Paris Hilton targets beauty market
her lucrative empire in a bid to take over the beauty industry with
the intended launch of a cosmetics range manufactured by Parlux
Inc.
Parlux released a statement that indicated that through unprecedented sales of the Paris Hilton perfumes there was a noticeable gap in the cosmetics market for the Hilton brand.
Parlux chairman and CEO Llia Lekach said in a statement "Paris Hilton is an extraordinary young lady with an ever-growing international following. The demand for Paris Hilton fragrances has encouraged us to complement our fragrances with an exciting line of Paris Hilton cosmetics'.
Parlux, based in Ft Lauderdale and the current manufacturers of Paris Hilton fragrance watches, has signed an exclusive worldwide license agreement to develop and market the cosmetics range and hope to initially target the US market before going global.
"The addition of this line offers important synergies and has the support of our retailers and distributors. [The company] is evaluating a potential joint-venture arrangement to provide manufacturing and distribution of the line in the US" said Lekach.
The Paris Hilton brand has been a driving force behind enviable sales growth for the company. Mainly thanks to the success of the link-up, the star's name has helped the company to record profits, doubling 2005 turnover to the $56 - 57 million range.
It seems that putting a professional or well-known face to a product really works in the prestige beauty category, a phenomenon that has similarly penetrated the fragrance category, where sales are still being increasingly driven by star sponsorship.
Market researchers, NPD Group says that sales of Celebrity fragrances now represent nine percent of the top 100 women's fragrances and generated about $150 million in 2005, three times what they generated in 2000.
Many stars are now branching out of the fragrance arena, and are trying to target the prestige skin care market. Stella McCartney and Jackie Chan have both recently launched skin care lines, alongside talks of supermodel Kate Moss launching her own beauty range.
