Multi-Benefit Products, Nail Care Succeeding With Value Shoppers
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Value-oriented shoppers in the U.S. are fueling the development of personal-care products that deliver multiple benefits, according to worldwide research and consulting firm Kline & Company
Value-oriented shoppers in the U.S. are fueling the development of personal-care products that deliver multiple benefits, according to worldwide research and consulting firm Kline & Company. While competitively priced items continue to win over shoppers, products in the skin, hair and nail categories that deliver more than one benefit - regardless of higher price points - are gaining in popularity, Kline notes in an April 7 release. The finding is one of numerous points uncovered in the firm's new report, "Cosmetics & Toiletries USA 2009," which examined 29 product categories across retail channels to assess consumer spending habits. Though multi-benefit products were already popular before the recession, economic conditions have only enhanced their appeal, with shoppers hoping the products will give them more bang for their buck, according to Kline's Director of Consumer Products Practice Carrie Mellage. During an April 8 interview with "The Rose Sheet," the exec noted that added features in products that are of particular interest to consumers include anti-aging benefits, such as skin firming and wrinkle reduction, as well as SPF, which is "included in a lot of things, from lip balm to shampoo." The "firmly held association [linking] the sun's rays with aging signs is motivating both skin-care and makeup marketers to add SPF specifications to their products," Kline said, noting the success of those products is taking dollars away from the sunscreen category. The hair-care category also is seeing benefits previously delivered in separate products - such as shine enhancement, smoothing and anti-frizz - being lumped together in one product, says Mellage. Even in nail care "there might be some multi-benefit things, like a base coat with color or top coat to simplify things," she observed. According to Mellage, the multi-benefit product trend in personal care runs counter to many other consumer markets in which consumers are hoping to "get back to basics" with simple, functional products developed without additional benefits that retail at lower prices. In other categories, such as laundry, "consumers don't want to pay top dollar for multi-benefits, they just want clean clothes," at a lower cost, Mellage said. The return to simpler laundry detergents can be seen in Procter & Gamble's launch of a stripped-down version of its Tide formula - Tide Basic, a detergent without added benefits. Nail Care, Not Lipstick, Shining In Recession Historically, market analysts have cited lipstick as an example of a "pampering" product that consumers continue to purchase even in slow economies, but the lipstick and lip gloss category declined by 5.3 percent in 2009, Kline found. Instead, nail products topped the list of best-performing cosmetic categories for the year, with retail sales to consumers (excluding salon sales) increasing 14.3 percent to $466 million. Strong sales of nail products at the retail sales level are attributed primarily to the fact that many consumers no longer have money to visit salons and instead are applying nail polish at home. Additionally, "if you look at runway shows in the last few years, the models have bare nails, but last year they were wearing nail polish again, re-attracting consumers who have left the category," Mellage said. Nail-care marketers also "responded well to consumer demand and focused on new launches, offering a wide range of new products to engage the recession-stricken consumer," Kline notes in its release. The fragrance market continues to struggle, owing to higher price points, overcrowding and the fact that consumers are purchasing fragrances less and less as gifts, according to Kline. "People are giving trendier gifts, like iPods ," Mellage said. Additionally, Mellage suggested that choice of fragrance is growing ever more personal, so shoppers are hesitant to give their loved ones scents as gifts. Those who still make gifts of fragrance are turning to innovative sampling packages that take some of the guess-work out of choosing scents for someone else, she said. Sephora sampling sets, for example, allow the buyer or recipient to try a number of scents before choosing one and purchasing a full-size bottle using a $50 gift voucher included with the set. The high-end fragrance market may also be affected by evolving consumer tastes for "customized" scents, or scents that they develop on their own through services such as Bloomingdale's custom fragrance bar, Mellage pointed out. She noted that market crowding is creating clear winners and losers, with celebrity fragrances on the decline. Many R&B and hip-hop-focused celebrity scents remain strong, such as Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's Rocawear brand and Usher brand, both marketed under Elizabeth Arden, but other celebrity fragrances have not fared as well, Mellage said. Additionally, many of the "classic" fragrances continue to perform well, as do those scents that have consistently been refreshed with flanker scents, she noted. Looking at the U.S. market overall, Kline reports that cosmetics and toiletries sales declined by 0.8 percent for the year, totaling $35.5 billion at the manufacturers' level. - Eileen Francis |