Researchers Get Closer to French Beauty

Research agencies NPD, IRI and IMS have linked up to launch a twice-yearly study of the French beauty products market.

Areas covered include skin care, make-up and fragrance. The research will focus on retail outlets such as supermarkets, pharmacies, cosmetic and fragrance stores.

The firms estimate that the market for these three categories is worth around EUR 5.4 billion and say that France represents the fourth largest market in the world.

Their research has already highlighted that the largest retail distribution category is cosmetic and fragrance stores (51.1%), followed by department stores (27.8%). The largest growth in retail sales comes from pharmacies which, although representing just 16% of total sales, grew by 6.5% in 2006.

Findings from the report, entitled La Conjecture Beauté Multi-Circuits (Multi-channel Beauty Retail Trends), will be published twice yearly.

In July, NPD opened a Beijing office and launched a service tracking sales of prestige beauty products in China (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7097.htm ).

The three partners are online at www.npd.com , www.infores.com and www.imshealth.com.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.