Baby 'zoomers' chase youth; improved skin and hair care products drive demand

Drug Store News, Jan 9, 1995 by Barbara White

Aging boomers drive skin care

As baby boomers age, they are rushing to snap up skin care products that can at best retard, if not reverse, the process. AHAs have been the key to the skin care market since Alpha Hydroxy pioneered the ingredient. And they show no signs of losing their appeal. Last year, dollar sales of facial moisturizers were up 7.1 percent to reach $1.39 billion across the three outlets. Drug stores did the most business with a 47.1 share of sales.

AHAs have become as de rigueur in facial skin care products as SPF 15s and above have become in sun care items. Even lines with a natural, botanical positioning, such as Naturistics, are adding AHA SKUs to their lines.

With AHAs saturating the facial skin care market, what's the next frontier? The rest of the body. Hand and body lotions had dismal growth at drug stores in 1994--only 0.9 percent last year--and small growth across the three channels, at 8.9 percent.

Now that the category is expected to grow with exfoliating AHAs added to formulas, drug stores that are quick to pick up on the newest products have an opportunity to recoup some of their losses. Perhaps the magic ingredient can do for hand and body lotions what it did for facial moisturizers over the past three years.

Lubriderm has already added AHA to its hand and body lotion and is touting the fact on national television ads. Vaseline Intensive Care has gone one step better, an AHA product specifically designed for the legs and feet. And Neoteric has introduced AHAs to the bath category. Its newest SKU is an AHA body wash.

Bath goes to the shower

Body washes are suddenly turning up everywhere. With retailers looking at bath as one or two good brands and a laundry list of mistakes, body washes are the next wave.

Jergens, Dove and Olay have all introduced body wash SKUs, and other brands are expected to add their names to the roster. One thing is certain: With mammoth manufacturers getting behind their brands, product will move.

Sarah Michaels, one upscale brand that continues to get high marks from retailers, has come up with a new related segment: home fragrance.

Oral care goes high-end

Baby boomers are also influencing the oral care category. Consumers are taking better care of their teeth, and they are keeping their teeth longer. That means they are purchasing higher-end products for higher performance.

Toothbrushes have been going more and more high-tech. Toothpastes have also been getting higher performance. Rembrandt Whitening Tooth Polish, for example, has been a top performer. And Chesebrough-Pond's Mentadent has proven to be one of the most successful launches in oral care.

Buyers single out Oral B's new rinses and pastes as products that are doing well in the oral care category. One buyer reported success with niche product Breath Assure. "The company has spent a lot in radio advertising and the product is doing well," he said. Who knows? Everyone laughed at Mane 'n Tail.

Market drivers

* Now that baby boomers are getting older, expect hair color, sunscreens, AHA facial moisturizers and high-end oral care products to be more popular.