Where Is the Men's Grooming Industry Headed?

It seems like decades ago that the men's fashion and grooming industry was thoroughly conservative. Today, the industry that was yesterday eschewing new ideas in how men should dress and groom themselves is opening its arms to experimentation.

Whereas in the past, ideas such as "skin care" and "cosmetics" were terms that fell under the umbrella of "fashion" (which, at the time, was also a "woman's issue"), today men are paying premiums for grooming products marketed specifically to males. The market for male-targeted goods such as fragrances, anti-aging cream, and expensive cleansers is beginning to encroach on that of female-targeted goods. And the surprising part is that this market is still in its infancy.

The growth of this market corresponds to a change in the male lifestyle. One possible reason for this change is the gradual loss of fear as being mistaken for a homosexual, which has been-though many in this industry do not want to admit so-one of the major obstacles to marketing male cosmetics and grooming products. While this change has been a slow one, it is clearly making an impact on both what companies can market and how they can market.

This gives way to experimentation. Experimentation of products. Experimentation of marketing. The breadth of what products can be experimented with is nearly unlimited. Today, over 90% of men are using grooming products ranging from hair care and skincare items to aftershaves and fragrances. And this marketing is growing! Just last year the entire skincare market grew over 10%.

What companies should see from this is that the root is there. What comes next is nurturing that root-turning habitual users of "products" into loyal users of "brands."

At the moment, the men's marketing industry is still playing it conservatively. The reason for this likely stems from the still lingering confusion as to how to define the image of a man. Instead of simply marketing to men as a subgroup of a population, companies should be looking at men as a population itself, and then performing the market research and market segmentation that is common in most marketing practices.

These companies still see "the man" as someone who doesn't know the difference between bar soap and facial wash. And while there is certainly a market segmentation like this in the population, companies don't call it a segmentation. If they did, they would be able to market their products in a more efficient way (e.g., reeducating this group of men on grooming products).

I believe that the men's grooming industry will eventually come to this conclusion. And when it does, the industry will grow even faster than it is now. The new focus will turn to segmenting the male population in a meaningful way (as opposed to a stereotypical way) and creating life-long users.

Of course, to sell their products, these companies will need to reinvent how they approach copywriting.