Kroger, the US-based grocery retailer, is rapidly expanding its store brand cosmetics, shampoos and other health & beauty product lines. Kroger says it’s seen double-digit percentage sales increases for its Mirra beauty line launched in October 2009.
Kroger currently offers 20,000 store brand items. Fewer than 100 of them are under the Mirra brand, with many of those added in just the last three months. The brand's products include shampoos, face creams, and makeup brushes, all less expensive than comparable L'Oreal or Olay products.
“The kind of customer that we have comes to us for things they need on a regular basis,” Kroger CEO David Dillon told Associated Press. “You do not consume health and beauty items like food items, but you do use them up pretty regularly; so you go back for replenishment, and those are the kind of items that are our forte.”
The Private Label Manufacturer Associations 2010 Yearbook notes that in drug chains, private label market share in units reached 16.3 percent, as volume grew by more than four percent. National brands recorded a loss of just less than four percent in units. Store brand revenue grew nearly nine percent, while national brands added only a bit more than one percent in sales in 2009.
“Retailers place too much private label emphasis on low cost, and don’t have the packaging design expertise to thrive with beauty care products,” says David Biernbaum, marketing and business development consultant, in a RetailWire posting.
“Consumers are no more willing to buy private label beauty care today than ever,” says Ben Ball, senior vice president, Dechert-Hampe. “Beauty care is a highly involved statement of personal esteem. What has changed is that retailers have stopped trying to sell private label beauty care and started inventing their own proprietary brands. You don’t see ‘Kroger Kosmetics’ anywhere on the Mirra brand.”
