Doubtless one of the issues that he, and others, will be addressing is the ongoing impact of the geopolitical turmoil that has roiled the business.“There was hope that supply constraints and shipping delays would abate. But with the Russia-Ukraine crisis, oil costs rising and labor and throughput issues still at ports in China and the U.S, the risks of supply burdens are persisting into mid-year and potentially second half as well,” said Stephanie Wissink, equity analyst with Jefferies.
P&G is also using data analytics to inform advanced planning, helping the company have greater visibility to potential material outages and better manage inventories. “This effort is helping us keep production lines moving in our plants and keep products stocked as best as possible on retailer’s shelves,” Keith said.
The industry, she said, has opportunities to build out services such as linking beauty to health conditions like how to help patients with diabetes manage skin care. NielsenIQ data substantiates that prices are on the rise with dollar sales advancing faster than units. For the four-week period ended March 12, 2022, year-over-year mass beauty dollar sales rose 8.1 percent versus only 4 percent for unit growth. The escalating cost of beauty products could favor mass brands where the pain of paying a dollar more for a $7 lipstick isn’t as tough to justify as spending $5 more on a $30 product, sources said.
“Our consumers love the superior performance as well as the unique single-dose usage experience, thus creating value for them on multiple levels,” said Keith. “Through this approach, we’ve seen more consumers gravitate to our mass-priced product offerings.” Fast-growing Milani has seen a boost from influencers who use its products as “dupes” to premium lines. For example, a buzz built around Milani’s Color Fetish Matte lipstick as a substitute for Charlotte Tilbury resulted in a sellout at Ulta and a 300 percent sales increase over a two-week period at Walgreens.
E.l.f. has been at the forefront of cleaner formulations and going forward all products will meet the European Union Cosmetics Regulation ingredients standards which will require the reformulation of about 350 products with a list of about 1,600 ingredients the brand will not use.