The metrosexual revolution is upon us - Blade wars: shaving report

DSN Retailing Today, March 8, 2004

Men's brewing interest in personal grooming marks the return of male vanity, predicts trend forecaster David Wolfe of The Doneger Group, pointing to the success of the television program "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" to support his high-maintenance male hypothesis.

Men's collective embrace of vanity spells good news for the beauty industry. In fact, the male grooming business is growing at a faster clip than the mainstream beauty industry. Retail sales of men's skin care products alone have nearly tripled in the last 10 years, according to market research firm Kline & Company.

Last year, the category, which includes men's shaving, aftershaves and face care, totaled $300 million (excluding Wal-Mart), according to ACNeilsen data as provided by Beiersdorf, the maker of Nivea for Men.

"Men are now feeling some of the pressure to look good and meet a physical ideal that women have felt for a long time," said Lenka Contreras, director of consumer products practice at Kline & Company.

By now, beauty merchants can recite the definition of a metrosexual male and are well aware of men's growing self-awareness. And while buyers with stores dotting middle America may have only identified pockets of metrosexual consumers, this new approach to grooming--cultivated by these sophisticated urban male consumers in touch with their feminine side--has begun to sway average joes, said Wolfe.

Marketers have responded to the Renaissance of meticulously groomed men with lines that broaden the category well past razors and shaving creams to neighboring aisles such as hair care and skin care.

"The recent influx of new products shows that marketers are finally taking a chance in this underexploited segment," said Contreras.

Using skin care as a launching pad, brands such as the recently repositioned Old Spice, Pierre Cardin, Adidas Active Skincare and Suave For Men have joined category trailblazers Nivea For Men and Neutrogena for Men on the skin care shelf. Other companies, namely L'Oreal with Feria for Men and Clairol with Natural Instincts for Men and Men's Choice, have entered the scene through hair care. In addition, Clairol is adding a men's SKU to its Herbal Essences Lightening Kit, which launched last year and features a young man on its package.

Similarly, L'Oreal beefed up its presence in the men's category by extending its VIVE brand to men with the launch of VIVE for Men last January. The line addresses men's top hair care concerns, particularly thinning hair and dandruff, according to the 2003 Gallup study on men's grooming habits. L'Oreal will position VIVE for Men--which features Regenium XY technology with ceramide-R--as a system with five products that when used in a regimen will thicken and fortify hair from root to tip. VIVE for Men is available in three shampoos: Thickening, 2-in-1 and Anti-Dandruff; and two styling products, namely Thickening & Grooming foam and gel. The suggested retail price is 3.69 each.

To date, L'Oreal has steered clear of men's skin care, though some beauty buyers contend it would be a logical next move for the company.

While marketers aim to make more inroads to the category, chain drug stores are still wrestling with how to incorporate men's grooming, which scatters across several different store aisles.

"The men's grooming category is not being given any space or attention. It's sandwiched in with deodorants or with hair dyes," Wolfe said, adding that the men's set typically lacks signage.

Chain drug stores, which continually look for ways to bring more men into their stores, have been more agile than mass retailers in creating a destination for men's grooming.

After seeing double-digit growth in the men's category, CVS will increase shelf space for men's grooming this year, spokesman Todd Andrews said.

In fact, CVS inked a two-year exclusive deal with King of Shaves to bring the supplier's new skin care line for men called XCD (which includes three items, XCD:Enhance, XCD:Camouflage and XCD:Defend) to its U.S. stores. CVS launched XCD through an endcap program in 2,500 stores in December. The line, originally developed as a three-year exclusive for United Kingdom retailer Boots The Chemists, includes Improver Tinted Moisturizer, Enhancer Self Tan Facial Moisturizer and Defender Facial Moisturizer.

CVS will follow that launch by rolling out King of Shaves shave lotions to 4,100 stores this month. (See complete story above.)

Eckerd, eyeing men's grooming as a viable growth opportunity, is clearing space along its implements and grooming tools wall for a new men's collection Tweezerman Men, which includes, among other tools, moustache scissors and a nose hair trimmer.

"Men are increasingly concerned with how they look" said Art Malen, vp of marketing for Tweezerman. "After researching the needs of today's men, Tweezerman recognized a niche in the personal care industry that needed to be filled. We anticipate Tweezerman Men will fill this niche and provide men with high-quality grooming tools." The mass line, which hits stores this month, follows on the heels of His Tweezerman, a similar men's collection developed for specialty and department stores.