MaxFactor department store counters to close

Affected declining sales, cosmetics brand MaxFactor will see the number of its sales outlets shrink in Taiwan, after its local distributor adopted a passive strategy to marketing the brand.

Starting June, MaxFactor products will only be available at its sister brand SK-II's counters in all deparements such as Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越).

The brand's distributor Procter & Gamble Taiwan (P&G, 寶僑家品) yesterday denied local Chinese-language reports that MaxFactor will withdraw completely from the local market, and even Asia.

"The news of a withdrawal is not possible. MaxFactor is quite a well-performing brand in Japan, where it is both a mass market and counter brand," Christine Wu (吳卉蓁), SK-II public relations manager with P&G, said in a telephone interview.

However, she did not deny that MaxFactor's market share is small and stressed that the merger plan was part of the firm's latest strategy to position its SK-II skin-care brand as a prestige label.

"Skin-care products have become a sought-after area as consumer loyalty is strong and users need new supplies more often than they do with make-up products," Wu explained.

"On the contrary, make-up users always look for the latest fashions, which causes weak loyalty and unstable sales."

The firm would now invest 90 percent of its resources in promoting skin-care products in order to expand its customer base, which means MaxFactor's presence would be marginalized.

She stressed that consumers would still be able to purchase MaxFactor products in around 360 locations nationwide, including department stores, health and cosmetics retailer Watsons and hypermarkets.

But the product mix would not be complete and would only be available upon request, Wu said.

Established Los Angeles in 1909, MaxFactor was formally introduced into Taiwan in 1965. P&G acquired the brand in 1991.

Wu refused to disclose sales figures, citing confidentiality.

Statistics by Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨), which runs seven outlets in Taiwan, showed that MaxFactor revenues in its best-performing Zhongxiao branch slid from NT$17 million (US$516,500) four years ago to NT$7 million last year. Its sales in the last two months only just surpassed NT$300,000 per month, the retailer said.

MaxFactor's began to dwindle several years ago as other professional make-up brands, such as MAC and Bobbi Brown, captured the youth market, said a department store executive in charge of the cosmetics business, on condition of anonymity.

"It's difficult to operate both skin-care and make-up products like P&G have been doing. That's why the firm is adjusting its marketing strategy," the executive said.