NEW YORK — CVS, the largest chain of drugstores in the U.S., is reinforcing its commitment to men’s grooming.
The $30.6 billion retailer, the second-biggest drugstore operator in sales after Walgreen Co., set up separate men’s grooming sections last year within the men’s shaving aisles of most of its stores, noted Suzanne Hock, merchandising category manager for men’s grooming at CVS.
Now, in a move CVS hopes will appeal to men less likely to shop for advanced skin care products in department stores, the chain is simultaneously launching men’s treatment products under two of its exclusive brands.
A men’s range from Lumene, the Finnish skin care brand carried exclusively by CVS in the U.S., began to trickle into many of the retailer’s 5,400 locations last week. Concurrently, a PreVentin men’s moisturizer, which is designed to help diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, also hit shelves at CVS.
“[Men’s grooming] has been a great category for us, and our customers are telling us they want more,” Hock noted during an interview this week.
“Recently, we’ve been expanding the amount of shelf space [devoted to men’s grooming],” she added, discussing the move to give grooming its own area. “This is a segment people were seeking out, so we decided we should make it easy to find within the [merchandising display] set.”
Nivea for Men is said to be CVS’ best-selling grooming line, followed closely by the 2002 entry, Neutrogena Men, and L’Oréal Men’s Expert, which was introduced earlier this year.
Skin Tech for Men, the new range from Lumene, follows the November 2003 launch by CVS of Lumene. “We saw that the women’s line was successful,” Hock noted, “so we looked for other ideas to expand with [Lumene] and looked at the way men’s grooming was doing in CVS as a company — it’s been growing steadily since we added the space,” she said.
Skin Tech could generate between $2 million and $4 million in first-year retail sales, according to industry sources. Its blue, orange and gray packaging motifs resemble those of Men’s Expert, but that’s where the similarities end. For instance, while Men’s Expert has been advertised nationally in magazines and on TV, Skin Tech will be promoted on CVS’ Web site and through store circulars.
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Skin Tech’s Scandinavian ingredients are also a point of differentiation, according to Lumene. Substances like pine extract are believed to be potent antioxidants thanks to the local climate, said Tiina Isohanni, vice president of research and development for Lumene.
“Plants need to absorb energy during a short summer,” she said. “That means many components [exist] in these plants in concentrated forms.”
The Lumene men’s range, which was developed over two years and launched in Scandinavia last year, Isohanni noted, features the so-called Bio-Communicator compound, a soy- and seaweed-based complex used in the 1-oz., antiaging Magic Lotion, which is priced at $12.99. The ingredient is designed to yield “instant effects” like “getting rid of signs of tiredness,” balancing and toning, Isohanni said.
Also, Advanced C-Energy face cream, a 1.7-oz. moisturizer for $12.99 that’s designed to hydrate and nourish skin, employs pine extract and cloudberry seed oil. CVS will also carry Deep Cleanse face scrub, 3.4 oz. for $8.99; Easy Shave foam, 6.8 oz. for $5.99, and Sensitive After-Shave balm, 3.4 oz. for $8.99.
Skin Tech will initially be rolled out to 3,500 CVS doors and will feature five products, in contrast to the eight men’s items Lumene markets internationally.