Men's grooming moves from metrosexual to average Joe

Drug Store News, March 1, 2004 by Molly Prior

Vanity isn't just for women anymore. In fact, modern-day men have a vanity's worth of personal care products in their medicine cabinets. Men's brewing interest in personal grooming spells good news for the beauty industry. In fact, the male grooming industry is growing at a taster 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 & Co.

Last year, the category, which includes men s shaving, after-shaves and face care, totaled $300 million--excluding Wal-Mart--according to ACNielsen data provided through 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 & Co.

By now, beauty merchants can recite the definition of a metrosexual man and are well aware of men's growing self awareness. And while buyers with stores dotting middle America may have identified only pockets of metrosexual consumers, the approach to grooming cultivated by these sophisticated urban male consumers in touch with their feminine side has begun to influence average Joes, said trend forecaster David Wolfe of the Doneger Group. "It's the return of male vanity, he added, pointing to the success of the TV program Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

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

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

Using skin care as a launching pad, such brands as the recently repositioned Old Spice, Pierre Cardin, Adidas Active Skincare and Suave For Men have joined category trail-blazers Nivea For Men and Neutrogena for Men on the skin care shelf. Other companies, namely-L'Oreal with its Feria for Men and Clairol with its Natural Instincts for Men and Men's Choice, have entered the category through hair care. Clairol also is adding a men's SKU to its Herbal Essences Highlighting 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 in January. The line addresses men's top hair care concerns, namely 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 consisting of five products that, when used in a regimen, 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 and grooming foam and gel. The suggested retail price is $3.69 each.

To date, L'Oreal has steered clear of men's skin care, although several 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 aisles in the store.

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

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

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 concepts, 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.

Eckerd, with an eye on 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, vice president 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.