Professionally positioned brands could add style to mass hair care segment

Drug Store News,  June 26, 2006  by Antoinette Alexander

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Growth in the overall hair care category has been far from stellar due in large part to the maturity of the segment. However, the professionally positioned brands and once "salon-only" products are likely to offer the mass market a pocket of growth.

The overall hair care market experienced growth of just over 2 percent in 2005, compared with the 2.7 percent boost in the salon hair care segment, according to Kline & Co., a business consulting and market research firm. Sources believe that the increased competition from the mass segment could exacerbate the soft sales in the salon segment.

"While salon players are still innovative from both a technological and marketing perspective, windows of opportunity are closing more quickly," stated David Vladyka, head of Kline & Co.'s Consumer Products consulting practice. "Mass players continue to harvest ideas from the salon market to sell new benefits to consumers, and they're bringing salon trends to the mass channels faster than before."

Even Alberto-Culver earlier this year took its Nexxus salon brand, which has suffered from diversion for years, to the mass market with a line for retail.

Further heating up the competition and making moves to the U.S. retail channel are European stylists. Among the most recent to make a foray into the U.S. market is hair stylist Paul Burfoot, who has a salon, called Fish Hairdressing Co., in Soho, London.

Burfoot is targeting males aged 12 to 34 with his U.K. brand Fish, which has been available in Boots stores for about five years. Burfoot has inked a licensing deal with King of Shaves to market the brand in the United States. (for more details, see men's grooming story, page 69).

The hair care business is likely to get even more interesting as U.K.-based international consumer products group PZ Cussons has sold its North American division to Beautology, a newly formed holding company that is headed by former PZ Cussons America president Stuart Straus, and works on product launches for 2007.

Straus will serve as president and chief executive officer of Beautology. Charles Worthington, international hair stylist and founder of Charles Worthington London, will work closely with the Beautology team to launch products for 2007 and assist with brand and promotional support. The new company, along with Worthington and U.S.-based stylist Tim Rogers, stated that it will seek out master hair stylists worldwide who offer exclusive and innovative products and brands.

However, more traditional brands at mass also are looking to bolster hair care sales by looking to address such specific hair care concerns as dandruff or dry and damaged hair.

Looking to offer those consumers suffering from dandruff who are not satisfied with their current medicated antidandruff shampoo a new solution, Procter & Gamble began shipping this month its new Head & Shoulders Intensive Solutions, the strongest zinc-based anti-dandruff shampoo available without a prescription, according to the company. The four-SKU line is designed to treat and prevent seborrheic dermatitis, severe dandruff and other scalp-related problems.

Unilever's Dove is aiming to help women with dry or damaged hair with its new Dove Advanced Care line, which it is positioning as a premium line. The line features 13 such products as shampoos, conditioners and specialty treatments designed to address several complex hair care issues, such as hair that is damaged because of lightening or darkening of the hair. Dove also is extending its Dove Styling line with five new products intended to tackle several hair care concerns.

To help support the launch, Dove has created the first-ever, toll-free Dove Hair Care Hotline (800-Dove-Hair). The hot-line, which debuted on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," offers women a destination for individualized hair care solutions, the company explained.

ANTOINETTE ALEXANDER

CATEGORY SPECIALIST

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