Hair care is hot button in ethnic category

Drug Store News, August 2, 1999 by Andrea M. Grossman

Inarguably, the hottest category in personal and beauty care is hair care. Whether manufacturers are launching products to de-frizz, color, energize, volumize or maintain healthy locks, all year retailers have been expanding their planograms to accommodate the bevy of introductions.

Ethnic hair care is no exception.

According to research by Clairol, the African-American community spends more than $1.7 billion a year on general market and ethnic-specific hair care products. Those sales represent 30 percent of all hair care products sold in all classes of trade (food, drug, mass and barber/beauty supply shops, or B&Bs).

Data provided by Information Resources Inc., reveal that much of ethnic hair care's growth is occurring in the food, drug and mass channels. IRI numbers show that sales of ethnic hair care products in the three channels grew 4.3 percent to $260 million for the 52-week period ended May 23. According to manufacturer executives, sales growth of African-American SKUs by general market product makers is increasing, in some cases by approximately 10 percent, especially in the hair color segment.

But ethnic hair color makers have helped contribute to most of ethnic hair care's growth. Ethnic hair color Sales grew 11.7 percent to $27.1 million for the 52-week period ended May 23, according to IRI. These double-digit sales growth figures prove that hair color intros are hot across all markets-given that general market hair color sales exploded 12.3 percent for 1998.

For the rest of 1999, the ethnic hair color category shows no signs of slowing. Several new products targeting the African-American consumer are slated to hit drug store shelves later this year, some of which promise to strengthen the tooth-and-nail fight among ethnic-specific companies, whereas others look to fuel competition between ethnic companies and general market suppliers.

General market suppliers vs. ethnic-specific product makers

Though ethnic-specific brands, such as Dark & Lovely, dominate the percentage of hair color sales to African-Americans, the competition between ethnic-specific suppliers and general market makers looks to increase, putting pressure on ethnic brand suppliers to generate new products that will help them keep their customer.

"It used to be that we were competing against other ethnic brands, but with Feria introducing shades targeting the African-American woman, the competition has changed," said Curtiss Stancil, vice president of national accounts for Carson products.

"We've seen the success of the premium hair color market and it's growing at a rate of 12 percent to 15 percent. The ethnic consumer is contributing to this number," Stancil added. The success of premium-priced general market hair colors has tempted ethnic product makers to enter the market, too. Carson, ethnic's hair care leader, is the first ethnic company to do just that with the introduction of its new premium brand: Dark & Lovely Diva.

Last month, Carson's Dark & Lovely Diva began shipping to drug stores. By fall, the new brand will begin appearing in the general market hair care section, testing how loyal African-American consumers will be to an ethnic-specific brand vs. a general market player with African-American SKUs. The new brand, Stancil said, will be "like a shot in the arm" to Carson as the new brand's slick packaging, heavy promotional support and efficacious gray coverage attempts to lure customers away from general market competitors. And though the new premium price of $7.99 may startle some shoppers at first, Diva will out-price premium general market players who have introduced African-American SKUs at much higher price points.

Bow to the diva

"Success in other brands' ethnic shades prove that consumers will pay as much as $10," Stancil said.

Diva consists of eight SKUs that utilize a cream formulation rather than a liquid, another first for Dark & Lovely. Carson stepped out of the box concerning packaging, too. For starters, tri-lingual copy appears on boxes, which are adorned with three-quarter body shots of models. Typically, head shots are used on hair color containers. Different hairstyles also are used on the packages, including natural styles, which Stancil said accounts for 23 percent of hairstyles worn by African-Americans.

"Hair is still emphasized on the box, but we wanted to include the woman's body because that's where the fashion element comes in, and nowadays, hair color is driven by fashion," Stancil observed.

Supporting the brand leaves Carson with many opportunities, but no plans had been released at press time.

General market players enter ethnic category

Another new introduction from a general market supplier also is heating up the category. Clairol, hair care's leader, is introducing a full line of hair care products--hair color, shampoo, conditioner, relaxers, styling gel, hairdresses and oil shiners-under the Textures & Tones brand. Jolorie Williams, senior marketing manager for Texture & Tones, said the new entry by Clairol looks to lure customers from their traditional ethnic brands. Williams said that by enlisting the help of seven salon professionals to develop a formula, offering a moderate price point of $4.99 and having the help of an entire line of products with the same brand name, Texture & Tones will be one tough competitor. The brand also could create a new customer base.