“Kroger Pushes In-House Beauty Products - EDGE Boston” plus 2 more |
- Kroger Pushes In-House Beauty Products - EDGE Boston
- drugstore.com, inc. and Medco Health Solutions Extend Strategic Alliance Through 2018 - StreetInsider.com
- Montana Emu Ranch Makes Beauty, Health Products - FOX News
| Kroger Pushes In-House Beauty Products - EDGE Boston Posted: 14 Aug 2010 09:26 PM PDT CINCINNATI (AP) - Grocery chain Kroger Co. is making a big push into the beauty business, this summer more than doubling its number of store-brand cosmetics, shampoos and other items while preparing to launch more products this fall and next year. The move by the nation's largest traditional grocer underscores how supermarkets, buoyed by the recession's lift to store brands, are aggressively expanding beyond food and drinks. Kroger says it's had double-digit percentage increases in sales during the slow, almost-quiet rollout of the Mirra beauty line that began last October. "This was a very big leap for Kroger," said Susan Scherer, who manages its beauty business. Kroger, with nearly 2,500 stores in 31 states, has made store brands a high priority, saying the products build customer loyalty. Store brands also usually have bigger profit margins than national brands. Corporate brands account for 34 percent of Kroger grocery items sold and 26 percent of grocery revenue. Most other major grocers, including retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., have expanded store-brand lineups as budget-squeezed households try to save money. The Private Label Manufacturers Association says overall, store brands last year hit new highs of 23.7 percent of items sold in U.S. supermarkets, 18.7 percent of sales and $55.5 billion total sales. Store brands accounted for 15.7 percent of health and beauty products sold in supermarkets, said the trade group, using Nielsen Co. research. Kroger offers more than 20,000 store brand items, a 25 percent increase in the last two years. Fewer than 100 are under the Mirra brand that includes shampoos, face creams and accessories such as makeup brushes and loofahs. But that's up from 41 three months ago. CEO David B. Dillon said Kroger identified health and beauty as an underdeveloped area among store brands. "The kind of customer that we have comes to us for things they need on a regular basis," Dillon said in an interview. "Health and beauty items, you don't consume them 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." Karen Grant, beauty senior analyst for NPD Group, said grocery customers have become more willing to try store-brand beauty products, particularly those billed as relying on natural ingredients. She cited Whole Foods Market Inc.'s beauty line along with Kroger's - Whole Foods focuses on natural and organic foods, while Kroger has made a major push in organic foods the last three years. "It's the inside-out beauty concept; whoever takes care of your inside can also take care of your outside," Grant said. "There is a lot of interest in natural products." Kate Marsh Lord, who blogs in Niceville, Fla., as "The Shopping Mama," tried Mirra products and gave them mixed reviews, liking some facial creams, lotions and a facial wash, but not the shampoo and conditioner. But she's received a lot of positive feedback from readers on Mirra, whose products are usually priced below and come in bigger amounts than big brands such as L'Oreal, Aveeno and Olay. "The package looks nice; it looks like a name-brand product," Lord said. "This new name sounds kind of European, it looks high end. And that ties in with that they're using natural ingredients, which you always equate with more expensive." Whole Foods says it developed health and beauty products that meet its organic standards, and plans a launch soon of new "green" cleaning products while looking at updating soon its paper and food storage products. Chris Slick, Whole Foods' senior global coordinator for exclusive and store brands, said while many store-brand items focus on value, there is a big opportunity for nonfood products that also meet shoppers' environmental desires. "The technology is really catching up in terms of environmental and performance aspects," Slick said. "It's vastly different than 15 years ago (when) we could barely fill a 4-foot section with products." Grocery chain Safeway Inc., seeing its store-brand sales outside groceries grow during the recession, added a line of environmentally friendly cleaning products in 2008 called Bright & Green. Meanwhile, Kroger's next additions to Mirra's lineup will be anti-wrinkle products with retinol-A, with more new products next summer, Scherer said. Marketing that has so far relied on in-store demonstrations and word-of-mouth will step up this fall with national advertising inserts and coupons. __ AP Retail Writer Sarah Skidmore in Portland, Ore., contributed. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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| Montana Emu Ranch Makes Beauty, Health Products - FOX News Posted: 12 Aug 2010 06:55 AM PDT KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) -- Tucked against a hill west of Kalispell is a picturesque farm dotted with red barns. Sheep once kept this property afloat, but the fuzzy animals have long been replaced by feathery emus. These prehistoric-looking creatures stalk across their pens on three-toed feet whenever Don Collins approaches, emitting the occasional eerie drumming call common to their species. Collins, a fourth-generation Flathead Valley resident, has owned and operated Montana Emu Ranch Company along with his wife, Penni, since 1993. "To the Aborigines, the emu was like what the bison was to Native Americans," he said. "It provided them with food, medicine, clothing and tools." What was a necessity for the Australian Aborigines became a novelty for Americans in the early 1990s. At that time, emu farms cropped up across the nation and the animal was poised to become America's other red meat. Ironically, the flightless birds that once faced extermination in their native Australia were going for up to $40,000 a pair. Yet despite the promise and hype, emu burgers and steaks never found solid footing on the American palate. When the market fell through, many emu farms went bankrupt, having spent thousands to stock their pens. For a time, the situation looked dire, until emu farmers, including the Collinses, stumbled upon a lucrative bird byproduct: emu oil. While it sounds far-fetched, devotees say the oil, taken from a large camel-like hump found on the birds' necks, works as a first-class anti-inflammatory, heals burns, lowers cholesterol and soothes eczema, among other maladies. Besides its purported therapeutic properties, emu oil has been hailed by the beauty world as a line-smoothing and wrinkle-erasing miracle product. Vogue called it "the world's next cosmetic rage" while Harper's Bazaar said it gives people "a more youthful, healthier appearance." "It's endless what can be done with this product," Collins said. With the addition of ingredients like essential oils, shea butter and beeswax, Montana Emu Ranch produces around 30 products including cleansing lotion, soap, skin cream, wound salve and nutritional supplements. Yet 100 percent pure emu oil remains the company's most popular product and Collins estimates it accounts for 40 percent of the farm's product sales. Collins says the magic behind the product is that emu oil works as a transdermal carrier. "It has the ability to lock onto nutrients and carry them through the skin," he said. Although a relatively new product, emu oil sales are picking up steam in an age where more and more people are leaning toward organic products. A seal of approval from Oprah didn't hurt it either. "The natural food industry is on an incline," Collins said. "People are worrying about what they are wanting to put into their bodies, so they don't have to go to the doctor and worry about being able to pay for it." While Collins notes that some have written emu oil off as a newfangled snake oil, he points to recent research funded by the American Emu Society and conducted at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Tests on mice concluded that emu oil has anti-inflammatory properties and is a superior treatment to fish oil. That being said, human clinical trials have yet to be completed and the FDA has yet to evaluate emu oil. Collins said the business of conducting medical studies is often very expensive, political and time consuming. Meanwhile, the farm, with its hundreds of birds, needs to be looked after. "It's very labor-intensive, a lot more than people think and that is why many of them get out," he said. "It's not a hobby, it's a business." Besides the Collinses, six employees work in the onsite office, bottling and packaging orders. Collins estimates an additional "1.5" work outside. This doesn't include Spike, a giant white Akbash who keeps coyotes at bay from the pens. UPS stops daily at the farm to pick up products ordered online. Besides its web presence, Montana Emu Ranch products are also retailed in 24 states. "The sales end of it is pretty consistent," Collins said, noting that the downturn in the economy hasn't had much of an impact on the business. "It's grown to where we have distribution across the United States and sales worldwide." While the business is a success, Collins never foresaw that his future would lie in agriculture, let alone in the cosmetics industry. After working 15 years for a local beverage company, Collins decided a new career path was in order. "I wanted to do something different," he said. He and Penni were in their mid-30s at the time and had built up a nest egg for financing. "The opportunity came along, so we gave it a shot," he said. Although they had envisioned themselves working primarily as breeders, the Collinses decided to tap into the oil market. In 1998, the Montana Emu Ranch Co. began offering its range of cosmetic and health products. In 2000, they moved to their present location west of Kalispell after their brood outgrew the original farm. Around 250 chicks hatched this spring and the total number of emus reached 600 in early summer. In addition to its health and beauty products, the farm sells emu meat to several health food stores in the valley. This year, it is also featured on restaurant menus in Glacier Park. Collins says future plans include expanding the operation. The farm has 40 acres but only five are currently used to pen the birds. "I keep hearing about five-year plans but it seems to start over every two," he said. As for its product line, the company plans to roll out a line of shampoo and other hair products this fall. "We hope that emu oil will one day be where aloe vera is," Collins said. "Once you couldn't find it and now it's everywhere." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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