Look Beauty Focused on Maintaining Number-one Position in Masks

The mask business zoomed from niche to mainstream last year in mass-market stores. Brands that helped pioneer the category in drugstores and discounters now face competition from personal-care behemoths including Unilever and Neutrogena. The global face mask market tallied $5.7 billion in 2016, according to Euromonitor International, with a forecast to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 9.1 percent from 2016 to 2021. That translates to $8.8 billion by 2021. The U.S. represents only 3.5 percent of the market, but serves up tremendous potential, according to retailers, which report huge gains in the category. According to data from IRI for the 52-week period ended Nov. 5, 2017, the subcategory of masks is approaching sales of $70 million in multiunit doors. The market leader by sales volume, according to IRI, is Look Beauty (which sells under Que Bella and Masque Bar) with sales exceeding $21 million. Bioré clocks in next at $12 million and Montagne Jeunesse follows with $6.6 million in sales. Retailers said there is no letting up on the accelerator for masks, but they are facing challenges with how and where to merchandise the category. That’s compounded by the proliferation of not only brands, but products for the entire body. The explosion of new

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