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SMOOTH ATTITUDES

Men are in the crosshairs of health and beauty care marketers. Once just the target for shaving product and other necessities, a wide array of body, skin and hair care products is being specifically made for men and they are selling, retailers and wholesalers told SN. These include items at the low and high ends of the price spectrum. Inexpensive spray-on colognes targeting young men are setting the

Men are in the crosshairs of health and beauty care marketers.

Once just the target for shaving product and other necessities, a wide array of body, skin and hair care products is being specifically made for men and they are selling, retailers and wholesalers told SN. These include items at the low and high ends of the price spectrum.

Inexpensive spray-on colognes targeting young men are setting the pace with aggressive advertising for this category expansion. The merchants are well aware that when these younger customers mature and have more disposable income, they will be ready to purchase better products at higher prices.

Meanwhile, shaving products, the old bastion of male HBC product marketing, are expanding their sales with higher-technology — and higher-priced — razors, as well as comprehensive shaving systems for facial care.

Like other areas of HBC that are featuring more upscale products, some see this as the manifestation of affordable luxury. Items like the Fusion razor may be expensive compared to past product generations, but give users a sensation that makes a chore, like shaving, more pleasurable, and therefore they are regarded as worth the extra cost. Going against the conventional wisdom of years past, supermarkets are discovering that they can sell such products, regardless of price point.

Many supermarket executives saw the acquisition of Gillette by Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, with P&G's marketing prowess and budget, as a signal that men's products are set for prolonged growth in the future.

“I think we will continue to see the category move up and away from just the basic men's grooming items to a higher level of product,” said Dan Spears, director, HBC/GM, Ingles Markets, Asheville, N.C., during a recent GMDC HBC conference.

“We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg,” said a nonfood executive with a Southeastern retailer. “There is plenty of potential there, but we haven't arrived.”

DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH

These trends are verified by numbers from the Strategic Planner of ACNielsen, Schaumburg, Ill. Dollar sales of men's cologne/lotion, which includes the low-priced sprays, were up 23.9% in supermarkets for the 52 weeks ending Oct. 7, with unit sales rising 45.3%. Non-disposable razors were up 12.6% in dollar sales and 11% in units, ACNielsen reported.

The improved razors, such as Fusion and Schick's newer versions of Quattro, boost the dollar ring for supermarkets, noted Larry Ishii, general manager, GM/HBC, Unified Western Grocers, Commerce, Calif. “The unit sales might not increase, but it puts more dollars in the till, and that is a positive thing.”

Reporting on “prestige” skin care products — the upscale lines usually sold in department stores — the NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y., provided more evidence for this development. NPD reported that prestige men's products grew 3% in the first half of 2006, outpacing the flat sales of women's skin care items.

“We're seeing sales in skin care items for men that we've never seen before. It really is a new category,” said Wayne Bryant, director of GM and HBC sourcing, American Sales Co., Lancaster, N.Y., a division of Ahold USA, Quincy, Mass.

“There's more space being devoted to that segment than we ever had before, and those price points are higher than what we were working with,” he said.

“There is a trend towards the reawakening of male grooming from a more cultural perspective,” said Michelle Barry, group vice president consumer insights and trends, the Hartman Group, Bellevue, Wash. “Not just men are purchasing these more specific personal care products but there is also a trend in men's female partners buying these products for them.”

The products for the genders are essentially the same, she said. “The difference between the men's and women's products is not so much in the ingredients, but the packaging, the naming and the color cues,” Barry said.

INFORMATION NEEDED

Continued growth of the men's HBC category will require more education by manufacturers about the products and their benefits, and more in-store efforts by retailers, sources said.

“For supermarkets merchandising men's HBC products, there would need to be focused effort to call this out as a specifically new category. To set it off as a new category may even require moving it out of the HBC aisle and getting it into other areas of stores where it might stand out,” Barry said.

However, men are comfortable shopping the shaving aisle, not the skin care section, noted Al Jones, senior vice president, procurement and merchandising, Imperial Distributors, Auburn, Mass. “Slowly, you are going to see men use more of that product and the stigma will go away. As the population ages — as men age — they are going to be more apt to buy and use that kind of product,” he said.

“Men today are looking for a section with their products,” said Mike Forrest, HBC category manager, Brookshire Bros., Lufkin, Texas. They are more aware of items like body lotions than they were in the past, he noted.

As an emerging category, “the supplier needs to figure out a way to market to the male consumer, and the retailer needs to find a way to establish a section that the male shopper will feel comfortable shopping in within the supermarket,” said the nonfood executive with a Southeastern retailer.

Besides simply separating it from women's products, or putting it with shaving items, “we need to look at other places in the store where that consumer frequents and shops, whether it's the beer aisle, the snack aisle or wherever,” he said.

“If the manufacturer did more education, and the men could be told that they can take the wrinkles away, I think the category could be bigger,” said Sue Vodika, HBC buyer, Bashas', Chandler, Ariz. However, she thinks so far the manufacturers have “dropped the ball” on this.

“Men's HBC still has a lot of room to grow,” said Diane Garber, president, In-Sight Communications, Buffalo Grove, Ill. “It skyrocketed and is on a plateau now, but another growth phase is coming if the manufacturers innovate correctly and send out clear and distinct messages about each product.”

With a major product introduction like Fusion behind them, retailers are quite optimistic about the future of grooming products.

“In men's grooming, we've had technology booms around the razor category and that trend will continue to trade customers up,” said Doug Schwab, director of health, beauty and personal care, Supervalu, Eden Prairie, Minn. “Therefore, a larger dollar ring, and solutions for taking care of yourself better, easier, quicker, cleaner, will continue.”

Gadgetry drives the category, said Christina Melillo, non-perishables merchandiser, Buehler's Food Markets, Wooster, Ohio. “The manufacturers are now aware that men are more concerned about how they look, and what they want to do, and they want the high-tech razors,” she said.
Additional reporting: Wendy Toth

A Luxurious Debate

While it is debatable whether the new razors do a better job than the old ones, they deliver a more enjoyable experience, said Sue Vodika, HBC buyer, Bashas', Chandler, Ariz. “That is a treat,” she said.

“I think it's a great luxury,” commented Sammy Snell, director, HBC/GM, W. Lee Flowers & Co., Lake City, S.C., although he said he's not sure it's worth the high price points.

However, Jack Serota, vice president, GM/HBC, Price Chopper Supermarkets, Schenectady, N.Y., said they just make a daily chore more tolerable. “It's a maintenance item for men. It's something that most men have to do every day and it's not a pleasantry. It's not something they look forward to doing in the morning. If they can spend a few more dollars and make it more tolerable, they are going to do it,” he said.

While consumers in the marketing areas of retailers served by Valu Merchandisers, Kansas City, Kan., have been slow to move to the upscale skin care products, they have accepted the new technology shaving systems, said Bill Martin, category manager. Even so, there are customers out there who are happy with what they've been using for years, he pointed out.

“Men are slow to change in our market, and we have an older clientele in a lot of the rural areas. We'll still sell the Schick injector blade that there's not a handle for anywhere. We're selling that quite well. So that just shows you how our consumer hangs onto that older technology and just doesn't change,” Martin said.
— D.A.