Hair color riding wave of surging sales

Drug Store News, April 7, 1997 by Liz Parks

Hair color is another hot growth segment in ethnic beauty care. According to Information Resources Inc, dollar sales of hair color were up 9 percent, while unit sales were up 6 percent for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 1, 1996.

Carson Products president Joyce Roche, who markets one of the leading ethnic color brands, Dark & Lovely, said that buyers can expect to see demand for hair color increasing, driven by fashion and by the demographic changes such as the aging of the baby boomers.

Roche also pointed out that retailers are getting strongly behind the merchandising and marketing of ethnic hair colors, helping "to take sales to a higher level."

This year, Carson Products will introduce two shades in its Dark & Lovely semi-permanent hair color line, Reviving Colors. The blonde shades, introduced by Carson in 1995, and the red shade, Deep Copper, introduced in 1996, are among the best selling colors in the category, buyers reported.

"The sales of Carson's Dark & Lovely hair color products are very strong," said Dan Medow, president of Standard Distributors. "They are very good at keeping abreast of fashion trends, and their shade selections reflect their knowledge and solid market research."

"There is a definite surge in hair color sales," said Reid Kleinman, who buys ethnic products for Alpine Distributors in West Nyack, N.Y. "Sales of auburn and blonde shades are especially strong."

Emulation is good for business

Kleinman said part of the momentum in hair color is coming from consumers who are trying to emulate the lifestyles of popular celebrities like basketball player Dennis Rodman and actresses Vivica Fox and Jada Pinkett.

Sales in hair color are also being driven by introductions and marketing initiatives from Chicago-based Soft Sheen. Some buyers report they have trouble staying in stock on the blonde shade that Soft Sheen introduced in 1994 under its Optimum Care brand.

Knowing that approximately 70 percent of all African-American women relax their hair, Soft Sheen has formulated Optimum Care color specifically for women with relaxed hair.

This year, the company will introduce four shades: black cherry, ash blonde, copper brown and auburn red.

Variety is key to success

Terri Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Soft Sheen, said that for retailers to maximize sales in the ethnic hair color category, they need to carry a full line of shades. "African-American women extend over a broad range of shades and colors, from very dark skin and dark, dark hair to very light complexions and light brown hair," she said. "If a retailer wants to meet all their color needs, they can't have a limited product selection."

Gardner added that the growth in hair color sales is not just coming from aging baby boomers. Young women interested in fashion are also buying and using hair color products.

"Hair color is a fashion influence," she said. "In 1997, the fashion experts say the focal points will be on women's faces and on their hair. Clothing and jewelry will be playing a secondary role as accessories."

Revlon's Elayne McClaine, director of marketing for Revlon's Professional Products division, said that men's hair color is emerging as a strong growth segment in the hair color category. McClaine said that dollar and unit sales in the men's segment were up 26 percent vs. a year ago compared to a 6 percent gain in the women's color segment, according to A.C. Nielsen.

Revlon will be breaking new advertising for Creme of Nature HerbaRich and Creme of Nature Hair Color later this spring.

In the last few years, many retailers have begun to merchandise ethnic hair color brands in their general market hair color planogram.

At the same time, the leading general market hair color manufacturers, Clairol, L'Oreal and Combe, which makes Just For Men hair color products, has expanded the number of shades it carries for women and men of color, and begun to target that market segment more aggressively.

White Plains, N.Y.-based Combe, which has several shades targeted to African-American and Hispanic men, will be supporting its positioning this summer and fall with ads in major African-American magazines like Ebony and Essence. The ads will feature popular athlete Rollie Fingers, a former star pitcher for the Oakland A's and a baseball Hall of Fame member.

New York-based Clairol has been targeting women of color since the 50s, said Liz Read, director of hair color. But two years ago, Clairol decided to introduce a collection of Nice & Easy colors that were specifically formulated for women with dark skin. In addition to using African-American women as models on the boxes, it used a pink, green, orange and black flag on each box to identify the collection as specifically shaded for women of darker skin tones.

Since the collection was launched in 1994, Read said, Clairol's share of ethnic hair color sales has doubled. "Women of color have always been a market that we considered significant," she said.