• by Karl Greenberg , August 23, 2012

Forget loyalty in the body care market. Most consumers seem less interested in the name on the label than on price and attributes, per a new study on the segment by Chicago-based Mintel. 

The deal maker for about a quarter of those who use body-care products at least once per week seems to be sale price. Mintel says this price-conscious trend has led to a 10% decline in sales of such products between 2007 and the present. 

Molly Maier, a senior analyst at the firm, says it's the economy: consumers are simply readjusting their tastes for nonessentials like hand and body lotion, which dominate the category. “Product affordability is the most important attribute right now; therefore, keeping products within a medium or low price point will be key in maintaining consumer participation,” she said.

Consumers are also multitasking products that are explicitly only for one part of the body. Mintel reports that 94% of respondents say they use hand lotion on their hands, another 28% say they use it on their feet, 43% on their arms and 23% on their legs.

The firm says about 81% of consumers use body lotion and 89% say they use hand lotion. That is up from 76% and 84% since 2011. The products are more popular with women than with men. Ninety-seven percent of women say they use hand lotion and 96% use body lotion. For men, those proportions are 80% and 66%, respectively.

But 73% of people use more lotion in the colder months and 67% say they buy different products depending on their need at the time: dry skin in the winter or gradual tan in the summer. Also, 67% of lotion users prefer pump dispensers to jars and tubes, and 59% would consider buying hand or body lotion in refillable packaging. And over a quarter of body care consumers say they have not found a lotion that works well for them.

Although in terms of attributes, most consumers are interested in products that offer extra moisture, the opportunity seems to be toward anti-aging properties -- as some 30% of weekly users seek anti-aging products compared to only 23% last year. Products that claim to be all-natural are also growing in popularity, with nearly one-third of product users (31%) seeking this. 

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