Tesco goes for luxury to up make-up sales
sales growth across its health and beauty range this Christmas by
riding on the back of continuing UK demand for luxury cosmetics.
The bid is an attempt to increase its share of the make-up market
where grocery chains have thus far only managed to corner 8 per
cent of sales. Tom Armitage reports.
The Tesco Christmas strategy appears to very much tie in with a hypothesis suggested in a recent report by market analysts Mintel, who claim that frequent launch activity is the key to success in the modern day personal care market.
For this festive season products - each with their own brand identity - have been introduced in a bid to target more specific consumer categories.
For example, Tesco, in an effort to capture the glamour factor, has commissioned its line of make-up under the influence of fashion commentator and chief make up designer Barbara Daly, as well as introducing a stylish line of toiletries and cosmetics under the Toby Mott brand.
But when it comes to personal care, Tesco still appear keen to retain their more traditional consumer focus, launching a constantly expanding range of more indulgent personal care products under their own 'Finest' label. For instance, one of this year's products includes a Vanilla scented 'finest indulgence gift set', complete with body scrub, body wash and bath soak, packaged in white washed wooden boxes.
Future sales growth in the personal care market will, according to the Mintel report, be focused on innovation, with many emerging contenders in the beauty sector aiming to incorporate some unique feature, such as unusual packaging or state of the art formulation.
For the consumer, however, the main attraction of Tesco lies in its considerable economy of scale - it now reportedly scoops an estimated £1 out of every £8 spent on the UK high street. It is in this respect that it is able to offer an assortment of cosmetic products which, when compared to high street prices, are also priced at a fraction of the of the cost.
The supermarket retail sector is an ideal place for marketers to invest, particularly around the lucrative Point of Sale (POS) areas - where a reported 55 per cent of women buy make up and other personal care products on impulse.
