Styling aids, all-in-ones give hair care category a boost

Drug Store News,  August 20, 1990  

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Styling aids, all-in-ones give hair care category a boost

Although the hair care category is mature, with consumption of shampoos and conditioners at saturation, chain drug hair care buyers and merchandisers report they see growth in select segments, specifically styling aids (especially spritzes), all in one products (especially Pert Plus), shine enhancing products, hair color, value-priced brands and premium-priced prestige and salon brands.

Most chains say their shampoo/conditioner sales are up moderately in dollar sales, helped by the growth in popularity of premium-priced and professional salon lines.

Deep discount chains, such as Detroit-based F&M and Cincinnati-based Drug Emporium, are enjoying stronger growth with some sources reporting dollar sales gains of 8 percent or better in this segment, and unit sales increases in the low single digits.

The spritz segment is up in excess of 10 percent in dollars for many of the traditional chains, and up in excess of 25 percent for some deep discount chains.

All-in-one products like P&G's Pert Plus are doing "fabulously," with every buyer interviewed reporting strong growth in this area. Pert Plus, of course, was also helped by its recent high rating in a Consumer Reports article on hair care products.

At one of the Top Five Highest Volume drug chains, the merchandiser in charge of toiletries says their strongest growth right now is coming from Pert Plus, which seems, with its success, to have launched a whole new segment of hair care products: all-in-one shampoo conditioners.

Like the majority of buyers polled, this source feels that both the new Vidal Sassoon Ultra Care line and Revlon's new Flex & Go shampoo/conditioners will also do well when they debut later this year, simply because there is such a demand for this type of convenience product.

Strength in pro lines

This chain also reports that its sales of professional hair care products like Aussie, All Set, TRESemme and others are also increasing at an above-average rate.

The toiletry director for another very high volume drug chain also confirmed that "Styling and professional products are where it's happening for us."

"Our shampoos and conditioners are up about 5 percent in dollars because of the success of the premium and professional brands, but in units, we're basically flat.

"Styling, however, is up almost in double-digit rates and it's because of all the new entries in the category. Our professional lines are up four times as much as the regular shampoos and conditioners."

Many chains continue to enlarge their sets for prestige and salon brands such as Redmond's Aussie, TRESemme, All Set and others. They are also reporting good movements on lines relatively new to this category, such as New Zealand, Faust and CitreShine.

At Douglas Drug in Rhode Island, hair care buyer Steve Dubin said professional lines are doing so well that Douglas has now authorized 8-foot and 12-foot sets for all 16 of its stores. "It's a strong growth area for us," Dubin said, "but we need to give it more space to make it stand out more."

Dubin also reported that he was getting an excellent response from High Volume. "It's moving very well," he said, "I think consumers may like the fact that the line has one price for each item and that everything comes in 16 ounces."

This year, under Playtex's new management, La Coupe is making the transition from the professional planogram to the premium priced mass planogram.

At press time, many buyers were making that switch and most thought the added exposure from being in the higher traffic mass planogram could create additional sales for La Coupe, especially if Playtex, which recently acquired the licensing rights to La Coupe, spends enough money to support it.

Several buyers told us that the new trial-size bottles of La Coupe "flew" out of their stores.

Spray gels are the hottest growth segment at Bartell Drug, but hair care buyer Lisa Scott says that right now no one brand stands out above the herd.

In the hair color category, both L'Oreal's Preference and Clairol's Nice and Easy continue to be singled out as the top brands in this category, both showing superior growth.

Men's hair coloring is also doing well, especially Clairol's Option and Combe's Just For Men.

This year, the most dramatic launch in hair care is L'Oreal's debut of Colorvive, which at press time, was still shipping into the stores. L'Oreal, which spent $35 million in one year to launch Plenitude skin care, has targeted $17 million to support Colorvive, which is the first full line of hair care products formulated specifically for women who color their hair.

"The plan is great for Colorvive," says one toiletries director for a major chain. "Drug stores have the lion's share of hair color sales now, and this is a line that takes full advantage of our strength in that area."

This source also thinks the new Rave hair fixatives will do well, since shine is fast becoming an effective buzzword in selling hair care. "Products that promise that benefit on their package are starting to turn," he says.