SALLY HANSEN: FROM CUTICLES TO CREAMS
Byline: Cara Kagan
NEW YORK — Sally Hansen wants to grab a piece of the booming mass skin care market.
The company, which has built its heritage on nail care for the last 40 years, will expand to facial care in April with a new line of treatment products called Skin Recovery.
“The mass treatment market continues to grow at an exciting rate,” said William McMenemy, executive vice president of marketing at Del Laboratories, which makes the Sally Hansen brand. “Moisturizers alone are over $300 million at retail. Just getting a few share points in this category translates into terrific sales.”
Skin Recovery will consist of four alpha hydroxy acid-based moisturizers. The line will roll out to about 15,000 of Sally Hansen’s 20,000 doors by the end of the year.
Skin Recovery is expected to generate a retail volume of $20 million in the first 12 months, according to industry estimates, and Del Labs is reportedly spending $5 million to advertise the brand in its first year.
Print support will begin in late spring, when freestanding inserts with coupons will appear in newspapers in 60 markets. A national print campaign will break this summer. Del will also run some spot TV late in the second quarter, McMenemy said.
According to sources, another $4 million is being allotted for in-store promotions, rebates and coupon campaigns.
Skin Recovery consists of two moisturizers and two more intensive treatments: a mask and moisturizing facial capsules. Each item contains alpha-hydroxy acid and botanical extracts.
A 2-oz. jar of Moisturizing Cream and a 4-oz. jar of Moisturizing Lotion will be priced around $8 apiece.
The Purifying Mask will be under $5 for a 2-oz. tube, while the capsules will sell for around $8 for a bottle of 21.
“While [alpha-hydroxies] seem like old hat to the trade, to the mass market consumer it is still the hottest news,” McMenemy said. “But many companies have been using them as an excuse to raise price points. The assumption is that many department store customers are trading down, so they won’t mind spending more than typical mass prices.
“But to a lot of drugstore customers the $11 or $12 price tags these new items carry is more than they are used to paying,” he added. “That is why we worked hard to keep all of our price points at a level the mass consumer is used to paying.”
The impetus for leveraging the Sally Hansen nail care name into the treatment business came after the brand’s success in another facial category — hair removal. According to McMenemy, the Sally Hansen facial bleaches, depilatories and waxes are among the top-selling hair removal products in the mass market.
According to industry sources, roughly 18 percent of Sally Hansen’s $100 million wholesale volume, or $18 million, was done last year in depilatories, roughly a 20 percent increase over 1993’s volume.
While McMenemy declined to comment on sales figures, he did cite depilatories as being Sally Hansen’s fastest-growing segment.
“Our success in the depilatory market demonstrated to us that the consumer responds favorably to the Sally Hansen name on other things,” McMenemy said.”We also felt that since we make products to treat nail problems, we have developed an image as a problem solver, which can easily translate into credibility in skin care.”