Men shop more for themselves as grooming grows in their life

Drug Store News, June 10, 1991 by Laurie Freeman

When men shop for toiletries and grooming aids these days, chances are they're looking for upscale colognes and the newest hair color shades, according to drug store retailers interviewed by Drug Store News.

And it's really the men who are doing more of the shopping for personal care products. A recent Gentleman's Quarterly survey revealed that men are spending 45 minutes per day on their grooming, up from 30 minutes in 1988. Since they care more about their image, it is men who are taking greater charge of purchasing these items personally.

"My sense is, it's still women who do most of the buying," said Peter Renzi, HBA buyer, Austin Drug. "But on weekends, we really do good traffic with men coming in and picking up their own shaving cream, blades and aftershave.

The emergence of men as shoppers hasn't gone unnoticed by marketers. Procter & Gamble Co.'s non-traditionally male-targeted products, like Bain de Soleil sun care, Sure deodorant and Crest toothpaste are being advertised in GQ, according to publisher Michael Clinton.

Cologne/aftershaves

The reason is "more women have careers today, and they don't always have the time to pick up items. This means more men are in stores, and are more likely to buy everything from fragrance to diapers," Clinton said.

Although it's been generally estimated that women buy 70 percent of men's scents, a recent Gallup poll found that 75 percent of the men queried had purchased one or more bottles of aftershave or cologne in the past year. And chances are, they were purchased in drug stores. "Mass outlets like drug stores have a better chance at drawing male shoppers because they feel comfortable shopping those environments," noted Allan Mottus, a cosmetics industry consultant.

While Skin Bracer, Aqua-Velva and Old Spice top the $393 million aftershave/cologne category in drug stores, buyers say the real growth has been among the prestige scents like Polo and Drakkar Noir.

"It's not as high a usage category, unit volume is not strong," said Steve Hewes, HBA buyer, Genovese. "Sales within the Chaz, English Leather, regular Brut lines this year have been soft."

"A lot of the aftershave/cologne business has gone upscale to the Polos, Drakkar Noirs, the more premium products," said a men's fragrance buyer for a major midwest chain-drug retailer. "There's better growth there than on the lower end, the Mennen, Old Spice, Brut 33, the old time brands. These brands need to rejuvenate their lines to stay competitive with Polo and the upscale brands."

Susan Lund, cosmetics buyer for Snyder Drug, Minneapolis, said the retailer has been selling "tons" of Stetson, Polo, English Leather and Jovan Musk. Pierre Cardin, she said, also is coming on strong, which she hopes will continue now that the scent is being marketed by DuCair Tsumura.

"Coty does a good job with everything they come out with, and Men's California [Max Factor] has been a pretty good seller but not that spectacular," Lund said. "Jovan is really good for us, they seem to do a better job with the men's fragrance than the women's fragrance. Aspen, for example, the men's scent is doing better than the women's."

Part of the reason fragrance sales are picking up, Lund believes, is that men, not only those in major metropolitan areas like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, are beginning to use fragrance. But she admitted "it's been very hard to change the minds of midwest men who don't really think about using fragrance everyday. It's going to be a long time before men's fragrance business becomes what we want it to be."

Lund said she'd be happy with a 10 percent increase in men's fragrance sales, but added that she does not think that that is "a really realistic goal" for the midwestern part of the country.

At Bill's Drug in California, the top sellers remain Pierre Cardin, Stetson and Aspen. In the stores that carry Polo and Drakkar Noir, "they do really well for us," said Sharon Schrage, cosmetics buyer.

"The younger kids, 14 and up, they want to use Drakkar Noir and Polo, and that's going to continue to take business away from Old Spice and English Leather," she added. "Younger people are grading up from Old Spice and English Leather. It's only older men who are using that now."

It's not wise to discount the impact of Procter & Gamble's ownership of Old Spice, said Paul Carlson, men's HBA buyer at Snyder Drug. "Since Procter bought Old Spice, I think they're putting a few more bucks behind it. Knowing Procter, the budget won't be limited to where they drive that brand, and I wouldn't bet against Procter making Old Spice a considerably stronger brand in the future."