Consumers prefer wide array of H&BA brands - health and beauty aids at discount stores - Top Brands, part 2: Consumer Survey

Discount Store News, Oct 30, 1989

Consumers Prefer Wide Array of H & BA Brands

How's this for brand diversity in a product category? When asked to name their preferred brands in health & beauty aids, consumers polled in DSN's 1989 Consumer Top Brands Survey mentioned 76 different labels, 11 more than in last year's study.

Adding to the dizzying array of name H&BA labels with consumer-appeal are "other" brands that each elicited less than 0.3 percent of mentions from consumers. These "other" brands garnered a total of 40 percent of mentions in the category, more than double the number of mentions for the No. 1 brand, Crest.

Name brand H&BA products are very important to consumers.

In fact, 92 percent of all discount store shoppers polled said they have a brand preference when shopping for health and beauty aid products, among the most brand-conscious shoppers in a store.

The only merchandise categories to record greater response to the brand preference question are consumers of household cleaners and chemicals as well as photo and camera.

Among the specific discount chains, Wal-Mart shoppers are the most particular about brands in H&BA with 93.5 percent voicing a brand preference. K mart shoppers are the least brand-conscious, with 90.9 percent having said they have a preference.

Shoppers Prefer Crest

And the brand all the H&BA shoppers said they prefer most is Crest, last year's No. 1 label.

Crest was named as a preferred brand by nearly one-fifth (14.6 percent) the shoppers polled, up from 11.5 percent a year ago.

Colgate, while still in the No. 2 spot behind Crest, significantly improved its position, coming within one percentage point of Crest, an improvement from the 1988 survey.

Ivory grabbed the third rank on the consumer brands list this year. However, its mention rate declined among shoppers at Target and Ames/Zayre.

Ivory gained ground at K mart and to a greater extent, at Wal-Mart, where shoppers named the popular soap label nearly one-fifth of the time.

Overall, six H&BA brands remained on the top 10 survey list. The four new name brands include Gillette, Listerine, Dial, and Head & Shoulders, in fifth, sixth, eighth, and 10th positions, respectively.

They replaced Lever Brothers/Dove, Clairol, Kleenex, Charmin and Suave, which fell to 11th, 24th, 20th, 22nd, and 17th, respectively.

The most dramatic change on the top brands list is the four place jump recorded by Mennen, to fourth.

Mennen, in eighth place a year ago, owes its rise to across-the-board increases at all four discount chains.

  Table :            Consumer Brand Preference
                     In Health and Beauty Aids
             Discount                                   Ames/
Top Brands   Shoppers   K mart   Wal-Mart   Target      Zayre
Crest        14.6%      15.4%    18.3%      19.8%       12.5%
Colgate      13.6%      14.2     20.9        8.5        11.3
Ivory         9.4        8.3     13.9        7.5         3.8
Mennen        6.1        6.7      5.2        5.7         3.8
Gillete       5.8        5.4      6.1        5.7         5.0
Listerine     5.5        5.8      6.1        4.7         7.5

Johnson &

  Johnson     4.9        4.2      4.3        4.7         1.3
Dial          4.9        5.4      7.0        4.7         5.0
Revlon        4.5        4.6      4.3        2.8         3.8

Head &

 Shoulders    4.5        5.4      6.1        5.7         3.8
  Table :             Top Health & Beauty Aids Brands:
                        Store Managers vs. Shoppers
  Managers                                     Consumers
  Crest                                       Crest
  Colgate                                     Colgate
  Johnson & Johnson                           Ivory
  Listerine                                   Mennen
  Proctor & Gamble                            Gillette
  Suave                                       Listerine
  Clairol                                     Johnson & Johnson
  White Rain                                  Dial
  Scope                                       Revlon
  Ivory                                       Head & Shoulder

Top 10 rankings in each category are based on discount store managers' response to the question: `What are your best performing name and brands in (department)? and discount store consumers' response to the question: `If you were shopping for (product) in a discount department store, which brand of that product would you want?