does not involve exfoliation — the cream is less irritating.