Estée Lauder To Eliminate Prescriptives

Estée Lauder will stop marketing its Prescriptives brand by Jan. 31, 2010. The brand plans to continue to sell online for United States shipping at www.prescriptives.com to help service consumers for replenishment of key products, while inventory lasts. Prescriptives products are currently sold in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.

According to industry expert and Happi columnist Suzanne Grayson, Grayson Associates, the irony of the demise of Prescriptives is that in its first life, it was before it’s time, and innovative—a serious skin care line with dermatological overtones.

“In those early times, it needed long and slow development. Its move into becoming a makeup company, to seek more aggressive growth, put it into an extremely competitive category, and just at the time when the prestige segment began its long-term loss of share—all without the heavy promotional tools of GPW, etc.,” she explained. “Credit to management, for acting like a private company, and staying with it so long.”

Estée Lauder maintains that its strategy is to evaluate, and where possible, turn around underperforming brands with the goal of improving return on investment. After a thorough analysis of the Prescriptives brand, management concluded that the brand’s long term business model is no longer viable given the current market environment. The company is committed to placing as many impacted employees as possible in open positions within the company.

“We believe that the difficult decision relating to Prescriptives will allow us to redirect our resources to key strategic imperatives where we see the highest growth potential,” said Fabrizio Freda, president and chief executive officer, The Estée Lauder Companies. “Ultimately this action allows us to focus on those areas which we expect to benefit the company, our shareholders and business partners. We intend to work closely with our retail partners and continue to communicate with our consumers to ensure a seamless transition.”