Styling aids give consumers on a budget versatility in hair care

Drug Store News, March 25, 2002 by Liz Parks

Although the overall hair care category is virtually flat for most mass market retailers, retail buyers and manufacturers report there is still growth in some key segments, such as styling aids, hair color and premium-priced, salon-inspired shampoos and conditioners.

For the most part, business is flat for Southgate, Calif.-based Big A Drug stores, executive vice president Tim Ziemke told Drug Store News early this month. Still, there remains spot areas of growth in the category for the Big A chain, which includes 15 Drug Emporium discount drug stores. Hair appliances and hair accessories, in particular, offerings from "Goody, ConAir and Helen of Troy are all ... doing well for us."

Styling aids, such as gels and mousses, play into the same idea, Ziemke explained, providing customers with the tools they need to achieve the salon styles they desire in their own homes. Given the general trend in beauty care whereby women are more frequently substituting trips to the salon with products that enable them to do it themselves, this would seem to make a lot of sense. But according to Ziemke, much of this activity is being generated by younger consumers whose discretionary income doesn't necessarily change significantly in times of economic recession. "We are attracting more young customers, and they are looking for styling aids and for appliances they can use to style and shape their hair," Ziemke noted.

But in most cases the growth in the category is coming from items at the higher- and lower-ends of the scale. Retailers say that the hair care business could certainly stand a lift from the mid-tier brands in the category. "Premium-priced brands such as Pantene, and value brands, such as Suave, White Rain and VO5, are all doing well for us," explained Roger Musil, the beauty care category manager for Snyder's Drug Stores. "It is the mid-priced brands that are slow. I'd like to see manufacturers do more to support their mid-priced products with bonus packs, price-offs, FSIs and other purchasing incentives."

Musil said that based on the strong growth that Snyder's is seeing in the premium-priced professional hair care segment in its Drug Emporium stores, there is a strong likelihood that they soon will create a 6 foot or 8 foot professional set for Snyder's stores.

"We're looking at that as well as maybe creating a section for low-priced knockoffs of professional hair care brands," he said.

Curtiss Stancil, vice president of sales for Wella Personal Care of North America, said that a number of retailers today are trying to build on the success of professional hair care brands by expanding their product mix to include general market brands with a salon-style image or heritage.

"Many retailers today are looking for hair care items with a professional look. That's a huge trend right now," said Stancil. To that end, the company will launch Vivality, a new collection of salon-inspired styling aids. (For more on Vivality, see Supplier Buzz.)

Big hair makes a big comeback

Within styling, one of the big growth areas, according to Procter & Gamble spokeswoman Kimberlee Vollbrecht, is for products that are "specifically designed to help achieve a look or style--for example, products that deliver more fullness and more body, products that deliver better curl definition, products that smooth and straighten hair and/or products that give protection against color fade."

The hair care business is as cyclical as hairstyles, and big hair is making a big comeback.

"What's currently in style now," said Ralph Blessing, the category director for Unilever's Suave brand, "is fuller-looking hair. Research has shown that consumers want volume and body."

And this is a trend that reaches beyond shampoo and conditioner, impacting other areas of the business-particularly styling aids, according to Shelley Saville, senior vice president of hair care for L'Oreal. "After being rather stagnant for a period of time, mousses are making a comeback--partly due to the style trend for more volume in the hair, [but] also because the younger consumer is discovering the versatility and appeal of mousse for the first time."

Blessing noted that consumers also are continuing to seek out and buy products enriched with "nature-inspired fragrances. That's a trend," he said, "that continues to grow, in categories such as antiperspirants, deodorants and body washes, as well as hair care."

Teens tip color balance

Several retail buyers reported moderate to strong growth in the hair color category. One buyer for a regional chain that has been trying to attract teens, said he thinks that consumption is growing in the hair color category because more teens are coloring their hair and because more men are coloring their hair.

Musil said he definitely thinks more teens and men are using hair color products. While the chain has seen decent growth in hair color in the past year, Musil is hoping to generate even more activity by increasing in-and-out promotions--more cosmetics--stylish, trendy, fashion-oriented promotions with items merchandised on free-standing displays and wings instead of in the planogram. "I'm seeing more floorstand and wing displays from companies such as L'Oreal and Clairol than ever before, and that's certainly helping the category."