Cosmetics, Beauty Supply & Perfume Retail Industry Competitors

Hutchison Whampoa has a hand in just about everything in Hong Kong. The company, one of Hong Kong's oldest hongs (trading companies), has extensive holdings in retailing (A.S. Watson & Co), ports, energy (Hongkong Electric, Husky Energy), telecommunications (3G mobile phone and paging services), and infrastructure (power plants, toll roads, and construction materials)....

When it comes to keeping its customers looking naturally pretty, Bare Escentuals has a mineral interest. The company, which rolled out its bareMinerals makeup brand in 1976 along with its first retail store, develops, markets, and sells natural cosmetics, skin care, and body care items....

Beauty Brands is into the idea of one-stop shopping and primping. The company combines its retail superstores (which measure between 5,000 and 8,000 sq. ft.) with full-service salons and spas and currently operates 50 locations in more than 10 US states. In addition to selling thousands of beauty products, Beauty Brands offers services including facials, haircuts and highlights, hair removal, manicures and pedicures, and massage therapy....

Lush's products are so luscious that you literally could eat them if you wanted to. The natural cosmetics firm is a UK-based manufacturer and retailer of environmentally friendly natural cosmetics and fragrances (including many vegan-friendly products). The company operates more than 500 shops in more than 25 countries worldwide, as well as a retail Web site and catalog....

Merchant Retail Group (commonly known as MRG) has gotten beyond selling its products and is selling itself. The perfume retailer and department store group has three main divisions, including The Perfume Shop, Joplings, and A. de Gruchy. The Perfume Shop has about 110 locations that sell branded fragrances....

PureBeauty appeals to your personal sense of aesthetics. The beauty product retailer operates more than 60 company-owned stores and some 50 franchise locations under the PureBeauty and BeautyFirst names in 20 US states. In addition to selling cosmetics, hair and skin care products, fragrances, candles, and more, PureBeauty provides consultation and professional salon services (including hairstyling and skin treatments)....

Sa Sa International so so wants to make you beautiful. The group retails cosmetics and beauty products in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Macao. Founded in 1978, Sa Sa has evolved into a leading regional beauty supplies retailer with further plans of Asian market domination....

Sally Beauty Holdings (SBH) is now a public company after untangling itself from former parent Alberto-Culver in late 2006. Formerly Sally Beauty Co., the firm is one of the US's largest retailers and distributors of professional beauty supplies....

Wessco International is a leading supplier and wholesaler of customized amenities and accessories (personal care products, bathroom accessories, and food and beverage serviceware) to the global lodging and cruise line industry, such as providers Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Omni, Westin, Adams Mark, Bellagio, the Venetian, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Holland America, and Norwegian....

A.S. Watson (ASW) is the retail and manufacturing arm of the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa. Like its powerful parent company, ASW is a giant in its industries, with operations in more than 30 countries throughout Asia and Europe....

Women turn to Bath & Body Works (BBW) to help wash away the daily stresses of life. A subsidiary of Intimate Brands, which is owned by Limited Brands, BBW operates about 1,600 stores throughout the US, as well as an online store....

Ask your Celtic friends why they smell terrific, and they're liable to answer "Buth-Na-Bodhaige." Buth-Na-Bodhaige (Gaelic for The Body Shop) does business as The Body Shop USA and oversees its UK parent company's US operations. It sells natural skin and hair care products through 300-plus company-owned and franchised US stores....

For Douglas Holding, there is no scent sweeter than perfume. The retail conglomerate operates nearly 1,850 stores in about about 20 European countries and the US. It is a leading perfume retailer in Europe with more than 1,000 perfumeries (440 in its home market Germany)....

Perfumania Holdings (formerly E Com Ventures) makes dollars with scents. The holding company owns scent-seller Perfumania, which runs about 300 stores in some 35 states (about a third are located in California, Florida, and Texas) and Puerto Rico, offering about 300 fragrances (including its own Nature's Elements) at deeply discounted prices....

FragranceNet.com has set its sights on the sweet smell of success through its fragrance site. Customers can buy -- but not sample -- more than 10,000 brand-name fragrances, aromatherapy and skin care products, and scented candles at FragranceNet.com. The company carries items under designer names Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Hermes, Nicole Miller, Yves Saint Laurent, Oscar de la Renta, Fendi, and others....

Sweet smells and rapid expansion are in the air surrounding Marionnaud Parfumeries. With more than 1,200 perfume shops in France and about a dozen other European countries, it is Europe's #1 perfume retailer in terms of outlets. Nearly half of its stores are in France, where it has a 30% market share....

Shopping for cosmetics at Sephora is meant to be a hands-on sensual experience. Sephora's self-service approach to buying makeup arrived from France in 1998 with the opening of the first Sephora USA stores in New York and Miami. Now with about 185 stores throughout North America, Sephora stocks more than 250 brands of prestige products, including its own collections of cosmetics, skin care, and bath and body products, all of which customers are encouraged to sample....

Promoting beauty in the customer's eye instead of the beholder's, The Body Shop International sells skin and hair care products so natural they sound edible (Peppermint Foot Lotion, Banana Shampoo). The company combines activism with marketing, encouraging women to focus on self-esteem and social and environmental causes....

Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance wants to be every woman's ultimate beauty stop. Ulta operates about 250 stores in about 30 states. More than a third of its stores are located in Illinois, Texas, and California. Ulta sells cosmetics, fragrances, skin and hair care products and appliances, and accessories....