Bath

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On the face of it, you’d be forgiven for thinking Brits are getting smellier. The personal grooming category has fallen a total of £34.9m in grocery across soaps, shower products and deodorant. Volumes are also down across all those sectors – by as much as 7.4%, in the case of liquid soap.

But it’s not that shoppers are cleaning themselves less. They’re simply choosing to buy their grooming products outside traditional grocery channels.

“Bargain stores and discounters are stealing spend away from conventional grocery retail,” says Nielsen senior analyst Ben Hanson. “This is impacting retailer promotional strategies, which means a more challenging environment for brands to exist in.”

Female skincare is the only sector in the black – edging up 0.3%. Nevertheless, the top three brands are in the red. Simple, L’Oréal and Olay have lost £6.4m between them, in part due to a fall in average prices.

Unilever VP for beauty & personal care Chris Barron believes the trend for posh natural products – driven by people pursuing healthier, more sustainable lifestyles – will help return value. “These products have now become more mainstream, with sales growing at 9%. We want to make natural the new normal,” he says.

 

The Top Products 

In association with nielsen

Top 10 Shower products     
        £m change (£m) change (%)
      Total Category: 295.0 -5.7 -1.9
Total volume change: -3.20%   Total Own Label: 12.1 -1.2 -9.0
             
This year’s rank Last year’s rank Brand Manufacturer £m change (£m) change (%)
1 2 Dove Unilever 31.3 -1.2 -3.7
2 1 Radox Unilever 31.0 -2.3 -7.0
3 3 Sanex Colgate 29.2 -0.1 -0.3
4 5 Original Source PZ Cussons 27.9 1.6 6.2
5 4 Imperial Leather PZ Cussons 26.0 -0.9 -3.2
6 6 Lynx Unilever 25.2 -0.2 -1.0
7 7 Palmolive Colgate 14.3 -2.8 -16.4
8 8 Radox Men Unilever 13.1 -0.3 -1.9
9 11 L’Oreal Men Expert L’Oreal 10.5 1.5 17.1
10 9 Nivea Men Beiersdorf 10.3 0.0 0.1

 

Top 10 Liquid soap      
        £m change (£m) change (%)
      Total Category: 118.9 -7.9 -6.3
Total volume change: -7.4%   Total Own Label: 19.8 -1.0 -4.7
             
This year’s rank Last year’s rank Brand Manufacturer £m change (£m) change (%)
1 1 Carex PZ Cussons 41.8 -3.8 -8.4
2 2 Baylis & Harding Baylis & Harding 14.8 0.9 6.6
3 4 Imperial Leather PZ Cussons 7.2 -1.0 -12.0
4 3 Palmolive Colgate 6.8 -1.9 -21.6
5 7 Method Method 4.6 0.6 13.9
6 5 Dove Unilever 4.2 -0.6 -13.0
7 6 Radox Unilever 3.5 -1.2 -26.1
8 8 Dettol Reckitt Benckiser 3.1 -0.1 -3.2
9 9 Simple Unilever 2.9 -0.2 -7.4
10 10 Bayley’S Of Bond Street PZ Cussons 2.4 0.3 11.6

 

Top 10 Deodorants      
        £m change (£m) change (%)
      Total Category: 480.2 -19.7 -3.9
Total volume change: -5.6%   Total Own Label: 8.5 -0.1 -1.4
             
This year’s rank Last year’s rank Brand Manufacturer £m change (£m) change (%)
1 1 Sure Unilever 115.5 -1.4 -1.2
2 2 Lynx Unilever 81.5 -1.6 -1.9
3 3 Dove Unilever 66.9 0.0 -0.1
4 4 Nivea Beiersdorf 51.8 -3.0 -5.5
5 6 Mitchum Revlon 30.3 3.0 11.1
6 5 Right Guard Schwarzkopf & Henkel 24.8 -4.0 -13.8
7 7 Impulse Unilever 19.3 -2.7 -12.3
8 8 L’Oreal L’Oreal 17.0 0.0 -0.2
9 9 Sanex Colgate 11.3 -1.2 -9.9
10 10 Soft & Gentle Godrej 8.1 -0.3 -3.5

 

Top 10 Bar soap      
        £m change (£m) change (%)
      Total Category: 58.3 -1.6 -2.6
Total volume change: -1.9%   Total Own Label: 3.9 0.2 5.4
             
This year’s rank Last year’s rank Brand Manufacturer £m change (£m) change (%)
1 1 Dove Unilever 22.2 -0.8 -3.4
2 2 Imperial Leather PZ Cussons 7.2 -1.0 -12.0
3 3 Simple Unilever 5.0 -0.4 -7.9
4 4 Pears Unilever 3.9 0.0 0.5
5 5 Palmolive Colgate 3.2 -0.1 -2.9
6 8 Little Soap Company Little Soap Company 1.4 0.4 38.4
7 7 Dettol Reckitt Benckiser 1.4 0.2 16.2
8 6 Shield Murad 1.2 -0.1 -6.7
9 9 Roger & Gallet Roger & Gallet 1.0 0.0 -4.3
10 10 Mild Cream PZ Cussons 0.6 -0.1 -16.6

 

Top 10 Female skincare      
        £m change (£m) change (%)
      Total Category: 427.1 1.3 0.3
Total volume change: -0.90%   Total Own Label: 63.2 -0.6 -1.0
             
This year’s rank Last year’s rank Brand Manufacturer £m change (£m) change (%)
1 1 Simple Unilever 76.5 -0.3 -0.4
2 2 L’Oreal L’Oreal 69.6 -1.5 -2.1
3 3 Olay P&G 61.0 -4.6 -6.9
6 6 Johnsons J & J 9.6 0.1 0.8
7 7 Nip + Fab Nip + Fab 7.8 2.4 44.4
8 8 Neutrogena J & J 4.1 0.6 15.7
9 10 Super Facialist Swallowfield 3.1 0.4 17.0
10 9 St Ives Unilever 2.4 -0.2 -8.3
 

The Grocer’s Top Launch

BeCo shampoo bar

BeCo shampoo bar Clarity & Co

BeCo is the posh soap brand from social enterprise Clarity & Co, where 80% of employees are visually impaired, disabled or disadvantaged. In June, it joined the plastic-free trend with its first shampoo bar. Packed in sustainably sourced cardboard, it’s made with argan oil (a common cosmetics ingredient). The 90g shampoo bar comes in a Honey Blossom variant, and is biodegradable, vegan, cruelty-free and hypoallergenic. Priced at £3.75, it’s the first product of its kind to be listed by Waitrose.

Topics

The Grocer’s Top Products 2019: Brand on the run?