Hair products - Wall Street - Don't bump

[belleza]

We need to find out if some of the companies we spend so much money with are publicly traded.

"Chicago-based Hunter Miller Group said African-American spending power is expected to soar from $645.9 billion this year to $852.8 billion in 2007. And this group’s spending share in the hair care sector is nothing to ignore—30%—according to Hunter Miller.

African-American shampoo sales jumped 37.3% to $7.8 million, according to Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago. Shampoo unit sales rose 33%. Conditioner sales increased as well, up 11.5% to $19.9 million. These figures exclude Wal-Mart sales.

Hunter Miller insisted in its “Born to shop: the purchasing behavior of African-Americans” report that African-Americans base their heath and beauty purchases on their unique physiological needs, and spend 47% more on personal care products than other groups."

We need to benefit from our propensities. I propose an LHCF investment group.

 

[ms_kenesha]

Good idea!:dollar: :dollar: :dollar:

 

[belleza]

The BSS Trade Secrets is owned by Regis corporation. The Ticker symbol for Regis is RGS. So if you want to buy stock in this company reference that ticker.

More to come...

 

[Solti]

This is a great idea!

 

[Healthb4Length]

I think this is a wonderful idea!

 

[SouthernGirl]

Fabulous idea Belleza. I need to read the article again, but it seems to suggest that we are spending a lot of those dollars on products designed and produced for (and in some cases by) African Americans (Dudley, Soft Sheen Carson, etc). I base this on the part of the article that mentions our "unique physiological needs."

It would be interesting to see how much of our dollars are going to these companies, versus non-black companies like Revlon to do a comparison. That may have some impact on the companies we chose to invest with.

Keep us posted. This is great to hear!
SG

 

[greenidlady1]

Great point, SouthernGirl.

There was an article in Black Enterprise a few years ago about the erosion of black-owned hair product manufacturers.

They mentioned Soft Sheen for one and I'm trying to think of the others. At any rate, lots of the products we buy that are 'for us' may not be made 'by us.'

Take care,
G

 

[belleza]

I will keep you posted. Personally, I'm tired of buying products from people who don't need, use, or want what they sell!

 

[Lorraine]

L'Oréal USA acquired Chicago-based Carlson~Soft Sheen Products. You can find more information on the performance of L'Oreal (LORLY) here. Soft Sheen includes Dark and Lovely, Optimum care, etc. I don't believe Dudley's is public.

Great thread.

Other things to keep in mind:
- Hair color sales are in the $11.9 million market, rose 6.6% last year, according to IRI. This is one of the few categories that saw growth in the African-American segment.

- Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Clairol Professional division is heating up the shelves with its new Textures & Tones Red Passion collection

- NY based New York-based Colomer USA owns the Creme of Nature brand

- In the past five or six years in the industry, we’ve started to see a trend towards getting more natural

- relaxer sales were down 5.2% last year according to IRI

- Luster Products, Inc., is the No. 1 player in the ethnic hair dressing and No. 2 contender in the curl/wave maintenance categories according to IRI. Luster is not public from what I uncovered.

- Overall, sales in the ethnic hair care industry fell 2.4% in the past year. But shampoo and color categories have enjoyed substantial gains at 15.7% and 7.6%, respectively. Industry experts offered several reasons for these results, such as ethnic consumers widening their purchasing arena. Why? Ethnic consumers are not solely purchasers of ethnic products; they are now trying other brands.

 

[SouthernGirl]

Great point, SouthernGirl.

There was an article in Black Enterprise a few years ago about the erosion of black-owned hair product manufacturers.

They mentioned Soft Sheen for one and I'm trying to think of the others. At any rate, lots of the products we buy that are 'for us' may not be made 'by us.'

Take care,
G

Thanks Greenidady,

The other company I was thinking about is Johnson Publishing Co, but they compete more on the cosmetic end than haircare. Some of their biggest competitors are L'Oreal, Alberto-Culver, Revlon, and Estee Lauder, and Essence of course on the publication end. I don't know if they're publicly traded though, but we also spend a bunch of money on make-up!

I believe the key is circulating our OWN dollars in our own community, but if the profit margin is not there from an investment standpoint, I totally understand chasing the bucks in an effort to maximize your return.

SG

 

[belleza]

Cinnabuns' thread about Creme of Nature got me thinking. Creme of Nature is owned by Revlon. I have a Sharebuilder account, so I went out and bought some stock in this company. It's really easy to open an account. www.sharebuilder.com.