The shampoo market is also highly fragmented, with the top 10–20
brands accounting for half the market and the other 80–90 competing for
the rest. The conditioner market is becoming more and more competitive,
with many brands competing for a small market share. The top companies
in the UK in terms of market share in both shampoos and conditioners are
Elida Gibbs, Beecham, Alberto Culver, Johnson & Johnson and Revlon. The
fastest growing brand is Timotei, which has a share of just under 10 per
cent and caters to two growing trends, that for ‘natural’ products and that
for a shampoo designed for frequent use without damaging the hair.
There is a wide spectrum of products, with new products or reformula-
tions continually being introduced as companies seek to create or imitate
new fashion fads. This means that advertising is used extensively, with the
premium brands being advertised in upmarket women’s glossy maga-
zines. Television advertising is also used for both hair and skincare prod-
ucts, often aimed at educating the consumer about a new type of product.
The proliferation of new products has also led to a blurring of product cat-
egories, e.g. moisturising cleanser, conditioning shampoo.
The industry can be segmented by a number of different criteria, e.g.
price range (premium, middle and budget); target market age group; func-
tion (health and hygiene, beauty products), and so on. Growth is mainly in
upmarket product ranges and consumers are primarily women, although
sectors which have shown high growth recently are products for men and
own-label products, with Boots now taking 6–7 per cent of the market for
cleansers, moisturisers and astringents. After Boots, the most important in
the own-label sector are Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Yves Rocher and
Superdrug. Safeway and Woolworths also have their own skincare ranges.
In terms of distribution, supermarkets now account for about 30 per cent
of the total haircare market; there is a growing tendency to view such prod-
ucts as shampoo, hairspray and conditioners as ‘grocery’ items, and they
are increasingly sold in larger or ‘family-size’ packs. Another area where
there has been growth recently is in anti-ageing products. Women (includ-
ing younger women) are taking an increasing interest in the health of their
skin and the adverse effects of wind, sun and polluted air.
Own-label products are also a threat to established brands in the soap
market, such as Imperial Leather, Lux and Shield. Sales of soap reached a
peak in 1986 and the market is now thought to be declining, with products
such as bath oil or foam overtaking soap for the first time in 1987. The three
main trends in the soap market in recent years have been ‘fruity’ soaps,
first made popular by The Body Shop but imitated by others; pure, fra-
grance-free brands, such as Simple and Pears; and liquid soap, which now
accounts for around 5 per cent of the total market.
The Body Shop dominates the UK market for natural make-up mainly
because most manufacturers of ‘natural’ cosmetics, such as Creightons,
have not entered the colour cosmetics market. Health-oriented manufac-
The referral and influence market domains 299