More skin in the game

Facing stagnant sales of household mainstays from diapers to detergent, the world’s biggest consumerproducts companies are trying to crack the lucrative market for influencer-pitched, millennial- approved skin-care products.

Household-goods makers such as Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever have begun snapping up skin-care startups selling pricey creams, serums and lotions — long the domain of beauty companies — while relying on Instagram and Sephora, a US beauty chain, to drive sales instead of drugstores and shopping malls.

Colgate said July 11 it would pay $1.7 billion for Filorga, a luxury French skin-care line. Last year, P&G bought two high-end skin-care companies, First Aid Beauty and Snowberry, for millions of dollars.

In the past two years, consumer-products companies acquired nearly a dozen skin-care brands, far more activity than in previous years, according to Dealogic.

Drunk Elephant, a skincare startup that touts limited ingredients, is considering a sale and has drawn interest mostly from consumer-products companies, said people familiar with the matter.

Makers of household goods are striking such deals partly because they are being squeezed by both demographic and competitive pressures.

Americans are having fewer babies and households are shrinking, denting demand for staples to such a degree that consumer-products companies haven’t returned to pre-recession sales growth.