Key points:
1. The market for men’s salon products and services is small compared with its female counterpart—but growing at better than 10 percent per year.
2. A dissipating stigma among men towards “pampering,” health concerns, and stressful lives seem to be leading the way.
3. The “3–S formula”—speed, sports, and sex—seems to give us a quick heuristic device to analyze men’s salon product marketing.
My son got his first massage.
He’s nine.
And he liked it.
Before you call child protective services, know that he received his services at the Maple Grove Sport Clips as a part of their “MVP” package after his hair cut.
Here’s how it went down:
When he arrived, the stylist pulled his notes from the computer from the last haircut so she wouldn’t have to bug him—and me—about how he wanted his hair cut this time around. After the cut, he got the tea tree shampoo and hot towel treatment in the back. Back in the chair, he caught the last piece of a football game while he enjoyed a massage from the stylist. (She used one of those hand-held jobbers.)
Needless to say, this was quite a far cry from the spinning pole barber shops I remember when I was a kid. It’s also markedly different from a man-intimidating female-oriented salon. This was a different animal entirely.
The lobby sported a 42–inch LCD TV. Each stylist station had a television as well—all with your choice of sports station. This was a guy’s kind of place. I felt strangely comfortable. So I decided to do some informal research.
I was curious: the MVP costs more than the cut ($5 more, I think, or about a 30 percent premium).
In fancy talk, I wanted to see how steep the demand curve is for the special treatment. In regular speak, does the higher price discourage the purchase of purely unnecessary pampering?
Men are cheap when it comes to body care. We all know that.
Or do we?
Here was my question: If 10 men (or boys) walked in, how many would opt for the full- service MVP versus the regular (30 percent cheaper) plain-Jane haircut?
The average of the responses of four stylists: 8.2 out of 10.
Eighty-two percent!
Clearly, the boys were not spending their own money, but the men were.
Could this point to a bigger trend?
Yes, indeed.
The early part of the decade saw the market for men’s skin care products jump 42 percent between 2000 and 2005. The overall market growth was half that, at about 23 percent. When you tease out the numbers, you realize quickly what retailers realize—the men’s market is the growth engine, the women’s market is (largely) stable.
The “spa” market is growing even faster, especially in the later half of the decade (and even amid the recession). It should be noted that the men’s market had a lot more room to grow—the market was basically a clean slate—but can you imagine any other industry where you can double your potential client base in one fell swoop? Unlikely.
So, my youngest son is not alone. What’s driving the trend?
A few key factors. First, we are seeing a transformation in the way men view “body care.” What used to be the sole domain of homosexual men (or, later “metrosexual” men), has begun to drift into the mainstream. Good grooming and hygiene habits are losing some of their stigma as “female-only” discussions.
Second, the Baby Boomer generation seems to view grooming differently than their parents. It’s not just different views on money but rather a different view on health, generally. Successful marketers of men’s products to this generation have transformed “scents and pampering” messaging (staples of the women’s beauty product industry) into “health and fitness” appeals—clearly more in line with a generation of men deeply concerned about vitality well into middle age and beyond.
Finally, for all male age groups, the concept of “relaxation” comes into play. Busy lives (or the perception of busy lives) and accompanying stressors have left the door open for products and services that offer a few minutes of stress release. Not so different than a “feminine” appeal, you say? I think you’re right, but it’s all in the packaging.
That leads directly to the final point. What can my nine-year-old’s experience teach us about how to market these products and services to men?
I call it the “3–S formula”: speed, sports, and sex. It works at all age levels of men, albeit in different ways.
Let’s take my son’s experience. First, it was fast (speed); it happened while he was getting his haircut, so no “extra trip” required. Second, from what was on the tube to the name of the massage itself (the MVP), it was all about sports. That made it seem cool—like something Joe Mauer would do. Third, the stylist used a tea tree oil shampoo with a distinct “mint” smell that permeates the area while he gets the massage treatment. He said it “smelled good”; he has learned from “iCarly” (and other pre-teen television shows) that smelling good is attractive, and not smelling good gets you shunned. He’s learning early.
You could do the same analysis on Axe body sprays for teens.
You could do the same analysis on Every Man Jack skin care products for men over 30.
You get the idea.
Obviously, I don’t often hear men discuss their latest spa treatment with their peers, nor do I expect to see that changing in the near term. But I think you could do worse for yourself than opening a men’s spa right now. Market it correctly, and you might be surprised.
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