CK ONE HAILED IN YULE REVIEW
Byline: Soren Larson
NEW YORK — The CK One phenomenon was toasted once again this week.
At the Fragrance Foundation’s annual Retailers’ Review of Christmas Past, held Tuesday night at the Waldorf-Astoria, two American retailers and a British department store executive hailed Calvin Klein’s unisex fragrance, describing it as the savior of an otherwise tough Christmas.
“CK One — what more can I say to eulogize this phenomenon?” asked Jenny O’Donoghue, buying director of fashion accessories and perfumeries at House of Fraser, a London-based firm that operates 52 stores under 17 names.
“The record-breaking results you saw [in the U.S.] were repeated in Great Britain,” she said, “putting it firmly into a number one position in House of Fraser, in any category you can think of.” The mass market angle was also covered at the event. Lorraine Coyle, category manager at Eckerd Drug, said December sales were “mixed, but the final results of our holiday season proved it to be a successful one for both fragrance and cosmetics.”
Vicki McClendon, divisional merchandise manager at Sears, Roebuck & Co., detailed the continued growth of the beauty business at Sears, which had been out of the cosmetics category for 10 years before reentering the field in 1993.
Rita Burke Mangan, senior vice president of cosmetics and fragrances at Macy’s East, described the highly positive results at her store after a tough beginning. But Nancy Schmidt, vice president and divisional merchandise manager at the Chicago-based Carson Pirie Scott, said CK One was the lone saving grace this past holiday.
“Christmas 1995 is not one of my better topics,” she said. “Why couldn’t I have done this in January of 1995 when we were coming off of strong double-digit increases?”
The beauty category was flat this holiday at Carson’s, said Schmidt, who noted the season “was far more competitive than past years in terms of expanded distribution channels. In Chicago, we battled with Cosmetic Centers, Ulta 3, Osco Drugs, Walgreens, etc.”
The top 10 women’s fragrances at Carson’s were — in order — CK One, Beautiful, Pleasures, White Diamonds, TrAsor, Chanel No. 5, Eternity, White Linen, Obsession, Jessica McClintock and Opium.
In percentage growth, the leaders were Laura Ashley, Opium, Carolina Herrera, Samsara, Tresor, Gucci, Chanel No. 5, Ralph Lauren’s Safari, Coco, CK One and L’Air du Temps.
In all, the women’s category was down 4 percent.
Without including Tommy, which Schmidt said did well in three doors, the top 10 men’s fragrances were Eternity for Men, Cool Water, Obsession for Men, Drakkar Noir, Hugo, Aramis, Escape for Men, Ralph Lauren’s Polo and Polo Sport and Paul Sebastian.
The list represents 60 percent of the men’s category, which grew 5 percent in December. The fastest growers were Lauren’s Safari for Men, Paul Sebastian, Grey Flannel, CK One and Chanel.
The most popular introductions last year that did not make the top 10 lists were Jess, Acqua di Gio and Amarige on the women’s side, and Nautica, Design, Catalyst and Spazio Krizia on the men’s side, Schmidt said.
McClendon of Sears said, “A compelling cosmetics department is vital to attracting new apparel customers to Sears.” In two years, she said, beauty sales — including the store’s private label Circle of Beauty — have tripled.
“We hit our first $5 million cosmetics day in December and sold $20 million in cosmetics during the week before Christmas” in 212 doors, she said. Sales of women’s fragrances increased 50 percent, with the top brands Vanilla Fields, Vanderbilt, Chantilly, Exclamation, Wind Song, Navy, Ici, Musk and Longing.
The men’s category was up 40 percent in December, led by Stetson, Preferred Stock, Aspen, Pierre Cardin, British Sterling and English Leather.
O’Donoghue of House of Fraser said her women’s fragrance category grew 10 percent for 1995. The top 10 women’s brands, which represented 38 percent of the women’s business, were, in order, CK One, Chanel No. 5, Beautiful, Pleasures, Aromatics Elixir, Tresor, Youth Dew, Jean Paul Gaultier, Coco and Christian Dior’s Dolce Vita.
Lancome’s PoEme reached number 13 for the season, she said, and “24 Faubourg from Hermes, So Pretty from Cartier and Bulgari all played their part.”
In the men’s category, “things were tougher,” O’Donoghue noted. She said CK One finished in the top spot, followed by Safari for Men, Eternity for Men, Aramis, Escape for Men, Hugo, Opium Pour Homme, Polo Sport, Tuscany and Paco Rabanne’s XS.
The top 10 represented 44 percent of the men’s business — which fell 4 percent in 1995. Macy’s Mangan said her store achieved its holiday plan — but not until the week after Christmas. She added that makeup and treatment were stronger than fragrance. All three categories, she said, had a “spectacular” post-Christmas week.
New brands represented 10 percent of the men’s and women’s fragrance businesses; the most popular new items were Tommy, Hugo, Design for Men, Pleasures, Jess, Forever, Deci Dele, Donna Karan, L’Eau d’Issey, Jean Paul Gaultier, Acqua di Gio and Cabotine de Gres.
In promotions, “the leader was Polo Sport with their [gift-with-purchase] Polo Sport basketball,” Mangan said, adding, “Providing baskets or containers to create sets has become very important in maintaining strong counter presence up until the actual holiday, when most sets have sold out.”
The bestseller, Mangan said, was CK One, “ranked number one across all brands.” Following in the women’s department were, in order, Beautiful, Chanel No. 5, Tresor, Pleasures, Eternity, White Diamonds, White Linen, Obsession, Opium and Shalimar.
The top performers represented 40 percent of the women’s fragrance business and sparked sales increases of 15 percent for the category in December.
The men’s top 10, which accounted for 60 percent of the December men’s business, were, in order, Tommy, Polo Sport, Eternity for Men, Obsession for Men, Aramis, Drakkar Noir, Cool Water, Paul Sebastian, Polo and Safari for Men.
Mangan said a number of “classics” were solid, among them Amarige, Ysatis, Joy, Coco, Jessica McClintock, Oscar and Boucheron. (Mangan was promoted Thursday; see story, page 8.)
Coyle of Eckerd said her store started to experience a fragrance turnaround in late summer, leading to 8 percent growth during the holiday season.
“Classic brands continued to be the catalyst for growth,” she said. These “core” brands made up the chain’s top 10 and included Vanilla Fields, White Diamonds, Wind Song, Tabu, Longing, Vanderbilt, Sunflowers, Charlie, Sand & Sable and Red Door.
Improved merchandising techniques played an important role in the successful Christmas, Coyle said, citing Revlon’s “boutique” of open stock, gift sets, testers and printed information.
In the men’s field, which was up by 13 percent in 1995, the top performers were Preferred Stock, British Sterling, Aspen, Stetson, Chaps, English Leather, Canoe, Drakkar Noir, Polo and Cool Water.
Among the more successful ventures for Eckerd, Coyle noted, was an assortment of $29.95 designer fragrance gift sets. “These sets were a new high-end price point and the results proved we can attract a new high-end consumer,” she said.
While Coyle sang the praises of the prestige brands sold at Eckerd, O’Donoghue expressed regret that “gray-market product was still very much in evidence, despite efforts to control it. It concerns me that perhaps we’ll see discounted fragrances for sale in gas stations before long.
“Alas, the time between the product being first on sale at full price and the first discounted price appearing is shorter than ever,” she continued, “whether via the gray market or retailer choice — I’m not sure which comes first in every case.”
“Diversion was much more of an issue,” said Schmidt at Carson’s. “The consumers had too many outlets available to them to make their fragrance purchases.”