Loreal

L’OREAL                        
L’Oreal launched its ‘Plenitude’ line of products to the US market in 1988. Plenitude sales grew and quickly one of the top brands in the market. However, after some initial success the products, its been 8 or 9 years and the company has still not generated any profits.
Plenitude, in the U.S. mass-market category, competes in three segments: daily moisturizers, treatment moisturizers and cleansers. Plenitude was launched in 1982 in France and is one of the leading brands in the French market; however, in US, it has been competing with Procter and Gamble’s Oil of Olay, the U.S. market leader, and Unilever’s Pond’s.  
Below is the market share for Plenitude and its competitors for Moisturizers in 1995.
Brands | Sales (Millions) | Market Share* |
| Total Sales | Daily Moisturizers | Treatment Moisturizers | Daily Moisturizers | Treatment Moisturizers |
Plenitude | 65.94 | 23.08 | 42.86 | 10.52% | 33.10% |
Olay | 132.82 | 116.88 | 15.93 | 53.28% | 12.30% |
Pond's | 71.12 | 36.31 | 34.84 | 16.55% | 26.90% |
Nivea | 29.02 | 21.18 | 7.83 | 9.65% | 6.04% |
Neutrogena | 24.49 | 19.1 | 5.38 | 8.70% | 4.15% |
Alpha Hydrox | 25.43 | 2.79 | 22.63 | 1.27% | 17.47% |
| | 219.34 (Total) | 129.47 (Total) | | |

*Revlon & Almay with total market share in moisturizers of 4.3% and 4.6% were not considered.
L’oreal products were priced at a premium compared to its competitors. Plenitude was a market leader in treatment moisturizers, which was attributed to consumers perceptions of the L’oreal brand as being technologically advanced. The consumers, using treatment moisturizers, knew about skin care and paid a premium for a quality product.
The consumer market for daily moisturizers was more price conscious and found the packaging of the products too wordy.   A daily moisturizer consumer would not dwell much into the information of a product and prefer a value product at inexpensive prices. Plenitude moisturizers were... [continues]

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