Simple Solutions
Walgreen's promotes eco-friendly products for men with the bright "go green" sticker seen on this Men's Zone Body Spray.
Despite the recession men are still purchasing beauty care products, and drugstores and mass merchandisers enable male shoppers to find all of their private label needs.
Men’s private label beauty care has evolved over the years. As more men begin to use beauty care products, national and international brands geared towards men have been hitting store shelves. Retailers have taken notice and introduced their own brand hair care, skin care and body care lines for men. Additionally, some retailers have rolled out exclusive men’s care lines. According to Professional Beauty Male Grooming Market USA 2009, by Diagonal Reports, April 2009, based on in-depth discussions conducted with male grooming experts in the U.S. in 2008 and 2009, the male grooming market has been increasing at double-digit growth rates over the last decade in the U.S. Despite the economic downturn, the men’s beauty market remains one of the best performing segments in the personal care sector. Although they might be struggling financially, data prove that men are still buying personal care products.
Professional Beauty Male Grooming Market USA 2009 asserts that men are now catching up with women with demand for men’s hair coloring. One way for a man to color his hair while protecting his wallet is to head to the local drugstore and purchase shampoo-in hair coloring. Most major drugstores including CVS, Woonsocket, RI, and Walgreens, Deerfield, IL, carry men’s hair color. CVS offers men’s hair coloring under its CVS brand, offering approximately five varieties: light brown, medium brown, dark brown, darkest brown-black and jet-black. The dark brown and jet-black options are both new. It is interesting to note that the dark brown selection is geared towards Latino men and the box is almost completely in Spanish. However, the instructions inside the box are written in both English and Spanish.
Walgreens carries hair coloring under its exclusive line Men’s Zone. The Men’s Zone Total Care for men includes shampoo-in-haircolor in colors such as dark brown and medium brown. The shampoo contains vitamin E, Aloe and Chamomile.
Buying Basics
An easy way for men to keep up appearances is basic hygiene practices such as shaving and using deodorant. Most retailers offer private label shaving products and deodorant for men. Rite Aid is one such retailer that has a wide variety of basic men’s grooming items. For example, the retailer offers two grooming sets including Rite Aid Men’s Personal Care Kit. The kit is $6.99 and contains a nail clipper, toenail clipper, personal care scissors, sapphire file, comb and storage case.
Rite Aid also carries several deodorant items including extra dry Roll-On Perspirant for $5.39. This product fights excessive perspiration due to stress and is prescription strength. The deodorant also contains Aluminum Chloride 12%, which compares to the active ingredient of Certain Dri. This product can be used for men or women.
In terms of shaving products, along with an assortment of razors, Rite Aid features private label shaving gel and lotion. For example, the retailer offers Premium Shave gel for sensitive skin, which contains colloidal oatmeal and compares to Aveeno Active Naturals.
Walgreen is another example of a drugstore that carries a plethora of store brand shaving and deodorant products. However, Walgreens is different because it offers these items under two store brands, its exclusive Men’s Zone line and its Walgreens brand. The Men’s Zone line stands out more on shelves, featuring a sleek bottle – black with a silver and blue label. All of the deodorant sprays have a Green sticker that states, “GO GREEN No Propellants Eco-Friendly.” The Men’s Zone line features four deodorants. Each option contains a different description on the label. For example, the label on the Olympus selection reads, “An all-over continuous body spray for the guy who knows how to get what he wants…and still plays nice. An alluring, long-lasting fragrance with superb deodorant protection.” In addition to the Men’s Zone deodorants, Walgreens also offers W store brand sport deodorant spray that compares to Right Guard.
In a similar fashion, shoppers can find both Men’s Zone and Walgreens brand shaving gel. There is not much of a difference in price; a 7-oz. bottle of Men’s Zone shaving gel for sensitive skin is $3.99 while the W brand is $3.49 for a 9-oz. bottle. However, it is interesting to note that the Men’s Zone shaving gel is more expensive than national brand Edge, which costs $3.49 for a 7-oz. bottle.
A basic men’s care private label product that shows up on many drugstore shelves is after-shave lotion. Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS and Duane Reade all carry private label after-shave and pre-shave lotions that compare to national brands in quality but are a better value. For example, CVS offers approximately five shaving lotion items including after-shave lotion, which compares to Skin Bracer but costs $4.19 for 5-fl. oz. while the Skin Bracer product is $8.39 for 7-fl. oz. There is also an electric razor pre-shave product that compares in quality to Lectric pre-shave. The CVS version is $4.79 for 7-fl. oz. and the Lectric items is $6.49 for 7-fl. oz.
Walgreens also features a wide variety of after-shave lotions. Under the W brand, shoppers can find options such as a pre-shave lotion with soothing green tea.
Expanding Exclusivity
A noticeable trend seen at both drugstores and mass merchandisers is exclusive men’s skin care lines. For example, Walgreens, CVS and Target all offer exclusive lines – Walgreens offers the Men’s Zone line, which was discussed earlier, CVS with its Lumene Skin Tech for men and Target, Minneapolis, MN, with Every Man Jack. Shoppers can find Every Man Jack products online at multiple retailers, but can only buy the items exclusively at Target locations.
Lumene Skin Tech for men features an assortment of products including items such as a Pre-Shave Scrub, which “Cleanses the pores thoroughly, removes dead skin cells and effectively prevents the creation of impurities.”
The Every Man Jack line offers a plethora of options such as face wash, shaving gel and cream and face lotion. For men who want to take Every Man Jack with them on trips, there is the Every Man Jack Travel Kit in Signature mint. The design of the Every Man Jack products is extremely creative. The packaging of each product features writing to coincide with the product’s use. For instance, the packaging of the travel kit reads: “Hit the Road,” “Flight Delays. Rental Cars. Hotel Beds. Being out on the road isn’t always easy, but at least you can carry a few of the comforts of home with you.”
Beauty care is one category less affected by the recession, as appearance will always be important to many consumers. Judging by the variety, quality and prices of private label men’s care products on shelves, it seems as if retailers are doing everything they can to enable men to keep up their beauty care regimen.
