Aging-adverse boomers drive sales in skin, oral and hair care segments

Drug Store News, April 28, 2003 by Molly Prior

Pfizer's Listerine PocketPaks made breath care portable. More than that, PocketPaks created a whole new product segment that IRI projects will surpass $300 million in sales in 2003. Both national and regional drug chains followed suit with private label launches of their own.

Wrigley responded last fall with Eclispse Flash Strips, but as of December, PocketPaks' $51.0 million in sales in drug, up 179 percent from a year earlier, still dwarfed Eclipse's $3.7 million sales for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 29.

The business is being dominated by Listerine, a traditional oral care brand, which controls about two-thirds of all dollars spent on the category in drug stores.

Hair care

Like oral care, hair care is a category that historically responds well to innovation. Last year, a host of players extended their hair color businesses with launches targeted specially toward men. Major players, such as L'Oreal and Clairol, and even regional drug chain Duane Reade, have developed hair color products targeted toward men. Maxim Haircolor for young men by Combe, makers of Just for Men, hit stores just over a year ago.

On the women's side of the wall, L'Oreal pushed the price ceiling of the category in February with the launch of Couleur Experte hair coloring system. The two-step, multi-tonal system of base and highlighting shades, retails for about $22--about one-third more than the next highest price point in the segment.

That same month, Clairol relaunched Nice 'n Easy with a patented multitone color formula and new patented conditioning technologies.

This month, Revlon s High Dimension Color Accents Highlighting Kit, which retails for $12.99 and promises salon-quality hits in up to 30 minutes, its stores. Revlon kicked off the High Dimension hair color line in 2001 and a year later expanded it to include the High Dimension Bleach Blonde Lightening Kit.

The spoils of the hair color business may spill over into the entire category. "The increased penetration of hair coloring ... will likely trigger an increased concern about hair healthiness," Rosenbaum said.