Move over Millennials and Gen Z, the next growth market is pegged to be kids eight years old and up.
The number of tweens (those eight to 14) is projected to total 23 million by 2020. They represent a double-barrel spending power — money their parents spend and their own dollars — totaling more than $260 billion.
Social media has pushed tweens to grow up faster with a desire to transition swiftly into adulthood. But as they undergo puberty, boys and girls have special cleansing needs that adult options don’t address. Risa Barash, founder of Fairy Tales Hair Care witnessed that firsthand when her son hit puberty and required targeted cleansing products.
This month she’s rolling out TBH, an acronym for To Be Honest. The eight items pick up where her 20-year-old Fairy Tales leaves off. “Our customer is growing up,” she said. “We wanted to find natural products for kids going through puberty to control the oils in their hair.” Beyond hair needs, she saw changes in her son’s skin, sending her to the drawing board for facial products, especially for acne.
She has a proven track record for finding opportunities. Fairy Tales has the number-two selling item in Target Corp.’s youth hair sector and the top-selling conditioner on Amazon. The brand’s sales are up 34 percent this year and she has a baby assortment in her blueprint for further sales expansion.
To meet the grooming needs of the tween and teen years, Barash worked with her chemists to find natural ingredients to get the job done. Among those are witch hazel, aloe, murumuru butter, quinoa, cedar bark, nettle, cucumber and chamomile. “We tested them all on my kids and their friends,” Barash said.
The lineup includes shampoo, conditioner, spot wash, face wipes, body lotion and body wash. The TBH Spot Wash and TBH Spot Wipes contain 0.4 to 0.5 percent salicylic acids and witch hazel. There are also gentle wipes with cucumber, Calendula and chamomile. Wipe technology for this age group is a fresh idea, according to Barash, who believes they’ll be among the fastest sellers. A deodorant will add to the assortment next year. Prices range from $6.95 to $9.95.
To please parents and kids who are more environmentally minded, the lineup is free of harsh chemicals, parabens, sulphates, phthalates, PEGs, tetrasodium EDTA, artificial dyes, soy, dairy, gluten and nuts.
Tweens dominated headlines 15 years ago when a rash of products were unleashed to capture their dollars. The market hit a speed bump when kids bypassed the products they felt were too childish. Barash ensured her packaging is relevant and that the formulations mirror those for adults, but tweaked for special needs.
To introduce TBH, Fairy Tales reached out to its 60,000 people in its database and has signed up more than 12,000 interested consumers already. For launch, Barash is sticking with a direct to consumer model. “This is a grassroots approach, that’s how we built Fairy Tales. We’ll go off of consumer feedback.”
Source: Read Full Article
You may also like
