Drug stores lead in hair care sales growth

Drug Store News, March 6, 1989

Drug stores lead in hair care sales growth

The hair care category, for the first time in several years, generated moderate growth in 1988. Total mass market retail sales were up 6.1 percent to $3.98 billion.

Of the three mass market retail trade classes, drug stores had the strongest growth, generating a 7.4-percent increase in overall sales, to nearly $1.5 billion for the 12 months ending last October.

Drug stores also improved their share of mass market hair care sales, moving up a half-point to 37.0 percent, while food stores dropped 1.2 points to a 40.7-percent share.

Buyers say they think this happened because many drug stores put new emphasis on their basic categories, especially high-consumption commodity categories like hair care. Sources say they have been more aggressive with hair care ads in 1988 and much more competitive on their prices.

Professional hair

Professional hair care products like Aussie, Infusium and DeMert are still doing well in most drug stores. Most buyers say their sales are strong, if not quite as dramatic as a year ago.

In Atlanta, Stiff Stuff is doing very well in Revco stores, according to store managers, and Studio Line Mega Gel is the top seller in its category.

At Drug Emporium the professional segment is described as "especially hot." One cosmetician said that just about everything in the professional category was selling well. Especially strong were the Aussie products, she said, particularly the Australian Three Minute Miracle shampoo and conditioner, and the little foil packets of Aussie hair conditioning treatments. Also doing well at most Drug Emporium stores are the TRESemme shampoos and the Fermodyl line.

Generic professional hair care products also continue to do well at many chains. One cosmetician who services a Drug Emporium in Atlanta says that price is still a strong attraction for consumers who buy the generic lines. Her store had a 4-foot section of generics under the Ross Kalvin brand. Their knock-off of the Nexxus shampoo, for example, was priced at $2.11, compared to the $6 to $8 consumers normally pay for Nexxus in a salon.

Marlene Isaacson, who buys professional hair brands for Austin Drug, says her Progen generic line also sells well. "We aren't getting as strong a growth as we did several years ago when the professional brands were not readily available, but we are getting good growth," she says.

Shampoos and conditioners

In the shampoo and conditioning segment, buyers and store clerks say that Revlon's new Clean & Clear is showing strong, steady growth. Neutrogena shampoos are also very good, buyers say, and Helene Curtis' Salon Selectives continues to be outstanding. Some clerks say they can't keep certain formulas in stock.

Suave is going well in most chains and so is White Rain, probably the best and most successful of the low-priced brands.

Hair color

According to Nielsen, the hair color category was up 7.8 percent overall for the 12 months that ended last October. In drug stores, it was up 9.1 percent.

Several buyers told Drug Store News that men's hair color is starting to show very strong growth.

The buyer for one major chain said his stores have been doing "very well" with the category. He said Just For Men has shown "tremendous growth over the past year," and added that he expected "very good things" from Clariol's new Options and Combe's Grecian Plus, both of which are currently in test on the West Coast.

Combe, which created the category with its Grecian Formula, says its research shows that men's color sales have been been steadily climbing since 1987, when Just for Men, a five-minute shampoo-in hair color, was launched.

Combe estimates that men's hair color is now a $33 million category.

Home perms

Buyers report that the home permanent segment remains flat, and Nielsen numbers agree with that. However, some buyers speculate that Toni Epic Waves from Gillette may add new life to the category.

Buyers say Epic Waves seems to be an innovative type of perm. Because it has one formula that can be used every month, it could increase frequency of use. It also has a formula that delivers a "temporary perm" that may attract more women into trying a home perm for the first time.

Gillette plans to support Epic Waves with a two-year, $21 million marketing campaign, including $13 million on television and print in 1989.

Revlon also has a relatively new perm, Perfect Touch, launched last year. Revlon doesn't have a big ad budget for Perfect Touch, but they will be breaking print ads for the first time in April that will run at peak periods throughout the year.

Revlon also has chosen a very moderate price point for Perfect Touch, and most retailers have been featuring it with a rebate for about $3.99. In contrast, Epic Wave will retail for $8.99 everyday.

Perfect Touch has been in most stores since the fall, and several buyers say sales have been slowly, but steadily building.

Thinning hair

Many buyers see a new specialty segment emerging: conditioning products meant to thicken thinning hair.