NEW YORK — After several years of double-digit growth, sales in the men’s prestige skin care category have slowed.
Men’s prestige skin care sales reached $32 million in the first half, a 3 percent rise compared with the same period last year, according to The NPD Group. In comparison, men’s skin care sales were up by 15 percent for the full year last year and up by 18 percent in 2004.
“We haven’t seen anything to indicate it’s going to accelerate [in the second half],” said Karen Grant, senior beauty industry analyst for NPD. “On a monthly basis, it looks as if it’s going to continue on that same trend.”
Grant projected the category could grow by 2 to 3 percent for the full year.
“The decline [in the growth rate] started with store closings within the department store channel,” Grant said, adding, “We haven’t seen tremendous launch activity that could spark some acceleration in the category.”
One bright spot, however, could be the holiday season, given that each year since 2003, December has accounted for 18 to 19 percent of annual prestige men’s skin care sales. In December of 2005, sales increased by 13 percent.
“That can have an impact on how the overall market does,” Grant said of December sales. She maintained that promoting skin care products as gift items could have a positive impact.
In the first half of this year, men’s facial moisturizers grabbed 27 percent of the category, or $8.6 million, and treatment shave products took a 24 percent share, or $7.7 million. Facial cleansers were the hottest men’s skin care products, with a 14 percent growth rate to $3.4 million. Facial exfoliators, however, slid 7 percent to $3.7 million.
The top 10 brands in men’s prestige skin care during the first half were, in order, Clinique’s Skin Supplies for Men, Lab Series Skincare for Men, Zirh, Anthony Logistics for Men, Jack Black, Clarins Men, Biotherm Homme, Shiseido Men, Origins and Polo Sport.
“The smaller brands in the marketplace are still growing at double-digit rates, which speaks to the fact that there’s still a lot of activity and interest in the category overall,” said Grant. But, “while there’s more activity around men’s grooming, there’s still an educational and aspirational lag — where men aren’t engaged in the category.
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“We feel there’s more opportunity [for men] to adopt a broader regimen, to fuel some growth in the category.”
Male consumers, who are typically thought to be more price-sensitive than their female counterparts, are “willing to pay a little more for their prestige skin care products year-over-year,” NPD stated. Still, the average price of men’s treatment products, which was up 3 percent to $18.56 in the first half, is “much lower” than women’s skin care items, which had an average price of $34.53. That’s a difference of 46 percent.
Women’s skin care still makes up the lion’s share — nearly 97 percent — of the prestige skin care market, a nearly $2.1 billion business. Of that, men’s accounts for nearly $70 million annually.
Despite this disparity, “based on the size of the [nearly $1 billion] men’s prestige fragrance industry,” Grant said, “we believe men’s skin care also has the potential to be a billion dollar industry. We see this as an opportunity for the industry to go after men and broaden their user base.”