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Estee Lauder To Lure The Masses With C-Thru Scents

The Estée Lauder Cos. Aramis and Designer Fragrances division is taking its first direct step into the women's mass-market fragrance category with a trio of scents under the C-Thru moniker. The scents will launch as a set in Walmart this December, and roll out to Kohl's, Target and other mass retailers in January.

"Decades ago, news of a Walmart tie-up would have rattled the chandeliers in the company's Fifth Avenue headquarters," says WWD. "But now the move could be interpreted as merely reflecting the broad evolution in the market and at Lauder."

Caris & Company analyst Linda Bolton Weiser notes the firm's management has recently expressed concern that they are not able to bring enough of the company's fragrance portfolio down to the mass and masstige channels. Referring to the C-Thru concept, Weiser says: "It seems Lauder felt that it needed to expand distribution to grow into its current [fragrance] cost structure. To me, that's not the right answer. It is to cut the cost structure."

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