Released on = April 16, 2007, 9:15 pm

Press Release Author = Bharat Book Bureau

Industry = Marketing

Press Release Summary = This report on toiletries covers a wide range of goods
including skincare and hair-care products, personal wash products (such as shower
gels and soap), oral care products and shaving preparations. Combined retail sales
of these products were worth nearly £3.78bn in 2004, having increased by 5.2% from
the previous year.

Press Release Body =
Toiletries - Market Report Plus

This report on toiletries covers a wide range of goods including skincare and
hair-care products, personal wash products (such as shower gels and soap), oral care
products and shaving preparations. Combined retail sales of these products were
worth nearly £3.78bn in 2004, having increased by 5.2% from the previous year. The
UK\'s overall trade balance in toiletries remains positive. In only three product
categories - skincare, bath salts and soap - did the cost of imports exceed the
value of exports in 2003.

Most sectors of the toiletries market in the UK are mature and competition is
therefore intensive and aggressive. This is certainly true of the shaving market,
where Wilkinson Sword and Gillette seem to be in continual conflict. Their latest
disagreement involves the former\'s complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) that Gillette\'s advertising is misleading - complaints that have already been
upheld in Australia and Germany. If the ASA agrees, Wilkinson Sword may use the
judgement to claim compensation for its resultant loss of sales. Certainly,
advertising is of paramount importance in a toiletries market swamped by a confusing
plethora of products. Even when a brand is well established, there can be little
let-up in its promotion if it is to avoid being overtaken by a higher-profile rival.
In fact, main media advertising of toiletries, as covered by this report, cost
companies more than £403.9m in 2004. Supermarkets, which have a huge slice of the
retail market, have limited shelf space and a drop in sales will cause products to
be swiftly and unceremoniously delisted.

Although there are specialist personal care manufacturing companies, such as
L\'Oréal, at the forefront of the market, the clear market leaders are multinationals
Unilever and Procter & Gamble, the diversified interests of which include
toiletries. Procter & Gamble\'s proposed acquisition of Gillette will create a group
with annual sales of £32bn, pushing rival Unilever into second place. The merger is
expected to significantly reduce costs, but will be at the expense of around 6,000
jobs, or around 4% of the combined global workforce. In common with other UK
manufacturing sectors, the exodus of jobs from these shores continues relentlessly,
with PZ Cussons being one of the latest to announce that it is to switch production
to Thailand and Indonesia. 160 jobs will go when its Imperial Leather soap factory
in Nottingham closes in 2007.

Most of the product sectors covered in this report are regarded as necessities in
the majority of UK households and penetration levels are accordingly high. If they
cannot increase demand, manufacturers must concentrate efforts on product innovation
and persuading consumers to trade up to premium-priced products. In an ageing
population, there is particular scope to increase sales of anti-ageing products,
which frequently carry hefty pricetags, despite cynics questioning their claimed
properties. However, as well as an ageing population, the UK also has a growing
population, which will increase volume demand. It predicts that UK retail sales of
toiletries will continue to show a steady annual increase in value, growing by more
than 16% between 2005 and 2009.


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