PL Hair Care A Family Affair
BY SEAN RYAN

For younger private label consumers, Hannaford and Kroger's fruit-scented shampoos, and Happy Harry's suntan lotion. For older private label consumers, Minoxidil from Kmart and Shaw's.

Children's shampoos have become a blossoming category for major private label retail chains, while private label Minoxidil is attracting a growing number of older family members.

Drug stores have found a winning product in Minoxidil, the hair-regrowing chemical. Drug sales continue their ascent, rising 42.5% last year alone. Total sales for hair growth products were only up 6.5%, and actually decreased for grocery stores by 48.5%. Drug stores are the major carrier here, which sits just fine for them.

Minoxidil comes in two strengths at CVS, Woonsocket, RI: 5% and 2%. 2% comes in three-counts of 2 oz. bottles for $27.99, and two-packs for $19.99. The women's Minoxidil is marketed in the smaller dose. The 5% strength comes in two 2 oz. bottles for $26.99, and three 2 oz. bottles for $39.99.

Shaw's Supermarkets, East Bridgewater, MA, is among the supermarkets to stock Minoxidil. Its single 2 oz. bottle of 2% solution is $16.99. Kmart, Troy, MI, carries its Minoxidil in 2% and 5% strengths. 5% is $12.99 for one bottle, and $19.99 for two bottles. Minoxidil can be found at larger supermarkets and retailers, but often in smaller sizes, and thus a more expensive cost per bottle. Drug stores, although having the highest overall prices for products, weighs in as the best bargain for this case.

Splash from Fred Meyer and Curfew Scents from Inter-American Products join premium gift sets from Longs (Spa Essence), CVS (Essence of Beauty), Kroger (Bath & Body Therapies), Wal-Mart (Simply Beauty), Rite Aid (Elsewhere) and Family Dollar (Blueberry Blast).

The Children Are Our Future

As detailed in the Private Label cover story from the November-December 2001 issue, children's private label is a field with much potential. In HBC, children's hair care lines have several national brands active in establishing a niche market, and a perpetual audience of children looking for fun products and parents looking for bargains.

Perfect Choice Kids Shampoo from Smith's Food & Drug, an affiliate of Kroger, Cincinnati, OH, is $2.19 for a 9 oz. bottle. It comes not just in one fragrance, but four: Cherry Splash, Watermelon Splash, Banana Splash and Tangy Apricot Splash.

Raley's, West Sacramento, CA, has a $1.20 price gap between it and L'Oreal Kids. Its Today's Health kids shampoo is $2.69 a bottle, while L'Oreal Kids is $3.89.

Hannaford, Scarborough, ME, gets children's shampoos on the East Coast, with an attractive price to boot. Each of its 9 oz. bottles are $1.98.

Happy Harry's, Newark, DE, has its kids suntan lotion in a brightly colored spray bottle for $6.49. It's SPF 25; non-spray bottles of SPF 15 and 30 are $5.29.

Additionally, there are two premium bath and body children's lines at major drug stores: Comfy from Eckerd, Clearwater, FL, and Soaked in Tickles from Rite Aid, Harrisburg, PA. They mix the wants of children with the high quality and unique packaging of premium products (not to mention high profit margins).

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Bath fragrances had a positive year, rising 8.4% with total sales of $20.7 million. Much of this is through premium bath and body lines. Despite several exciting new lines in drug stores, overall drug store sales were down 3.8%. Supermarkets, however, were up 3.9%. Discounters had the biggest rise.

Wal-Mart, Bentonville, AR, has had its Simply Basic line of premium bath & body care in gift sets for a few years now. The newest is a shrink-wrapped gift basket. A regular sized body mist, body lotion, glycerin soap and a poof come wrapped in an actual woven basket with handle, for $9.99.
Essence of Beauty, the CVS premium line, has a new gift set: bath fizz beads, body lotion, body mist, a candle and terry pillow in a travel bag sold as one unit. A $34.50 value, the tag reads, for $14.99. CVS is also pushing Essence of Beauty into hair care.

In addition to Soaked in Tickles, Rite Aid launched two premium lines for adults last year: Pure and Elsewhere. Elsewhere's shower gel and body lotion are regularly carried in a transparent dual pack for $9.99.

Longs Drug Stores, Walnut Creek, CA, has a series of gift sets for its Spa Essence line, ranging from $9.99 to $17.99. Individual items are $4.99 each, and trial sizes are $1.44, to cover all levels of interest and cash flow.

Inter-American Products, Cincin-nati, OH, has its Bath & Body Therapies in a four-count gift bag. Shower Gel, Body Lotion and Foam Bath come in 12 oz. bottles, and Body Mist in an 8 oz. spray bottle.

Even dollar stores are getting into the gift pack game. Family Dollar, Charlotte, NC, has, for three dollars, a metal tin holding 2 oz. bottles of Blueberry Blast cream bath, body glitter gel, and body lotion.

Fred Meyer, Portland, OR, has a new Splash line of body care. It's shower gel and body lotion come in actual water bottles. This is creative packaging at its best: an instant recognizable and memorable bottle at very little designing cost. Splash also carries Garden Mist, a green body scrub with infused botanicals such as dog rose hips, matricaria and calendula officinalis.

Kroger's HBC section must be busy, because, in addition to the children's shampoos, Splash and Bath & Body Therapies (Kroger owns both Fred Meyer and Inter-American) it has Curfew Scents. Its products are numbered one (body mist) two (glitter body lotion), three (bubble bath) and four (shower gel). With Kroger's work, is there any wonder why supermarket sales rose?

Lotions & Potions

Non-foods aren't the specialty of Trader Joe's, South Pasadena, CA, but it gets into the field with a moisturizing lotion called A Midsummer Night's Cream. It's biodegradable, unscented, and has aloe vera. An 18 oz. pump dispenser is $2.49.

Aldi, Batavia, IL, stocks an elegant-looking lotion bottle with the name RainFresh. An 11 oz. bottle is 99 cents.

Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion is $5.29 a bottle; Top Care at a Big Y, Springfield, MA, is $4.69.
Brooks, Warwick, RI, has its aloe vera body gel in a pump dispenser for $4.99.
Perfect Choice Foaming Face Wash, also from Smith's Food and Drug, is $3.49 for a 6.78 oz. pump bottle. Oil of Olay is $4.99.

Vons, Pleasanton, CA, has acne cream is a 1 oz. tube for $4.19. Clearasil in a 1 oz. tube is $7.25.