Is Mennen Baby Magic Better Than Johnson's Baby Powder
Creating the Well-Clean-cut Kid
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July 6, 1991
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Clear a shelf in the bathroom -- Inferior now has his own shampoo, after-bathroom splash and mouthwash, not to mention deodorant.
Once upon a time, the entire family shared a canteen of shampoo, brushed their teeth with the same toothpaste and argued over whofailed to replace the sliver of communal soap with a new bar.
But several companies are at present seeing to information technology that tots tin can tend to their grooming needs. Many of the products are repackaged standards like infant pulverization and babe oil. Now competing for shelf space are a slew of new products from neon-colored toothbrushes to oat flour talc and to chimera bathroom in a Miss Piggy canteen. Two Giants in Field
These newcomers are hoping to capitalize on a infant boomlet and the guilty consciences of working parents. Some smaller companies, though, accept already faltered against the likes of the industry giants Johnson & Johnson (baby powder) and Mennen (creamy babe oil).
One company that seems to be doing well is Due south. C. Johnson & Son Inc., best known for Johnson Wax. Last year, the company started selling skin lotion, pilus conditioner and other training products for children. Estee Lauder introduced Baby Block, a sun screen for children. Taking things a step further, Soft Sheen Products is selling shampoos and conditioners that it advertises as specially formulated for black children's hair.
And in March, DuCair Tsumura Inc. tied together its array of bath and grooming products under the Kid Care trademark. Now it has packages of Little Mermaid shampoo, Miss Piggy bubble bath, G. I. Joe travel toothbrushes and Teen-Historic period Mutant Ninja Turtles nail brushes, to name only a few.
"With the exception of Johnson & Johnson's baby shampoo, until recently information technology was really just developed products used on children," said Peter Harris, president of F.A.O. Schwarz, which carries scented bath products for children past Parfums Givenchy called Ptisenbon Tartine et Chocolat. "With the role of children and family growing more and more of import, there is conspicuously an opportunity to devise and market toiletries to children."
Almost companies have shied away from selling children's cosmetics and perfumes, wishing to avoid controversy over why children should expect and smell like adults. DuCair Tsumura and a few other companies sell water-soluble lipsticks and nail polishes in the palest of pinks, but they stress that the products are toys.
These companies are gambling that parents want a wider option of less traditional oils and powders for their children. Difficult Market to Define
The children's market is hard to define since many adults also use baby shampoos and lotion, but industry experts estimate that it has grown by at least 10 pct a year over the last 3 years.
The nation's birthrate increased by 3 percent in 1989 and iv per centum in 1990 after years of decline. Some marketers have interpreted the ascension as signaling a new interest in family unit life. And companies are banking on the guilty consciences of working parents who feel they practice not devote enough fourth dimension to their children.
But while sales of personal care products for children are rising, companies have had trouble loosening Johnson & Johnson's lock on the $400 meg market.
The company, based in New Brunswick, N.J., is not making it piece of cake. Johnson & Johnson introduced a new diaper-rash ointment and Ring-Aids festooned with Sesame Street characters final twelvemonth. This leap, a Johnson & Johnson sun screen for children hit the shelves, competing with children's sun screens from Estee Lauder, Coppertone and others. Baby Pulverisation in 1894
Although Johnson & Johnson has had a long list of products for young children since it started selling baby pulverisation in 1894, analysts said that until the terminal two years sales were potent but fairly flat. "They didn't fund it as a growth business," said Factor T. Gargiulo, who follows Johnson & Johnson for the First Boston Corporation. "At present they're actively developing the business past extending developed lines with children's products."
Johnson & Johnson, which controls equally much as 70 pct of the entire children's toiletries marketplace, would non talk virtually its marketing strategy or new products. Jeffrey J. Leebaw, a company spokesman, best-selling that several competitors had entered the babe toiletries marketplace in the last yr, just would say simply that "we programme to maintain" the leadership position.
The Mennen Company, Johnson & Johnson's largest competitor in the baby and kid care market place, has a 63 percentage share of the baby lotion marketplace with its Baby Magic products. A Losing Fight
Trying to compete with Johnson & Johnson proved to be fatal to William & Clarissa Inc. Three years agone, the San Francisco company began selling high-priced children's shampoo, lather, baby oil, fragrance and other products in stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's and F.A.O. Schwarz.
The company is now liquidating its holdings. Analysts and sales clerks said that while the William & Clarissa products were innovative and of high quality, they failed to sell because the company did not have enough money to promote them well. And at $five.50 for a bar of soap to $xv for a gift prepare, they were too expensive for everyday utilize. It did not help that an angry Johnson & Johnson kicked back with new children's products.
"Every one of the major mass brand companies have looked into this market place, but many have decided it wasn't shrewd to challenge Johnson & Johnson," said Allan G. Mottus, a cosmetics industry consultant. "Information technology tin be challenged, as the Fisher-Price line proves, simply simply by an extremely savvy marketer who already has strong presence in mass trade outlets."
Industry analysts say the recyclable plastic bottles shaped like the Fisher-Toll Little People toys have sold well for Due south. C. Johnson, the privately held visitor whose products tin exist found beneath the sinks of well-nigh households.
In its first year, the company carved out 13 pct of the baby bath market, and analysts expect information technology to expand its Fisher-Price toiletries line. 'Expert Market Opportunity'
Some companies, like Estee Lauder and Revlon, are using their franchise with adults to sell toiletries for children. Estee Lauder introduced Baby Cake, a sun screen for the 3-and-nether set, equally part of its adult sun protection line.
"There'south a strong consumer base of women who know and trust the Estee Lauder name and who are now having children," said Cornelia Stanek, a consultant with Kline & Visitor. "They definitely have a good market opportunity there."
Revlon, though, had little success with Intendance for Kids Mousse Babe Shampoo and other children'south toiletries. But miniature emery boards, nail clips and other grooming tools that Revlon introduced in 1989, too under the Care for Kids name, accept done well. So take bath products for girls called Petite Nate, said a Revlon spokesman, Daniel J. Moriarty.
Soft Sheen Products Inc., the Chicago-based maker of hair-care products for blacks, introduced Baby Love shampoos and conditioners afterward visitor executives heard employees casually discuss their offspring's demand for more moisturizing products.
Immediately after the get-go Infant Dearest ad appeared in Essence, the black women's magazine, last November, the company received more than 3,000 calls about the products. Sales have been strong, said Ballad H. Sagers, group marketing manager for Soft Sheen.
"Nosotros found a need that wasn't beingness addressed by whatsoever big companies and addressed it," she said.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/06/business/creating-the-well-groomed-child.html
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