With insight showing that there is rising interest in men’s grooming, Lynx marketing manager Josh Plimmer discusses how retailers can maximise personal care sales and explains the rationale behind the brand’s latest launch, Jungle Fresh.
The evolution of male grooming
There are still a lot of misconceptions around young men, but the reality is that guys do care about how they look and smell.
In the past year, there has been an increase in spend across all male toiletries categories, including deodorants and skin cleansing [Kantar]. This presents a great opportunity for convenience retailers to ensure they are stocking a varied range of personal care products. Lynx has a proud and long history of serving consumers with an innovative portfolio that is always evolving to meet changing consumer behaviours and stay at the forefront of innovation trends, so the brand should be front of mind when it comes to appealing to younger male shoppers.
Insight-led innovation
Young males feel more confident when they smell good, and audience insight helps to deliver products and fragrances that they’ll love. For example, research into Gen-Z’s leading fragrance preferences, show this demographic is enticed by ‘clean’ and ‘refreshing’ scents [Givaudan].
As the No.1 male toiletries brand [Kantar], Lynx is in a strong position to work with world-leading experts to develop on-trend fragrances that Gen Z will love – and, as a result, the brand plays a critical role in driving personal care sales across sectors.
Lynx is a signpost brand for male grooming and is therefore a must-stock for retailers to ensure they are making the most of this category in-store. As space is limited for personal care products in many convenience stores, innovation has an important role in keeping people excited and encouraging trial – especially in the impulse channel where customers may be more inclined to try something new.
This has been demonstrated time and time again with Lynx. For example, within the first year of the brand’s last core innovation, Epic Fresh, many new deodorant and shower gel shoppers were attracted to the portfolio. Not only did this drive category value, but also grew the wider male toiletries category for retailers as a whole [Kantar].
Also attractive to the environmentally minded Gen Z audience is the fact that all Lynx deodorant cans are indefinitely recyclable, and Lynx is now PETA-approved – a recognition that the brand does not conduct or commission any animal tests on ingredients or finished products, and that it pledges not to do so in the future.
Introducing new Lynx Jungle Fresh
In January, Unilever introduced a brand-new fragrance to its successful core range, with Lynx Jungle Fresh. This irresistible fragrance comes in a range of formats – including body spray, anti-perspirant, stick and shower gel – and is available to convenience retailers nationwide. It has been developed with a clear target audience in mind, and is aimed at helping retailers to freshen up their personal care shelves.
Lynx Jungle Fresh also plays into current trends for herbal and botanical influences [Givaudan], and has woody and earthy notes intertwining with bursts of lavender and citrus.
The brand has also been made available across multiple formats, to help it appeal to a wider range of shoppers and drive trial in-store. Demand for shower gels, for example, is in growth, with weekly shower gel usage up 3.5% year-on-year [Kantar], with much of this growth driven by 11- to 16-, and 25- to 34-year-olds – both key target age groups for Lynx. The shower gel format will therefore be an important SKU for retailers to bring in new shoppers.
The details – Lynx Jungle Fresh
● Lynx Jungle Fresh Body-Spray 150/250ml Aerosol – RRP* £3.75 (150ml)/£5.00 (250ml)
● Lynx Jungle Fresh Anti-perspirant 150/250ml Aerosol – RRP* £3.75 (150ml)/£5.00 (250ml)
● Lynx Jungle Fresh Stick 50ml – RRP* £2.25
● Lynx Jungle Fresh Shower Gel 225/500ml – RRP* £1.25 (225ml)/£2.75 (500ml)
*Unilever only provides pricing recommendations and any price modellers purely for illustration purpose. Pricing is at sole discretion of the retailer.
