Hello hogs and thank you for your question.
The specific information you are looking for, is probably only
available from a market survey company.
However from my research it would seem that in late 1999 and early
2000 there was an explosion of online cosmetic companies, most of
which are no longer in existance!
I have not been able to find any recent statistics for the UK market
(or the US market) but you should read the 'clippings' below to give
you an idea of the market. Note that most of them are from 1999/2000
when predictions were that the online cosmetics market was going to
explode. It would seem from my research that it didn't meet
expectations and so many companies fell victim to the e-commerce flop.
"April 24, 2000"
"We're seeing this type of consolidation because there's entirely too
many players that come out of the gate at the same time," said Heather
Dougherty, retail analyst with Jupiter Communications."
"If you're an e-tailer trying to sell beauty products on the Web and
you don't have the major brands and your competitor does, you have a
major problem," said Jim Williamson, senior research analyst at IDC."
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-239656.html?tag=rn
September 20, 1999
"Online cosmetics sales currently represent less than 1% of the
overall market's $45 billion in annual sales. And although nearly a
million people have already spent $60 million online this year on
beauty products, such sales are still expected to account for no more
than 2.5% of the entire market in five years. "Online sales of
cosmetics have doubled for the past two years, but that's still only a
drop in the bucket," Clemente says."
"all online cosmetics sales totaled just $7 million last year -- for
the $4 billion company, but sales have more than doubled since
January, Kapp says."
http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:EtwqCWfkUX0C:www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/ctf323.htm++%22online+cosmetics+sales%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
FEBRUARY 3, 2000
"Some analysts believe the business models for the online cosmetics
retailers may have been flawed from the start. There's scant evidence
that the online beauty business will generate more than replenishment
sales, items women have used before and don't need to try on. Indeed,
the cosmetics industry relies heavily on shoppers trying on products
to get a feel for textures and colors, aspects of customer experience
that are difficult to translate online"
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/feb2000/nf00203f.htm
June 28, 1999
"She attributes the sudden rise in popularity of the online cosmetics
market partly to the release of a Jupiter Communications report that
projected the online health care market, which includes personal care
products, would reach $1.7 billion by 2003."
http://www.redherring.com/insider/1999/0628/vc-gloss.html
"But the company ran into big trouble. Idealab poured more than US$600
million into internally developed dot-coms prior to its planned
initial public offering (IPO), which was pulled due to unstable market
conditions. And some of the company's earlier progeny -- such as
eToys, cosmetics e-tailer Eve.com and home-improvement concern
HomePage.com -- have long since gone to the dot-com"
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=75&ncid=738&e=6&u=/nf/20030203/tc_nf/20644
"Launched one year ago, Beautyjungle entered the e-tail arena just as
a host of other pure cosmetics retailers were trying to crack the
Internet market."
"Last week, Sephora.com, the Internet arm of beauty supply and
fragrance retailer Sephora, said it would purchase several assets of
defunct beauty pure-play Eve.com, including its Web address, name and
rights to use its customer list two times."
http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:NTkX7c6MGIcC:www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/5367.html++cosmetics+market+%22eve.com%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
"Beautyjungle.com Inc. laid off 60% of its employees earlier this
week, in the latest setback for online cosmetics stores."
http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:ZqN7YY_oOwQC:www.247canada.com/francais/nouvelles/avril_00.html+%22online+beauty+sales%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
"That's when the thought of selling cosmetics flashed across her mind.
Being small and easy to ship, they seemed the perfect product to hawk
on the Internet. There were predictions that the online cosmetic
industry could reach $ 1.2 billion by 2003. Women were becoming a
force on the Internet. Rao saw an opportunity to market high-end
cosmetics, to busy professionals, who knew what they wanted."
"When we were sure about what was going to happen, and ultimately when
we were going to close, they supported me, and let me know that I had
done something really amazing. That I had earned great experience.
That we had a great financial return for our investors and that I had
nothing..."
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/feb/21usspec.htm
(Note the last sentence)
I haven't been able to answer your specific questions, so I have
posted this as a comment. However if you feel it has helped you, let
me know and I shall post it as an answer
A good resource for you:
http://www.beauty-on-line.com/ (read the newsletters)
Good luck if you go ahead!
THX1138 |
