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Women’s Haircare Business

Introducing Patentable Technologies Into Commoditized Categories;

Assisting A Business Turnaround

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Background: Victor Kiam of Remington bought the Clairol women’s haircare business in the mid 90’s (without the Clairol brand)

Haircare business eroded from ~$40MM to <$25MM (1998) (post-Clairol acquisition)

Market ranking: # 5 player - #5 player in hair dryers, #2 player in hot rollers, no presence at all in curling irons (source: NPD).

Conair and Helen of Troy (#1 and #2) had 100% distribution due to full line of haircare products and strong brand equity.

Remington products were essentially “me-too” with the exception of some key sku’s in Hot Rollers. Could only compete on price.

Consumer understanding of haircare purchase behavior not well understood – by Remington or the competition.

Women’s Haircare Business Situation

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Haircare Business Actions

Consumer Segment

Frustrated/Skeptical Users

46% of Users

Appearance Driven Users

29% of Users

Self-Reliant Users

25% of Users

Consumer Profile

Problem hair Not confident about getting salon-style results Haircare appliances rarely “work” Willing to get it right, but easily frustrated

Hair enthusiast Invests lots of time styling Will pay premiums for new ideas/solutions Changes hair style to match latest trends

Uninvolved – low fuss Low maintenance styling No time for styling Looking for good value Doesn’t change hair style much

Positioning Tools for Problem Hair Tools for Today’s Hair Styles

Tools for Style N’ Go Hair

Salon-style resultsdespite problem hair

Professional salonresults at home

Get fast stylesConsumerBenefit:

Haircare Market Segmentation

Source: 2000 Haircare A&U Study

Women had differing attitudes about their hair and how much time/effort they were willing to spend to get the results they wanted.

Most competitive products focused on appearance driven users – only1/3 of the market.

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Women’s Haircare Business Actions

Consumer Problem: Conventional 1875W dryers blew hair everywhere leaving “problem hair”. Result:

Takes a much longer time to dry Potentially damages hair due to overheating

The Vortex Jet Speed Dryer solved this problem: Patented cyclonic airflow technology lifted up hair at the roots and dried it from the “inside-out” vs. blowing from the “outside-in”. Result:

Dried hair in ½ the time Made hair more manageable Protected hair from overheating/damage

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The Vortex became the #1 hair dryer for two years in a row in the single largest category in Haircare (over 400 SKU’s).

The Vortex forced the exit of Applica, Inc. from Haircare.

Doubled sales/profits (15% ROS, 10% $ share) to $45M restored Remington to Clairol pre-acquisition sales levels.

Moved overall Remington haircare share from #5 in the category to #3.

Haircare study also resulted in new insights in other new products and merchandising.

New planogram consistent with study was tested at Wal-Mart for potentialrollout nationwide.

Women’s Haircare Business Results