Filling the Bath

Once a company knows what a consumer wants and then delivers the goods, successful sales usually follow - until the consumers decides she needs something else.

In order to stay successful, Smith & Vandiver's Stevens maintains, "We have to be on the leading edge of consumer needs, certainly, by focusing on the function of products as they perform, being out there with the consumer, creating a new need and a new awareness."

"Our advantage over the competition of big companies is that we have developed a loyalty with our customers, we can offer personal customer services, and we can move into a line extension or product category rather quickly," explains Nature's Element's Stuart on the strength of boutiques.
Crabtree & Evelyn's Everett sees those strengths as well, though he feels it is important to make sure consumers know what a specialty store can offer. "We have to do a better job of educating the consumer about who we are and the difference between our products and the competitor's products. We are perfumers, and I think that is a big part of what we do and what our products are," he believes.

"Smaller companies like ours will simply have to position themselves in a niche that is too small for the major players to want to enter," offers Ahava's Goldberg. "The Dead Sea niche is now going mainstream: Origins is coming out with a Dead Sea scrub, Dial is adding Dead Sea salts to its soap, etc. As that happens, our market share will decrease, but our volume will increase due to our leadership in the niche. In terms of general strategy, smaller companies just have to continue to be the first to market with interesting new ingredients. Then they have to 'make hay while the sun shines' until the major players take an interest in the niche that they have created."

"As in other industries, each small company must continue to define its own market niche and product focus when competing against the giants," declares TerraNova's White. "Small companies also must continue to lead the bath and body care market through continuous product innovation in the quality of ingredients, formulations and the quality of ingredients, formulations and by developing new product categories. It is also critical that small companies offer eye-catching packaging that will attract the customer in the retail store and be appealing enough to take home for display in the bath or on the vanity."

All companies, big and small, must also stay ahead of the trend in order to remain successful. According to those in the know, firms will be focusing on fragrances and more specific treatment products in the future.

"We will see more exotic products and fragrances," contents Tsumura's Brennan. "Consumers continue to look for new and exciting experiences in their lives. Look at the soft drink and beer market, for example. Three to five years ago, hardly anyone had heard of Snapple or Micro Breweries; now both are common place. Adventure vacations are the highest growth category of the travel industry. Consumers want new and unique products, and in the bath and body category, there is still plenty of opportunity for newness."

"In this category, trends are very hard to understand, But we could see a movement in fragrance mirroring what's happening in the prestige fragrance arena," asserts Yardley's Nuechterlein. "Right now, the hottest new

ragrances in prestige are very light and are moving into the food groups. we need to make sure we understand these trends, and specialty bath items will be echoing this trend to some degree." Similarly, holiday gift sets are just as important to the specialty bath market as they are to prestige fragrances, he adds ,noting hat consumers respond strongly to value sets.
Neuchterlein doesn't see any new bath products down the road, and adds that "the jury is still out" on whether the body specific products for the feet or leg are going to work. "We're not sure that the consumer is convinced that she needs something special, or that she would use that specific product enough to warrant that position in the mass category," he explains. "Mass is different than the specialty stores, which can offer many more SKU's. The consent in mass is that we have to see what is going to sell."
"In addition to aromatherapeutic products and products designed for specific areas of the body, we will see more products designed specifically for men and for the ethnic market. In general, the trend toward more botanical, cruelty-free and environmentally sound products will continue," remarks Borlind's Upton.

Smith & Vandiver's Stevens sees more two-in-one products up ahead. "Not necessarily products that do everything, but where one would get more than one benefit from the product," she states. "Along that same line, we'll be seeing very specific products, such as a shampoo that is used only occasionally to clean hair very well before going back to the very day shampoo. The consumer is ready for the sophistication of targeted products. I didn't think any consumer wants to think her needs are the same as the masses."

"The trends will still be very much influenced by research on properties of the skin and what the skin requires, and the olfactory research will still have a strong impact on what kinds of fragrances will be use din specific products," responds Windors' Kalish. "And that is where the link is gong to be - trying to tie in the needs of the skin and the awareness of the effect of fragrance in the products and on the user. The challenge will be for marketers to try to meld the therapeutic properties into products the consumers are using, because women don't have the time and don't want to spend that time on too many products."

"As the industry discover and incorporates powerful, problem-solving ingredients (i.e. specifically alpha hdyroxy acids and more generally, botanical extracts), the consumer will increasingly demand new solutions of the skin through products that contain all new ingredients, Concludes Freeman's Burns. "The race is on and so the trend goes - those companies that can competitively produce the most multi-purpose products with the most up-to-date technology and ingredients will thrive."

The expectations have been set high and consumers are anxiously awaiting the next new fragrance or product that will magically ease all their stresses, soothe their aching muscles and reinvigorate their souls. This is no small order for today's specialty bath and body manufacturers, but it is one they are more than willing and able to fill.

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