Men Moving From "Gateway" To Harder Grooming Products, Analysts Say

Men worldwide are not just purchasing more grooming products - they are increasingly opting for grooming products positioned specifically for them, according to a new report.

Approximately one-third of the $61 billion in grooming products used by men are aimed at men exclusively, says market intelligence firm Packaged Facts.

In five years, the firm expects the global market for male-consumed products to reach $85 billion - $28 billion of that from male-specific products.

"I think the whole men's grooming market is a hot market to enter because of its growth rates," Senior Analyst Timothy Dowd told "The Rose Sheet" Oct. 19.

According to market research firm Mintel, 3,600 men's personal-care products launched in 2008, about 500 of them in the U.S. - up from 375 in 2007 (¹ (Also see "Male Personal Care Up Worldwide, But American Men Hesitant About Makeup" - HBW Insight, 5 Jan, 2009.)).

Driving the market's expansion around the world are sophisticated marketing campaigns, the appeal of natural and organic products, technology such as the Internet providing firms with greater access to new customer bases, and the rise of the global middle class, Packaged Facts says.

Dowd pointed to Unilever's top-selling Axe franchise as the prime example of a brand successfully targeted to men.

The firm has used "crude, even dirty" humor to sell deodorants, body spray, shower gels and hair products - and it has worked, he said.

"You get some charming spots, some sexy spots, some real gross-out spots too. And humor, frat boy humor especially, has been a way to reach younger men," he noted.

Procter & Gamble followed suit, repositioning Old Spice along similar lines with Old Spice High Endurance , and Gillette's TAG body spray launched in 2005 with "less crude but still highly sexual comic television spots," Dowd said.

"Men think about [sex] all the time; it's an obvious position in advertising," he said.

In July Henkel's Dial unit launched Dial for Men Magnetic body wash containing a pheromone said to help attract the opposite sex (² (Also see "Henkel Courts Young Men Chasing Women With Dial For Men Magnetic" - HBW Insight, 13 Jul, 2009.)).

An Excuse To Linger

Shaving products are the most common male-specific items purchased, according to Dowd.

"It's kind of men's gateway, their excuse for lingering in the [health and beauty] aisle," he said. "Different products are extended from basic shave items such as shave cream, aftershave and so on, so that you have shave balms and post-shave skincare preparations, and from there it's a pretty short step to other skin-care products such as moisturizer."

The skin-care category is the smallest among the grooming segments analyzed in the report, which also covers bath products, deodorant, hair care and shaving items. "It's more the extreme" because few men use specialized products such as eye creams.

The next big wave of male-specific products will be shampoos and conditioners, Dowd predicted.

The natural and organic movement has drummed up men's interest and dollars, though natural/organic products tend to be unisex, the analyst said, citing Aubrey Organic's Men's Stock line as one exception.

Makeup for men has not quite taken off in the U.S. However, "there's a gateway to make it acceptable," starting with concealers for blemishes. "It will be interesting to see how the men's makeup category does," Dowd said.

Canadian brand 4VOO offers a full line of makeup for men. Products include Silk-Enriched Shine-Reduction Powder, Confidence Corrector, Lip Maximizing Serum, Silk-Enriched Face and Body Bronzer, Moisturizing Self-Tanner, Lash and Brow Styling Glaze, and Shape and Shine Nail Set. Products range in price online from $19 to $79.

Taxi Cosmetics' Manscara and Guyliner are available online and at Superdrug stores across the UK for approximately $12.50 and $15, respectively.

Men's cosmetics remain a niche but growing market in the U.S., according to Mintel. Fourteen color cosmetic products rolled out to American male consumers in 2008, compared with three in 2007 (³ (Also see "Male Personal Care Up Worldwide, But American Men Hesitant About Makeup" - HBW Insight, 5 Jan, 2009.)).

Gender Role Evolution

Industry marketers anticipated a "big explosion" in demand for male-specific grooming products starting in the 1960s, Dowd said.

"That was a decade in which everything was questioned, including personal care and so on," he said. "Now there was equality between the sexes and therefore [theoretically] men would use skin-care products like night cream - and it didn't happen."

Every few years products aimed at men would come on the market "that were supposed to spark or initiate a boom of some kind," Dowd said. But it was not until the turn of the century that the men's grooming market started to pick up pace.

According to Packaged Facts' Don Montuori, the men's grooming market in the 2000s "has become a steadily strong performer, in large part because marketers have finally assembled the essential keys to marketing to men, typically through humorous advertising that emphasizes the multi-functionality of products that work fast and efficiently."

Men also have begun shopping more at both mass and prestige retailers. While women still do the majority of household shopping in the U.S., men increasingly are taking on those duties, Dowd noted.

He cited National Marketing Institute data indicating that 20 percent of primary household shoppers were men in 2000, whereas in 2009 men make up one-third of primary shoppers.

This "very significant change" means that men are likely being exposed more to the personal-care aisles of stores, Dowd suggested. "If they find male-specific brands, they're maybe going to think about them" as a purchase, he said.

They also are more willing to splurge on brand names rather than private-label products, with half of men gravitating toward known brands versus 25 percent of women, according to Dowd.

In addition, many men are no longer intimidated by "pop-prestige" retailers such as Sephora.

Sephora was originally based on a gender-neutral, "universal positioning" of products, Dowd said, noting: "That gave men the chance to experiment with a lot of products without any stigma attached."

"Recently, Sephora's come around full circle, marketing and merchandising a whole wall of men's brands. That is a tremendous push in the market in this country," the analyst added.

High International Acceptance

Marketers of male grooming products may still have more success with men outside of the U.S., who have embraced grooming products more enthusiastically than their American counterparts, according to Dowd.

At least 94 percent of South Korean men use skin-care products, and while male-specific hair care is generally rare, "Japanese men have long been users of male-specific shampoos," he said.

In Russia and China, meanwhile, natural and organic men's grooming products are helping to drive sales in the personal-care segment overall.

Men's grooming is expected to be one of China's fastest-growing markets by 2013, according to Euromonitor Analyst Carrie Lennard (⁴ (Also see "Analysts Direct Burgeoning Brands To Personal-Care Hot Spots Abroad" - HBW Insight, 12 Oct, 2009.)). The adoption of Western ideas and the influence of male-oriented magazines such as FHM that often feature sections on grooming are driving interest in the country.

In developing countries, technology has advanced to bridge a preexisting marketing gap, Dowd noted.

"Small marketers in the most impoverished countries have access to the same technology we have access to," which they are using to reach out to new male consumers. That same technology "also enabl[es] international mega-corps to target some of the poorest nations on earth," he said.

- Lauren Nardella ( ⁵ [email protected] )