Supermarkets and grocery stores have achieved an equal market share for health and beauty products with specialist retailers, including pharmacies, according to Verdict Research Ltd.
The company says that in 1998 the grocery and specialist sectors both had 42 per cent of the market (worth £4.6bn each) for toiletries, cosmetics and over-the-counter medicines. However, the grocery sector had increased its market share by two percentage points from the previous year whereas the specialist retailers had lost four percentage points.
Verdict says that the market is likely to polarise between a commodity sector and a "premium pampering" sector, with specialist retailers, such as Boots the Chemists, destined to loose out.
Verdict on health and beauty retailers 1999, Verdict Research Ltd, Newlands House, 40 Berners Street, London W1P 4DX (tel 020 7255 6400), price £990.