cosnova Beauty’s rise continues with a 24% increase in turn

According to AC Nielsen, cosnova’s leading brand essence achieved a volume market share of 26.0% in Germany in 2011, compared to 23.8% in 2010. “This increase further strengthened the brand’s position as the top-selling cosmetics range in Germany, which it first established in 2007. In addition, essence increased its value market share to 10.9%, compared to 9.7% in 2010, making essence the second largest cosmetics brand in value in Germany,” the company stated. Internationally, essence attained unit market leadership in 2011 in Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Ireland, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia and Slovakia, and managed to strengthen its position in several western and eastern European countries. This expansive growth has only reinforced essence’s position as the topselling brand in Europe in the lower price segment.

Furthermore, the company’s relaunch of CATRICE in 2011 has been highly successful. According to AC Nielsen, CATRICE was able to increase and almost double its volume market share from 0.9 % (in 2010) to 1.6 % (in 2011) in Germany. “CATRICE has a completely new look and now offers cutting edge innovation. This completely new brand appearance has had a dramatic impact on sales”, says Christina Oster-Daum, owner and managing director of cosnova Beauty, and continues: “We want to keep proving that trendy, innovative and high quality products do not have to be expensive.”

The sales development in the various foreign markets was also very positive. “As in previous years, our business in central and eastern Europe has developed extremely well. Despite the international economic and financial crisis, we were able to continue the rapid growth of 2010 in southern Europe, where we achieved an increase in turnover of over 30% in Italy and an increase in turnover of over 40% in Spain. In addition, we have enjoyed excellent results in North America, including a listing for essence in Shoppers Drug Mart, which is Canada’s largest cosmetics retailer. The development in turnover in the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Latin America and Africa has also been very positive as a result of successful brand launches and growing distribution,” states Javier González, owner and managing director of cosnova Beauty.

For the business year 2012, Christina Oster-Daum and Javier González plan to achieve another double-digit growth in annual sales. Javier González: “This is a realistic objective: our national and international business is continuing to develop superbly despite economic uncertainty and volatile financial markets. At the same time, we will encourage further development in the European market as well as expansion in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa.”

Currently, cosnova Beauty distributes its products to over 50 countries in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Africa. The cosmetics brands essence and CATRICE are available in approximately 20,000 sales outlets. The company’s customers include drugstores, food retailers, department stores and perfumeries.