MAC's biggest competitor?

[Beauty Mark]

I feel like MAC's target audience is like avant-garde makeup, at least when you go the store. Rare if ever I see someone who's looking very natural.

I don't know if it affects their clientele. I don't think I've seen a darling elderly women there like I have at Lancome or Clinique, but I have seen women there who are looking to look natural

 

[reesesilverstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkwater_soul I think, to answer the main topic - Loreal, Maybelline, and Clinique corner the market, in approachability, ability to obtain product, and ease of use. There's no technique really needed with these brands, you don't need a lot of expensive applicators (brushes) and probably a good 50% or more of women love these brands and keep going back for that reason. Now - on lah_knee's point of MAC trying to reach all sexes, all ages all races - probably a good 90% of MA's I have met (and I have met a LOT working in the industry) all LOOK THE SAME. Some are bigger, there are some men, some are smaller, some are black/white/hispanic/etc., but they all look edgy, artsy, what have you. I think that this is MAC downfall right now, is in the hiring. They need a wider demographic if this is what they want to achieve. Like, seeing a mid 50's woman with a small brush roll, in a black pantsuit and nicely coiffed hair, with some pretty simple makeup on, would be refreshing to me, and probably bring in a lot of clients closer to her age range. For example, how well do the icon collections REALLY do for the younger age set? Probably not as well as, let's say, Barbie for MAC. I'm not saying that ALL MA's look the same, I'm just saying (and I probably speak for a lot of people) that I generally see the same kinda look from the MAC MA's , with little variation here and there. And it shows in the clientele they attract.

I will hafta agree with everything you said.

 

[geeko]

I would have to say that MAC's edgy image can be a double edged sword.

Although it would put some people off from buying M.A.C (esp those who are looking for natural looking make up), it attracts consumers who are lookin for something that's outstanding and different from other make up brands.

Look at most of the make up ads e.g. Lancome, Dior and other counter brands, they all have the same "Natural" looking ads 80 to 90% of the time.

If MAC were to ditch its "hip" image and go for the natural and coifed and clean look, they would lose the clientele that wants to look "hip", "edgy" and "trendy". In fact, they would be no different from other make up brands like chanel, dior, lancome etc where the emphasis is natural and flawless looking skin rather than on colors.

What attracted to me to M.A.C was the hippy image it gave me (the MAs and the postcards/posters).

Every cosmetic brand has its own target market. And M.A.C's target market is probably people who love experimenting with colors and make up, regardless of age, gender, sex and race.

The opportunity cost of M.A.C differentiating itself greatly from others is the lost of a certain clientele. But, I feel that the benefits outweights the costs. And they have done a great job in trying to satisy everyone's needs/preferences by releasing various collections - Some with bold colors, Some with natural nude colors.

How many make up brands have fans like M.A.C that are always waitin for them to release their next collection and even have a dedicated forum jus for the discussion of their cosmetics?

Just my one cents worth.

 

[frankenstain]

Of course I'm no expert but I'd agree with drugstore brands.

In all honesty my favorite makeup brand is Maybelline. It does the job well and is priced around $8 compared to, say, L'Oreal which is $12. Which isn't as good IMO.

As for *quality* Make Up For Ever wins. Its a few more dollars but the pigmentation is unreal.

 

[Sabrunka]

I would say Nars, Too Faced or Smashbox (similar to other answers) they tend to have similar items with fun lovin' names and colours, whereas many other cosmetic brands just stick to the basics.

 

[GlamYOURUs]

I would say Nars to be the biggest and than Smashbox but then again SB is on a whole other level.

 

[miss_emc]

In Australia, MAC's main competitor is Napoleon Perdis cosmetics, an Australian brand. Two brands which are relatively new to Australia, The Makeup Store and Inglot Cosmetics are also seen as a bit of new competition. I've had customers tell me they have big colour ranges just like MAC and the packaging is similar.

The main difference between MAC and other brands is A) the colour/texture range B) the simple packaging C) the amount of sponsorship deals MAC gets for worldwide fashion weeks/photo shoots/tv shows etc which really portrays it as a 'professional' brand.

I also think that because it isn't as cheap as drugstore brands, but isn't as expensive as high-end department store brands, the product seems like you are getting good quality product and not paying lots for fancy packaging (ie. likes of Dior, YSL etc..).

I think there will be lots of brands that will try to build their reputation to a MAC standard, but i doubt anyone will go above and beyond. I think there are bits and pieces of lots of different brands which have great products, some even better than MAC's, but as a whole, MAC's range is one that i personally think cannot be replaced from another brand.

 

[Rubiez]

Personally, I think MAC is becoming much more popular because of the newer generation teens who has more access to these stores/brands than before.

 

[anjelik_dreamin]

I'm going to say Inglot.

 

[MsCocoa]

I agree with the low end brands because of the get the look for the less theory, all other department stores mainly target different audiences; while they may have nice eyeshadows (NARS), good lipglosses (Lancome), popular mascara's (Lancome/Dior)...the whole hype around MAC sets them apart.

 

[chocolategoddes]

I think if we were to listen in on some corporate MAC meeting the head cheif would say, " Yo, that Urban Decay is our biggest competition."
They have great quality stuff and bright edgy colors. The style is very artsy and fun. Just like MAC. The two brands appeal to the same demographic, therefore they are competitors.

 

[COBI]

My perception of Urban Decay is that product line as it stands today is way too limited to be a real competition for MAC. Sure, some people will add some UD to their kits/bags, but it would hard to maintain as comprehensive a kit with UD as you can with MAC.

But that's just my opinion, and probably a big difference is which MAC audience you are considering: the average consumer or the MA?

 

[S.S.BlackOrchid]

I'd go with L'oreal. Their HiP line is definitely trying to compete with MAC, or at least steal a few MAC customers. I'd also think MUFE, because of their range of colours.

 

[MACJunkie57]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katja Every makeup company OTHER than MAC. I would honestly say any drugstore brand because there's a lot of young consumers out there that aren't makeup savvy, and they usually start out with the least expensive makeup first. I have a bathroom book located in my (bathroom) that states the 2005 top 10 makeup brands. MAC isn't on the list.

Wow, seriously? I really would have expected it to be top of the list!

 

[amethyst_star]

MAC seems to have many competitors, from the make-up artist lines like Smashbox, MUFE and Nars, to the more popular dept store lines like Clinique and Lancome which are widely available. I think that I read somewhere that Clinique another EL brand sells more products globally than MAC because of GWP events, Clinique appeals to many age groups and is widely available at almost every dept store in the U.S. Canada and other countries.

 

[.VivaDiva.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkwater_soul Heads up - EL doesn't own Loreal, Lancome does.

No actually Loreal owns Lancome.

I would say MUFE, NARS and UD

 

[bittersweet-bea]

First off, I really don't think places like Bobbi Brown count. They're not competition, they're teammates. Half their formulas are identical. The only real difference is range and target demographics.
I suppose I'll go with typical answers here like NARS, Urban Decay, Smashbox.. But its tough. If we're speaking overall sales, obviously there's only a handful with the MARKETING to compete with MAC. But if you get into their biggest competition QUALITY wise... hahaha.
Someone mentioned how MAC wasn't on the top ten costmetics list? That's probably because it wasn't going by sales.
Seriously MAC fanatics. Walk around your mall and have a colour swatch day like I did. By the end of the day, I had tried on my arm, Two Faced, MAC, Inglot, NARS, Lancome, MUFE, Christian Dior, Smashbox, and a few others.

By the time I left the mall, the only ones on my arm were MUFE, Inglot, one from Two Faced, and a bit of Red Earth. MAC swatches had faded before I had even left that store.

There are very few companies that have EVERYTHING-- right now the only one that comes to mind is MUFE with Inglot as a close second-- and any makeup artist, or even makeup fanatic, with half a brain would NEVER base an entire kit on one company

MAC has its highlight hits, just like every other company, but is FAR from the be all and end all of cosmetics.

 

[BenefitAddict]

Smashbox or Make Up For Ever.

 

[panda0410]

I'm not sure about global competition but on a local level here its Lancome. MAC is just too hard to get for the people in my area and they wont surf ebay or look for cp buddies, some of them just dont trust the postal system and many wont order online. One way or the other in my area at least Lancome in the killer! Dior & Chanel are both seen as a brands for older women where I am so they arent generally in the running for the 18-45 bracket, and NARS is not available here either online or from a counter (except in metro locations). Lancome has some great colour ranges and their products are good, I often see plenty of young girls hanging about the Lancome counter. Estee Lauder is up there too - here its primarily because of availability though. In the low end brands Revlon, Rimmel and Maybelline - and I have to say that some of these items are on par in price with MAC. I saw a Revlon blush for $35AU and nearly died....

 

[KikiB]

I would probably say that in this area, Bare Escentuals and MAC are the top two brands. Pretty much everybody who I know uses one of those two. Lancome, EL, and Clinique are also on the bigger side. Smashbox is well known as is Urban Decay but a lot of people don't have those. Figure 9 of 10 people have never heard of MUFE. I am talking about total sales, based on what I see people buying. As far as products, I think Urban Decay for the shadows and liners, Clinique or Lancome for lips, and more people use Bare Escentuals than any other brand in this area. Every single girl it seems has used BE (except me) at my store.

kokometro-VS makeup does not seem to be doing terribly great. It is good stuff but I would say it is not comparable to MAC.