In this Issue

Artificial eyelashes are an important accessory for many celebrities. Among those accenting their eyes with a little help from lashes is Naomi Watts. According to her makeup artist Mary Wiles, Watts has worn Ardell Double Flare Lashes.

Celebrities aren’t alone when it comes to donning fakes. Sales of artificial eyelashes packaged with adhesives rose 31% to $157 million, according to IRI data for multi-outlet retailers for the 52-week period ended March 19. Eyelash adhesives kicked in another $30 million and showed growth of 24%.

More than two-thirds of baby boomers over the age of 60 reported some hearing loss, or the inability to hear high-pitched sounds, according to the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. And that’s cause for concern, as the Journal of the American Geriatric Society has projected that the cost for the first year of hearing loss treatment in older adults will reach $51 billion nationwide by 2030.

The other day, I saw a young man in baggy jeans — that ridiculously enormous cut from the late 90s/early 2000s that seemed to fit every waist size from 28 inches to 4.5 ft., and gave every person the illusion of being their own “after” picture in one of those bad billboard weight loss ads. It was just another reminder that either, for a lack of creativity or extremely bad taste, every bad idea that ever existed eventually will be recycled.

Sports nutrition recovery mixes, protein bars and pre-workout shakes are becoming popular among a consumer well beyond core vein-popping gym rats. As more Americans wrestle with the cost of their health care, they continue to gravitate toward better lifestyle choices. This means these niche products that were at one time only purchased by body builders and serious athletes have become appealing to the mainstream consumer.

Retailers expect the second half of 2017 will bring bounce to overlooked categories within hair care, especially styling aids and treatments. While shampoos and conditioners have squeezed out low single-digit gains over the past few years, the styling segment has been flat or down.

Potential trumps experience, lessons from London and why mistakes are really investments in success — Walgreens’ president of pharmacy and retail ops tees it up with DSN.

One of the biggest trends in food and beverage in the past several years has been in better-for-you offerings — something that’s expected to continue to influence new products as consumers remain focused on what’s in their favorite snacks and beverages. When IRI published its 2017 New Product Pacesetters report in early April, the firm noted that one of the drivers of category growth has been healthier innovation. Of IRI’s 100 New Product Pacesetters in the food and beverage category, 47 of them featured healthier-for-you-attributes.

The skin care/facial category saw a 2% growth in sales for the last 12 months compared with the previous year, driven by the cleansers segment, which was up 9% in the food and drug channels. Moisturizers saw 7% and 9% growth in drug and food, respectively. The anti-aging segment decreased 2% in drug and 4% in food sales year over year (Figure 1).