Innovation reigns in fem hygiene, shave, deodorants
Innovation remains the name of the game in personal care, with new options surfacing in the feminine hygiene, deodorant and shaving categories alike.
(To view the full ECRM Personal, Oral and Sun Care Report , click here.)
On the feminine hygiene front, product enhancements are coming in the form of new introductions in sanitary pads, tampons and ancillary products, as well as in initiatives aimed at consumer engagement. This may provide an ongoing spark for sanitary pad, liner and tampon sales, which rose by a collective 2.1% for the 52-week period ended May 15, according to IRI. Dollar sales of sanitary pads and liners alone increased by 2.5%, to $1.7 billion, while tampon sales experienced a dollar sales bump of 1.5%, to $1 billion.
Retailers said they are seeing explosive growth of a new subsegment of feminine hygiene in the form of safe-for-the-entire-body washes and on-the-go wipes. Fleet has driven this growth with its Summer’s Eve collection, which has a big following with millennials. The brand now includes Summer’s Eve Nightime — three pH-balanced products intended for use in the evening, including a cleansing wash, a cleansing cloth and a cleansing bar.
Other suppliers are joining the safe-for-the-entire-body trend now, such as Skinfix, which is behind SweetSpot Labs. SweetSpot Labs is a line of feminine skin care products designed by women for women that uses natural ingredients and doesn’t include glycerin, sulfates, parabens, alcohol, gluten, soy or dairy. The SweetSpot Labs line of products includes Spot Fresh! Gentle Wash, Spot Refresh! On-the-Go Wipettes and 100% Love It! Moisturizer.
Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble has extended its Tampax brand franchise to include Tampax Pocket Pearl, a new pocket-sized version of Tampax Pearl for “girls on the go.” Tampax Pearl has a “backup braid” component designed to provide leak protection by sending fluid back into its core.
Some marketers, among them Edgewell Consumer Products, also are using sustainability as a platform for innovation. Edgewell promotes its o.b. tampon brand as utilizing minimal packaging compared with tampons that have plastic or cardboard applicator guides, and as obtaining 90% of its raw material from renewable resources. Edgewell also is substituting cotton for rayon in its tampons as a means of limiting the products’ impact on the environment, according to the company.
Shaving sees sales nicks
The shaving category appears to be struggling. NPD Group pegged dollar sales in the category as a whole at $3.5 billion when aftershaves, lotions, shaving creams and blades are included in the equation. However, IRI figures for the 52-week period ended May 15 show decreases in dollar sales across the board, with the exception of razors, which saw a 3.5% increase in dollar sales to $483 million. Sales of shaving cream dipped by 0.7%, to $501 million, for the same period. Dollar sales of cartridges slipped by 6%, to $1.2 billion; sales of blades dropped by 5.2%, to $2.3 billion; and sales of disposables slid by 4.2%, to $1.1 billion.
The advent of Dollar Shave Club and other online competitors may have bearing on mass sales of shaving products. However, suppliers are fighting back. This past December, Gillette filed a lawsuit alleging that Dollar Shave Club is violating its intellectual property by selling razors that make unauthorized use of its patented technology. The technology is said to reduce wear and tear on razor blades to make them last longer, in turn saving money. Dollar Shave Club has refuted Gillette’s argument. The matter has not been resolved.
Elsewhere in the category, the fact that men are shaving less often and are growing more facial hair is sparking the rollout of more products designed to make facial hair upkeep a more pleasant task. BIC Consumer Products USA has launched the Bic Flex 5, promoted as having been designed for easier maintenance of “bushy” beards.
Hydration and lubrication also are popular features of new launches. From Edgewell Personal Care’s Schick brand comes the Hydro 5 razor, which has a hydrating gel reservoir that reportedly reduces friction to the face by 40% compared with traditional lube strips.
And Gillette has launched the Gillette Fusion ProShield, which delivers lubrication to facial skin “before and after the blades” make contact, eliminating irritation when re-stroking occurs, according to the company.
Retailers, too, are moving to change the men’s shaving sales picture. Walgreens is adding more of the existing men’s shaving products to more of its stores. These include Boots No7 Men’s Anti-Friction Shave Gel and Boots No7 Energising Face Gel. In line with what Walgreens sees as a heightened tendency among men to use pre-shave items, it also is making such moves as relocating pre-shave products to open-sell fixtures from their former home in closed cabinets.
Product development is also occurring in women’s shave. Case in point: Schick and Skin-timate have banded together to introduce Skin-timate Silky Skin Shave Gel, the Schick Hydro Silk TrimStyle razor and the Schick Intuition Revitalizing Moisture razor. Skintimate Silky Skin Shave Gel contains Moroccan oil and a blend of vitamin E, olive butter and sunflower oil offering one-step lathering and moisturizing — a trend of products doing more than one function.
Deodorant: Strength means everything
If the data is any indication, things in the deodorant market smell sweet. Dollar sales for the 52-week period ended May 15 were up by 3.4%, to $2.8 billion, according to IRI. Similarly, a report from Mintel noted that the U.S. deodorant market will show a compound annual growth rate of 5.6% for the period spanning 2014 to 2019.
High-performance and clinical-strength deodorant and antiperspirant products are in greater demand among men and women alike, the Mintel report said. IRI statistics bear this out: Secret Clinical Strength deodorant ranked as the second best-selling brand in the category during the 52-week period ended May 15.
There has been additional product development in the high-performance and clinical strength deodorant sub-segments. Church & Dwight has come out with Arm & Hammer UltraMax Confidence Dry Spray. The product harnesses a proprietary Motion-Response Formula, which is promoted as helping to keep wearers dry in heavy-sweat situations where they “need it most.” Procter & Gamble recently introduced Outlast — said to offer 48 hours of protection from excessive perspiration and odor — to its Secret line.
From Procter & Gamble, there also is the new Hardest Working Collection, a men’s personal care line that is part of the Old Spice Collection and includes both antiperspirants/deodorants and body washes. For example, Old Spice Odor Blocker, an invisible, solid antiperspirant/deodorant, yields stronger, longer sweat protection than other Old Spice offerings and features the brand’s odor-fighting technology, Procter & Gamble said. From The Dial Corp. comes Rite Guard Xtreme Heat Shield in gel and solid varieties. The product is designed to keep wearers dry in temperatures of up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the company.