Oral Care

Retailers who are winning in the oral care category are those paying attention to market niches. Consumers today tailor their oral care purchases to specific needs. One important need that shouldn’t be overlooked is that of cancer patients.

Drug Store News talked to Chris Donley, SVP at Prevention Health Sciences, to find out why planograms need an offer formulated for these very specific requirements.

Other specialty areas of the toothpaste category include travel sizes, such as that recently revealed by Dr. Bronner’s. The new 1-oz. tube is TSA-compliant for carry-on luggage. Dr. Bronner’s peppermint All-One toothpaste is made with 70% organic ingredients, including organic coconut flour, coconut oil as a mild abrasive and aloe juice to soothe gums.

It is a low-foaming formula in a toothpaste tube that’s 100% recyclable, the company said. Priced at $2.49 per tube, the travel size started hitting shelves priced in September.

Sensitivity has generated a big buzz in toothpastes.

GSK Consumer Healthcare is lauded by retailers for its efforts to bring attention to the issue and build sales of its Sensodyne brand. The company said Sensodyne is the No.1, dentist-recommended toothpaste for sensitive teeth. All Sensodyne SKU’s showed healthy growth for the 52 weeks ended July 9, according to IRI.

Oral care is just the latest of many categories where disruptor brands have taken a bite out of consumer packaged goods leaders’ market share.

But unlike others, such as cosmetics or skin care, the behemoths have done an admirable job of brushing up on innovations of their own. Or have purchased the brands that are shaking up categories, as in the case of Colgate’s ownership of Tom’s of Maine.

The prognosis? A win for customers, booming sales for fledgling and heritage brands and a constant planogram shuffle.

NEW YORK — Kiss of Fresh Air recently introduced a line of fresh breath mists that offers users an alternative to freshen their breath from the usual gum and mints. The brand is currently available nationwide, including retailers 7-Eleven, Safeway and Walmart.

Sales of breath freshener sprays and drops are up 7.1% for the 13 weeks ended Aug. 13 to $4.9 million, according to the latest IRI data, across total U.S. multi-outlets.   

NEW YORK — Supersmile on Monday launched the whitening system Supersmile Extra White, which its highest concentration of Calprox, the a proprietary formula of encapsulated calcium peroxide and minerals. Extra White is clinically proven to remove surface and intrinsic stains for whiter, brighter teeth, while also improving gum health, the company stated. It contains calcium, magnesium, phosphates and fluoride.

Cosmoprof North America, or CPNA, delivered a robust beauty trade fair featuring resources for every aspect of business, from packaging and filling to finished product. The event, held July 9 to July 12 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, grew this year in both attendance and square footage, which can be attributed to expansion in such specialized areas as scent, natural products and multicultural items, not to mention a multitude of country pavilions — with Korean beauty holding court in two areas.

Americans are spending more than $60 billion on beauty annually. To survive as a meaningful competitor in this evolving beauty arena, drug stores must start to burnish their image.