hat of the competitor products, but if it is not, then quality and appearance should be obviously superior); (2) the question of advertising. Advertising in Spain is expensive, as rates have been going steadily skyward since the war, and in order to keep down its cost it generally s better to have it concentrated on one region and gradually spreadng out as local demand becomes established. Most introducers of new products have started their advertising and distribution in Barelona or Madrid, preferring the former because the circulation of he Barcelona papers mentioned above as advertising media is limted mostly to the surrounding region, where the per capita purhasing power is high, and thus the advertising is concentrated where initial distribution is to be done. Barcelona is getting to be a little overworked in this respect, however, and the excessive rates and attitude assumed by the media there have driven many to attempt to get their first foothold in other regions of the country. Most of the successful foreign toilet specialties are handled in Spain by native agents, acting as exclusive importers; that is, who buy their stocks from the exporter on 30 to 60 days' credit and take care of credits themselves. In this line very little bottling or packing into containers is done in Spain by the agents receiving the product, or some of its ingredients, in bulk in order to save customs duties. The French perfumers are the only ones who have to any extent sent men of their own to Spain to establish "factories" or laboratories. There seems to be no reason why this plan should not be successful if adopted by American exporters, but no American exporter of a toilet specialty, in the strict sense of the word, has tried it yet. Its advisability will undoubtedly depend on the nature of the individual product. An idea has been given already of the competition to be met by American exporters entering this market with new toilet specialties. Apart from the line of perfumes, colognes, and toilet waters, there exist good opportunities here for the sale of new American specialties, if their exporters are willing to devote the necessary attention to this market and make a reasonable venture in undergoing initial sacrifice to build up a prestige for their products. After prestige is established, the agents will be willing to bear their part of the expenses for advertising and propaganda. In 1922 the Spanish system of customs classification was made more elaborate, but no figures were given for countries of origin. Imports for this year were as follows: Perfumery and toilet specialties containing alcohol_ Perfumed toilet soaps--- Medicinal soaps_ Essences employed in perfumery containing alcohol Total imports of perfumery and toilet specialties... EXPORTS OF PERFUMERY AND ESSENCES Kilos 22,797 87.504 45,274 37, 741 2,091 2.686 32.633 2,076 232, 892 NOTE.-Countries were not listed for 1922 and 1923; total exports were 491,535 kilos and 443,520 kilos respectively. No official statistics at all have been published for the year 1923, but according to the semiofficial Fomento del Trabajo Nacional, of Barcelona, Spain's total imports of perfumery and toilet specialties for this year amounted to 315.678 kilograms. The 1923 imports of toilet soap (scented and unscented) from France amounted to 17 tons and from England 19 tons. Nearly all this British soap was Pear's, which has been highly esteemed in Spain for many years. FRANCE David S. Green, Assistant Trade Commissioner French manufacturers of toilet articles, especially perfumery, have supplied world markets for so long that they are inclined to claim that the terms "high-grade perfumes " and " French perfume have become synonymous almost everywhere. They are able to support this claim by the fact that the local manufacturers keep a staf of lawyers quite busy prosecuting foreign perfumers who have seen fit to camouflage their product to give it the appearance of coming from France. It is estimated that during recent years over 75 per cent of the annual output of French perfume manufacturers is exported. Applying this proportion to official figures on exportation of perfumery. one secures an estimate of approximately 300,000,000 francs for the value of the output of French manufacturers of perfume during the year 1923. Applying the same proportion to export figures during the two previous years, it would indicate that the total production in France was valued at about 180,000,000 francs in 1922 and somewhat over 120,000,000 francs in 1921. In view of the important increase which took place in prices, particularly of such de luxe articles as perfumery, during the year 1923, it is possible to gauge the volume of production during that year at about 20 per cent greater than that of the year previous and about 35 per cent greater than that of 1921. The French claim to supremacy does not stop at perfume, but extends also to soaps, eosmetics, and other cleansing and beautifying preparations. The perfumery business is now said to be back to a more or less normal status, after a period of several unusually profitable years just before and after the close of the war. Sales to American and South American markets were extremely good during war years and were also unusually large locally when perfume and other toilet preparations returned to general favor after the war. This recent return to normalcy has resulted in the withdrawal of a host of small manufacturers who set up a business in the boom years but who were unable to compete with their larger competitors when supply overtook and passed demand. Synthetic perfumery is being made in France in ever-growing quantities, but is not coming into popular use within the country. Most of it is exported to markets in Africa and South America, where the consumers buy it for its French name in ignorance of its synthetic character. French firms which built up an international reputation through their brands of perfumery are also able to interest their clientele in other articles of their manufacture, including cosmetics, hygienic preparations, and powders. While there are no official figures available, it is certain that the export of these last-mentioned preparations is increasing steadily. USE OF TOILET PREPARATIONS While the French do not go to the extreme in the use of perfumes and other toilet preparations as do certain races in Africa and South America, still the per capita consumption is easily double what it is in the United States. This may be explained partly by the fact that men in France, and particularly in Paris, use perfumery and other toilet preparations very liberally. This custom has never gone out of vogue since French prerevolutionary days, when court dandies vied with the ladies in the use of artificial aids to beauty. French men are profuse users of Cologne water and other perfumes and consume a bottle in an amazingly short period of time. Other continental countries of Europe have apparently made no effort to challenge French supremacy in the manufacture of toilet preparations, and there are no foreign brands offered for general sale in France except a few brands popular in Great Britain and the United States and carried in French retail shops to meet the demands of British and American clients. Most drug stores in the English and American districts of Paris and in the French resorts frequented by nationals of those countries report fairly good sales of these foreign products but practically no sales to the French themselves. Toilet preparations are sold in France by pharmacies, department stores, and barber shops. Such articles as tooth paste, shaving cream. toothbrushes, and soaps are sold mainly by drug stores, but the barber shops, beauty parlors, etc., do a good business in these articles as well as in perfumes, toilet water, etc., although their prices are generally at least 15 per cent greater than those charged by the pharmacies. Sales of department stores are confined largely to the cheaper grades of all toilet articles. Coiffeur establishments in Paris and in the principal French resorts all seem to be doing a thriving business. It is estimated that in Paris alone there are 15,000 of these establishments. Beauty par lors are said to number about 100 in entire France, and these are located mostly along the Champs Elysees or in other expensive shopping districts of Paris. Chiropodists have a very limited clientele and are said to number hardly over 25. Very few clients escape from a French coiffeur establishment without reeking of some wellknown perfume applied on top of the barber's own special treatment for dandruff, falling hair, etc. Contrary to the practice in the United States, the French barber does not apply a nationally known treatment for these ailments, but one bearing his own name and purporting to have especially astounding effects. It is a very mediocre barber who can not produce his own remedy for these varied ailments, and the usual objection voiced by the client is not sufficient to deter him from his purpose: While the hair cut itself costs generally only 3 francs and a shave only 1 franc (now approximately 512 cents) the average sum eventually left with the proprietor is not far from 10 francs. This practice of barbers in filling their shops with preparations bearing their own name, of course, limits the market for American preparations, which their manufacturers insist on selling with their own label attached. It is no great detriment, however, to the sale of these products by local manufacturers, for the latter almost always agree to allow the barber to remove the original label and affix his own. In view of the prediliction of the French for leaving a mild trail of perfume, it is only natural that the best sale of soaps should be those scented. The sale of transparent soaps is only fair. The most popular type is the large round cake, either cream colored or tinted in rose or pink. They have refused consistently to go in for the use of mud as a complexion improver and regard its use as a queer whim of the Americans. The only toilet preparations with which the local manufacturers meet with any important foreign competition locally are shaving creams and tooth paste. The shaving stick came into quite common use during and just after the war, but is now falling off very fast in popularity. Several brands of American shaving cream and tooth paste are selling fairly well in France, but the purchasers are limited almost entirely to American residents or tourists. For several years following 1917 the English brand "Erasmic" shaving stick, creams, and tooth paste sold very well in France, but this was largely on account of the fact that a large shipment was received in France just before the Government placed a prohibition on the import of these articles and was consequently available when other brands were not. During the past year, however, the sale of this brand has fallen off to almost nothing. FOREIGN TRADE IN TOILET PREPARATIONS The only toilet preparations on which foreign trade data are available are the two which are listed separately in the French customs figures these are perfumery and soaps. Figures covering both the export and import of these items are given in the following tables and reveal the negligible volume of their import as compared with their export: IMPORTS [Figures for 1923 show quantities in gross weight, other years are net weight] |