Skin Care Product Distributors for Skin Care Product Distribution and Sales

In today’s economy it is challenging to get shelf space with the major retail chains in the United States. Many category buyers and retail buyer for the skin care industry often do not deal directly with manufacturers and only buy products from established distributors that they already order product from. It is important as a skin care company to have access and representation through skin care distributors who already have established relationships and contacts with all major retailers in the United States.

A skin care company will have to contact the below distributors and send out samples as well as point of purchase (POS) material. Follow up with calls and sell their brand to the distributors. Once a distributor is interested, they will order initially a smaller order to store and include in their product catalog that they send out to all their clients and retailers.

Skin Care Product Distributors:

Skin care products sales a sign of rebound?

While the recession took its toll on just about everything sold at department store cosmetic counters last year,  it was skin care products that stood out as the last place women cut back during the economic downturn and the first place they started spending again, according to a report released Tuesday from NPD Group.

Fragrance and makeup sales at department stores have been declining for at least the past two years, but 2009 marked the first time in recent memory that skin care sales fell, according to the Port Washington, NY-based market research firm.

Annual sales of prestige skin care fell 4 percent to $2.47 billion in 2009. But by late last year, skincare sales picked up along with the economy, rising 2 percent in the fourth quarter, the only beauty category to post a gain, the report said.

Overall, total U.S. sales of prestige beauty products fell 6 percent in 2009 to $8.19 billion. Sales of makeup dropped 5 percent to $3.16 billion while fragrance sales declined 10 percent to $2.48 billion. One bright spot: small size fragrance bottles of one ounce or less sold well, the report said.

Prestige beauty products are made up of makeup, skincare and fragrances sold through more than 2,000 department stores and their Web sites, such as Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, Carson Pirie Scott and Saks Fifth Avenue, to name just a few.

Last year, Walgreens and CVS, the nation’s two largest drug store chains, made concentrated efforts to redesign their beauty aisles in hopes of capturing frugal shoppers looking to trade down from department stores.

New merchandising twists spark skin care sales

Retailers are rethinking strategies for merchandising skin care, and many are spinning bath off into its own boutique presentation.

Some are beginning to organize skin care around segments such as “natural” and “specialty” products and premium-priced family lines.

HBA buyer Hope Stone reports that Oregon-based PayLess’ latest planogram ribbons the department so that the top three shelves are dedicated to major premium lines, while lower-priced hand and body lotions are merchandised on the bottom shelves.

“It seems to be paying off,” says Stone. “Our sales of the higher-end lines are getting stronger.”

PayLess merchandises all its premium facial care brands as “total concept” lines. The cleansers and moisturizers from Plenitude, Oil of Olay, Neutrogena, Pond’s and Almay are merchadised together in the skin care valley as family lines.

In most instances, PayLess uses manufacturer fixtures to help organize the families. “As manufacturers get more sophisticated about their fixtures, they’re doing a better and better job of educating the customers.”

Stone also thinks that having upscale lines like Plenitude in her skin care valley has helped attract department store customers and other new shoppers to her department.

“Its partly because customers are getting so much better educated about what they have to do to take care of their skin, but it’s also the recession. People are money conscious today and they are looking for good values.”

Skin Care Sales and Marketing Sheets