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Hair News - June 2004 |
| Author: Karen Shelton |
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Date: June 2004 |
Hair News For June 6, 2004
Sunny Days Ahead For Home Fragrances?
LITTLE FALLS, NJ, June, 2004
- After 24 months of uncertainty, product sales in the home
fragrance market may have turned the corner, according to
findings from a market study soon to be published by Kline &
Company. HOME FRAGRANCES USA 2003 indicates
that a strong performance by the category leaders over the past
year is helping to shape this shifting market, resulting in an
overall industry gain for 2003.
"Following an extended weak period, many marketers saw a
turnaround last year and are preparing for a strong spring,"
says Lenka Contreras, vice president of Kline's Consumer
Products Practice. "Specialty stores and direct marketers in
particular will be filling a good amount of new orders written
in the first quarter."
The Yankee Candle Company is looking to maintain its momentum as
the frontrunner in the candles segment after registering another
year of double-digit gains in 2003. And after a few years of
sluggish performance, Limited Brands' home fragrance business
appears to be back on track. The parent company of Bath and Body
Works had cut back on many of its home fragrance offerings in
those stores to focus on its White Barn Candle Company stores.
This strategy proved to be unsuccessful and has been corrected,
thereby boosting sales in the specialty store channel.
Among the direct marketers of home fragrances, Home Interiors
emerged as one of the leading sellers of candle products in
2003. This Texas-based home decorative accessories firm with
70,000 independent consultants could surpass Blyth's PartyLite
in the near future.
The candles category rebounded modestly in 2003 from a decline
in sales the prior year, thanks to launches of new scents and
new specialty glass products like Yankee Candle's YC line. But
retailers saw sales increases in other important categories as
well.
Innovation in the mass-market segment helped the room sprays
category earn a double-digit increase from the prior year.
Higher-priced multifunctional products like S.C. Johnson's Oust
and Reckitt Benckiser's Neutra Air are blurring the line between
room sprays and household cleaning products and have been met
with high levels of consumer acceptance.
Potpourri, an add-on category for many marketers, also showed
positive sales results, growing by nearly 5%. More retailers are
offering potpourri products in an effort to extend their home
fragrance collections through new product types. Incense is also
getting more attention as marketers look for clever ways to give
it personality through gift sets, fragrance layering, and
decorative accessories.
As marketers search for more avenues for growth to offset softer
categories such as diffusers, some are looking at car air
fresheners.
"While S.C. Johnson did well with its new Glade Car scented oil
diffuser, mass-market stores are only one outlet in a fragmented
market segment," says Contreras. "Companies looking to enter the
category will have to compete with low-cost products offered in
car washes and automotive chain stores. But an innovative
product form could help capture a respectable share of the
category."
Established in 1959, Kline & Company (www.klinegroup.com)
is a business consulting and market research firm serving
clients worldwide in the cosmetics and toiletries, home
fragrances, and consumer products sectors.
Kline & Company's HOME FRAGRANCES USA 2003
market survey is the eighth edition of this authoritative source
of industry information for the home fragrance market. It
contains market size and share data, retail sales data, channel
breakdowns, trends, and forecasts for product categories such as
candles, potpourri, diffusers, room sprays, and car air
fresheners.
For information on how to subscribe to this study, go to
www.klinegroup.com/y324.htm, or contact
Lenka Contreras
at (973) 435-3407.
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