Revlon Watching For Color Cosmetics Rebound In 2021
Source : 'HBW Insight'
The COVID pandemic’s impact on global color cosmetics consumption has done no favors for Revlon, Inc.’s namesake business, Portfolio brands such as Almay and SinfulColors, and Elizabeth Arden-branded products including Eight Hour makeup offerings.
Salon and travel retail closures and sluggish foot traffic in the mass retail channel have not helped either, dragging on sales of hair-care, men’s grooming and nail products across Revlon divisions.
The firm’s reported net sales declined roughly 10% to $627m and 21% to $1.9bn for the fiscal 2020 fourth quarter and full year, according to a 11 March release.
Revlon CEO Debra Perelman
However, during a same-day call with analysts CEO Debra Perelman noted that the fourth quarter represented another sequential improvement in overall sales, driven in large part by e-commerce, which increased approximately 39% compared with the prior-year quarter.
For the year, e-commerce sales were up 40%, representing around 16% of Revlon’s total sales versus 9% in fiscal 2019. ()
The company also is making significant headway in China, where its Elizabeth Arden skin-care business – fueled by the Ceramide and Prevage lines – grew 49% in the fourth quarter compared with the same period a year ago.
According to Revlon, its fourth-quarter net sales rose 6.5%, reported, excluding COVID-19 impacts.
Revlon optimistically awaits a color cosmetics upsurge as markets reopen, mask use declines and consumers return to the category. ()
Perelman noted, “We're very focused on tracking consumer behavior and understanding when this decline will mitigate and start an upturn. We started to see a little bit of that over the summer as the stimulus checks came in. … We believe that there's incredible opportunity within the color cosmetics category as a whole and believe that there's a lot of pent-up demand.”
According to the CEO, Revlon held back launches in 2020 across multiple brands.
“We do look to bring a lot of excitement into 2021 both with our product innovation across all of our brands and how we are executing in the market,” both in-store and online, Perelman said.
By Ryan Nelson