Market analyst NPD Group reported this week that facial skin care is tipped to drive the men’s grooming category, and Bulldog co-founder Simon Duffy believes that the trend towards natural skin care has been a particular success for his company.
“During a period when the value of sales across the overall market and for the major international brands has been in decline, Bulldog has been growing quickly,” he told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com.
“I think this is driven by our ever increasing brand awareness and the surging trend for people to opt into natural skin care products. The trend towards natural will continue to build over the next 5 years.”
To Sweden and beyond
The Original Eye Roll-On which contains avocado, borage, and cucumber oils, is the latest addition to Bulldog’s natural skin care range and will be available online and in UK retailer Boots, following its introduction in Sweden.
Sweden became Bulldog's first overseas export market in February 2010, where it has enjoyed a good reception ever since, with sales having grown to such an extent that Bulldog is outperforming larger international brands with some of its retail partners.
“In Sweden, Bulldog is a really popular brand and has won some brilliant awards from leading men's magazines such as KING Magazine and Cafe Magazine. We see a huge demand in Sweden for innovation and consider launching new products in Sweden in the future,” said Duffy.
“[The Eye Roller Ball] has been selling much quicker than originally anticipated and we also won an important award for best men's face product for the eyes. The reception in the UK has also been great so far.”
It doesn’t stop there…
Bulldog has been expanding very quickly across new international markets recently and Duffy explained that he anticipates the latest product will also launch in some of Bulldog’s other international markets later this year.
“Consumers switching into natural skin care will be the biggest trend in men's facial skin care in 2012. Any retailer that is serious about men's skin care will need to offer naturally formulated options in 2012,” he added.
Bulldog also became the first male skin care company to be recognised and approved ‘cruelty free’ by the BUAV, last year.