It's all about 'new'.(facial)

Skin care is a category driven by new products, and no segment more so than facial. At least 1,000 skin care products have been introduced every year since 1999, more than 1,300 last year alone, according to Productscan Online and Marketing Intelligence Service Ltd. Skin care accounted for almost 13% of all new health and beauty products introduced in 2002.

Sorting through that avalanche of new skin care products is a major challenge for retailers, but it is one that can play an important role in determining how well a chain's skin care department will perform.

"It goes without saying that the major brands--the Olays, and the Neutrogenas and Johnson & Johnsons--are going to have strong representation in our product mix," says a health and beauty aids buyer for a West Coast supermarket and combination …