L'oreal in the U.S.

L'Oreal entered the US market soon after World War II. In 1953, formed licensee Cosmair Inc. to distribute its hair products to U.S. beauty salons. at first, Cosmair had 20 employees and was based in New Jersey. By 1963, Cosmair had $6 million U.S. sales but was facing several challenges new to L'Oreal. First, unlike in the European market, in the U.S. markets local middlemen rather than national distributors delivered to beauty shops, and L'Oreal had few if any relationships with such middlemen. Second, American hair salons and their customers were unfamiliar with L'Oreal brands and their quality, so they refused to accept selling L'Oreal products. Owen-Jones was believed to be the first senior manager who effectively promoted the idea that L'Oreal could become the largest beauty products firm in the United States. Following through on this idea meant overcoming difficulties. First, L'Oreal USA did not have much of U.S. presence, as its brands were managed individually through the licensee Cosmair. As one manager said "Being big in the States means you are big worldwide. If you do not have the States or Europe, you are nothing." Even Owen-Jones won in the battle with Estee Lauder for counter and shelf space in U.S. market, but still L'Oreal was at a significant disadvantage competing against U.S. leading beauty makers. In the professional division, Clairol was the leading U.S. hair color brand, with a 70 % share of the U.S. market. Even though hair coloring was L'Oreal's strength, one of the managers of the company said: "hair color was really the business that we were fighting to get in, but Clairol seemed unbeatable". Another manager added: In 1980, L'Oreal in the U.S. was a very small business in the professional salon segment. It actually just existed with L'Oreal brand, which is a mass-market brand. Being so small in the professional division was a big, big problem, because in