One of our major strategies for the year was to increase our fragrance sales significantly, making fragrance a larger contributor to our overall revenue. We were delighted with our fragrance sales which increased 21%. Continued success for some of our well-known fragrances - Estée Lauder pleasures
and Beautiful, "tommy" and "tommy girl," for example - and the launch of six new fragrances drove the category. In addition to our sales growth, for the first six months of calendar year 1998 we held the top five prestige fragrances in
U.S. department stores and eight of the top 20 prestige fragrances.
During the year we also took on the Donna Karan licensing agreement, which provides another strong brand franchise for fragrance growth in the future.
NEW FRAGRANCES Our six new fragrances were carefully developed to reflect each one's specific brand image. Collectively, they offer consumers exciting choices for a variety of occasions. Pleasures for Men, like the very successful women's fragrance, Estée Lauder pleasures, evokes the enduring appeal of life's simple pleasures. Clinique happy matches the brand's clean, simple, but sophisticated image. bobbi, Bobbi Brown's first fragrance, is modern and can be worn any time, reflecting the "simple to use" philosophy of Bobbi Brown herself. flirt from Prescriptives is a feminine, sexy and contemporary fragrance. Kiton Donna, like Kiton for Men, is a rich, sensuous fragrance, reflecting the sophistication of Kiton, the famous Italian design house. Hilfiger Athletics is positioned as "the active ingredient," for men who express themselves through sports.
ESTÉE LAUDER FRAGRANCE STRENGTHS The Estée Lauder brand strengthened its leading position in fragrances, with Estée Lauder pleasures and Beautiful maintaining their rankings as the #1 and #2 prestige fragrances in the U.S. Pleasures For Men became the #5 ranked men's prestige fragrance in the U.S. In Europe, Estée Lauder launched Garden of Pleasures, a unique seasonal launch of limited edition fragrance scents - Peony, Lilac and Moon Lily Gardens - based on the original Estée Lauder pleasures. Offered with complementary nail and lip products, these successful new entries attracted new consumers to the counter and increased the basic Estée Lauder pleasures business.
CLINIQUE HAPPY, FIRST LAUNCH IN EIGHT YEARS We launched Clinique happy - the brand's first fragrance in eight years - in more than 50 countries during the year. In the U.S., Clinique happy won a prestigious FiFi award - "Women's Fragrance Star of the Year" - the leading industry award for excellence in prestige fragrance. Clinique happy became the #1 fragrance at Isetan Shinjuku, the largest fragrance door in Japan, and in the U.K. it is one of the top 10 fragrances in both Debenham's and House of Fraser, two leading department stores.
| Estée Lauder products are sold in over 9,000 doors in more than 100 countries and territories. Many doors in the U.S. and Europe feature assisted sell counters, which
give consumers the choice of self-service or personal service from Estée Lauder's
beauty advisors. The Color Library, a popular component of many Estée Lauder counters, is the ultimate "playground of makeup," drawing shoppers in to browse,
touch, and experience the fun of hands-on sampling. |
TWIN SUCCESSES The success of "tommy" and "tommy girl" continued during the year. While maintaining its position as the #1 men's prestige fragrance in the U.S., the U.K., and most markets where it has been launched, "tommy" also expanded into Germany, Italy, and Russia during the year. "tommy girl" maintained its strong position in the U.S. and is now being rolled out internationally, entering Australia, Hong Kong, the U.K. and several other international markets during the year.
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