The Beauty of Data – Driving Analytics Through the Company
Owning the market in your category sounds like nirvana. SoftSheen-Carson is the No. 1 manufacturer of ethnic hair and skin care products in the world with a 20 percent share of its category in the United States, and No. 1 in the category in South Africa and key European markets. The unique story behind SoftSheen-Carson is that 45 percent of its products are sold in barber shops, beauty salons and beauty supply stores — frequently mom-and-pop shops — and only 55 percent is sold at traditional consumer goods (CG) channels. The former is known for being a difficult locale to collect point-of-sale (POS) data — leading to challenges for the brand.
SoftSheen-Carson is now a division of L’Oréal USA, but its oldest brand, Magic, dates back to 1901. Soft Sheen Products Inc., a leader in the black hair care industry, was founded in 1964 and acquired in 1998. In 2000, L’Oréal USA acquired Carson Products, another successful manufacturer of ethnic hair and skin care products. The two companies were successfully merged in that year to become SoftSheen-Carson.
Sister companies in the division are Maybelline New York, Garnier and L’Oréal Paris — all reporting in to the president of the Consumer Products Division. “SoftSheen-Carson’s mission is to inspire beauty through innovation (see sidebar) for people of color, and that permeates everything we do. From product development to how we go to market to how we deal with consumer complaints,” says Yvette Russell, assistant vice president of business development. Russell’s team includes category management, customer marketing and sales planning, and is responsible for “best to market” retail execution and for providing consumer insights and category solutions to both internal and external customers.
SoftSheen-Carson is unique within L’Oréal because it specifically markets products to African Americans. Russell explains, “Who we target drives much of how we operate, and then beyond that, we also have a unique position in the market place because being part of L’Oréal we get the best of both worlds.”
In fact, having the L’Oréal product technology behind the brand is one of the things that sets the company apart from its competitors. SoftSheen- Carson has access to all that same technology as the much larger L’Oréal, and boasts the only research facility that specifically works on ethnic hair and skin care products — the L’Oréal Institute for Ethnic
Hair and Skincare Research in Chicago. Read the rest of the case study
