ISSUES AND INSIGHTSUS

October 2014

MENS PERSONAL CARE

GABRIELA ELANIHome & Personal Care Analyst

Mens personal care sales are expected to grow steadily in the coming years. However, market players can accelerate market growth by addressing mens desire for increased function and simplicity in this

category, improving the current shopping experience, and better engaging Black and Hispanic male consumers.

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MENS PERSONAL CAREIssues and Insights

Ocotber 2014

Men value function and simplicity The issues

Personal care products that can be classified as staples are the most popular among men. APDO, shampoo, bar soap, and shaving cream are regularly used by the majority of men, which is unsurprising given that they are necessary for day-to-day daily hygiene maintenance.

Regular use of products such as body care, facial skincare, and hair styling products is much lower. This is likely driven by men not feeling that these products are necessary.

Some 86% of men prefer that their grooming routine be as simple as possible. Another 82% say that they do their own thing when it comes to their grooming routine, regardless of current trends.

More than half (51%) of men wish their grooming routine took less time.

Older men put a stronger emphasis on function as their usage of the products declines with age and they have a preference for general market/unisex products in categories that are not traditionally segmented along gender lines, including haircare and skincare products.

The implications

The best way for market players to grow the category is to provide increased product functionality in male-specific products in order to induce men to spend more on them as well as better differentiate them from general market products. Adding enhanced functional benefits, such as antibacterial benefits in skincare products or deodorizing benefits in body care offerings, are ways to enhance male-specific products.

Offering men more combination products, such as two-in-one haircare and body+hair products, will also allow men to cut down on the number of products they have to use. Currently, most products focus on body and hair benefits, but there could be opportunities to develop more shaving-specific combination products.

Brands should also explore the development of products that help men to cut down on the time they spend getting ready or that further simplify certain personal care tasks. For instance, products that slow facial hair growth to increase the amount of time between shaves could be an opportunity.

There could be an opportunity for dry shampoo brands to develop more male-specific products. Dry shampoos are a growing trend in the category and the time-saving capabilities they offer could have a lot of appeal for busy men. Male-specific dry shampoos could also promote hair growth.

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MENS PERSONAL CAREIssues and Insights

Ocotber 2014

Improve the shopping experience The issues

More than half (53%) of men are interested in seeing all of the mens personal care products shelved in one aisle. This is high across segments and also interests both urban and suburban men.

Some 39% of men would like to see a greater variety of product samples. In addition, more than a quarter (27%) of men would like to see scent-testing stations in stores to smell APDO and/or body care products.

Younger men are more likely than older men to show interest in increased opportunities for product trial and testing in stores.

Some 90% of men say they buy personal care products for themselves.

According to an AdAge article published online on Sept. 3, 2014, Unilever, Target, and Cond Nast have entered into a partnership that is seeing mens magazines and personal care products shelved in the mens clothing section of Target stores. Initial results have been positive, suggesting opportunities for further such collaborations.

The implications

There are opportunities for retailers and mens personal care brands to improve upon the current shopping experience to better engage with men and to simplify their shopping experience. Retailers and brands should considering stocking all of the mens personal care products in one aisle to cut down on their having to seek out products. In addition, having all of the male-specific products in one section will result in less side-by-side benefit comparisons of male-specific and general market products.

Creating more opportunities for men to test products, whether it be through having more trial sizes to choose from or having in-store testing stations, could result in increased product trial and subsequent adoption. Men also tend to be fairly brand loyal and having more sampling capabilities could help them to feel more comfortable with trying out a new product or brand.

Given that younger and urban men are more engaged with the category, newer retail concepts would be the most successful in urban markets.

Increase engagement with Black and Hispanic males

The issues

Black and Hispanic men over index in their reported used of products that have a lower incidence of use among the total male population, including shower gel, moisturizing cream/lotion, all-in-one shower products, and facial skincare products.

Hispanic and Black men also over index in their use of male-specific products, including male-specific shampoo, conditioner, and moisturizing lotion/cream. These product categories face some of the strongest competition from general market offerings given that these categories have traditionally not been divided along gender lines.

Both the Hispanic male and Black male population groups are expected to grow at a rate that outpaces that of the total male population, especially Hispanic men. Hispanic male population growth for 2014-19 is expected to grow by 14% whereas the Black male population will increase by an additional 7% during that time.

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MENS PERSONAL CAREIssues and Insights

Ocotber 2014

Mintels Hispanics and Personal Care US, September 2013 report finds that some 74% of Hispanic men say that its important for them to look their best at all times. In addition, some 62% of Hispanic men say that the older that they get, the more important their personal appearance is to them.

Some 63% of Black men report that they wish more companies made personal care products to fit their needs as a Black/African American (see Mintels Black Consumers and Personal Care US, December 2013 report).

The implications

Black and Hispanic men are incredibly important to the mens personal care category as they demonstrate a higher incidence of personal care product use, especially for male-specific products, compared to the total male population. Brands will want to ensure they have marketing and product strategies that are dedicated to targeting and engaging these specific groups given that both population groups are growing quickly.

There could be opportunities for companies and brands to explore the development of ethnicity-specific skincare products to better meet the skincare needs of Hispanic and Black men. These could be product extensions or even subbrands to current lines. In the case of products for Black male consumers, Black haircare brands for men could consider creating male-specific skincare lines.

Brands should also ensure they are testing and launching new products in markets with large concentrations of Blacks and Hispanics, as they could be early adopters of new product innovations and products featuring new benefits and attributes.

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