Licensing cleans up in kids' toiletries - health and beauty care products for children

Discount Store News, Nov 4, 1996 by Dawn Wilensky

NATIONWIDE DSN REPORT -- Retailers trying to attract younger consumers to health and beauty care products must use a variety of tactics to get their attention.

Perhaps none has proved so durable in attracting the younger set (kids aged 3 to 8) as licensed toiletries. Bubble bath, shampoo and conditioner and other H&BC products are using licensed characters to make kids' favorite characters a part of their baths.

Overall, children's toiletries generated $83 million in sales in 1995, up 14% over the previous year, according to Packaged Facts, a New York-based research company. These numbers did not include sales of Disney Bathtime Buddies, a very successful line debuted last year by Johnson & Johnson.

The Disney line has a major presence at all discounters and is merchandised alongside other bubble bath products like Mr.Bubble, Tsamura International's Kid Care line and Minnetonka Brand's Snoopy Naturals, which has extended beyond its core sun care line to include shampoo, hair detangler, hand and body wash, bath foam and bubble bath.

Furthermore, Minnetonka Brands is focusing its attention on evergreen licenses like Looney Tunes and Sesame Street and upcoming one like Space Jam. The licenses will be applied to a line that includes everything from products with head toppers to collectible character bottles to 3D bottles with moving parts.

"The key to success is to have innovative products that showcase a popular license and take a standard product like a bubble bath or shampoo and put a twist on it with fun packaging," said Linda Coppolino, director of marketing at Cosrich.

Cosrich has held true to this credo with a line-up of products like a locker bag, sports drink bottle and sack pack filled with shampoo, bubble bath, combs, mirrors and brushes from licenses like The Mighty Ducks, Casper, Mickey Stuff for Kids, Aladdin and Cinderella.

Tsamura, too, believes in the power of licenses and looks to movie- and TV-related characters like 101 Dalmatians with a line that includes bubble bath, bandages, lip balms, gift sets with combs and brushes, bath mitts and travel/grooming accessories. Rugrats will be its focus in 1997.

Despite the flood of products, however, some retailers have yet to fully mine the category. This might be changing though as some are considering creating a separate children's set that would extend beyond traditional bath products to include bandages, toothpaste, plush animals and other children's products, much like Target has done over the past few years.

At its Greatland stores, Target breaks out a separate 4-ft. section in its H&BC department devoted to youth products, and it also has a variety of gifts sets targeted to "tweens" from ages 8 to 12 with a program from Bonne Bell.

Besides selling products, Target often wants a part in products development, and it teamed up with Burlington Toiletries, based in Chicago, on a store brand called Jungle Fun. The line is characterized by colorful graphics and innovative products such as foam bath, bubbled bath and glitter foam bath in various flavors.

As kids mature, so do their tastes and desires for more authentic cosmetic products.

jane Cosmetics, a two-year-old brand by Sassaby Cosmetics, got the attention of consumers over 16 with a unique merchandiser that carries the full line of color cosmetics, all at a single price point.

Retailers across the board have embraced the brand, along with Bonne Bell, hoping to reach into the pockets of today's youth, who have more disposable income than ever before.