02.16.07
Last year was a busy one for new product launches in the U.S. hair care market, according to analysts at Euromonitor International, as manufacturers sought to drive growth in an increasingly mature market. This strategy seems to be working, with Euromonitor International forecasting value growth of 2% for the U.S. hair care market in 2006, a significant improvement on 2005, when the market declined by 0.6%. Men represent one specific consumer segment that had fallen under the spotlight of hair care players last year, as manufacturers follow the trend for segmenting products by gender. While women have been the focus for hair care products, manufacturers are now seeing the potential profit in providing for men. In particular, a large number of products have been launched for ethnic men, with different hair issues and desired results.
Ethnic hair care is also becoming increasingly segmented in general, with the launch of products for African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American and mixed-race hair types all coming to market in 2006. Conditioners are currently showing the most promise in this sector, and according to Euromonitor’s Diana Dodson, conditioners should be a target for hair care companies as they are proving to be a particularly fertile source for new product development and sales are forecasted to grow 14% by 2010. More info: www.euromonitor.com.
Ethnic hair care is also becoming increasingly segmented in general, with the launch of products for African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American and mixed-race hair types all coming to market in 2006. Conditioners are currently showing the most promise in this sector, and according to Euromonitor’s Diana Dodson, conditioners should be a target for hair care companies as they are proving to be a particularly fertile source for new product development and sales are forecasted to grow 14% by 2010. More info: www.euromonitor.com.