The “Fierce Marketing War” in the Shampoo and Body Soap Industry

The “shampoo and body soap industry” created by marketing

In this day and age, it is not only young people who carefully select shampoos and body soaps.

This realization came to fruition when a FRIDAY reporter visited a drugstore in Tokyo. The store was crowded with housewives and office workers on their way home from work at 6 pm. When she looked at the shampoo section, she saw a middle-aged man in a suit. He rummaged through several products, and after some deliberation, he put P&G’s “h&s for men” shampoo for men (launched in 2001) in his basket and headed for the cash register. Kensuke Kanzaki, a researcher on cleaning and an expert on consumer goods, said.

I have been using this product for about five years. Men secrete more sebum than women and use hair styling products more often. For this reason, many of the men’s shampoos sold as men’s shampoos are specialized in providing a refreshing feeling, scalp care, and care for age-related odors. I tried various products for a while, and ‘h&s for men’ was the most dandruff-suppressing product among them.”

In recent years, men’s products have been attracting attention not only for shampoos but also for body soaps. Kao’s “Men’s Biore ONE” (launched in 2006) is an excellent product that can wash hair, face, and body all in one.

The main target is working men. They are busy and find it troublesome to use separate shampoos, face washes, and body soaps. That’s what we focused on with Men’s Biore ONE. In terms of individual categories, there are other shampoos and body soaps with excellent cleansing power, but they cannot match the appeal of having everything in one package. Shampoos and body soaps are an industry where marketing power is more important than product performance.

The shampoo and body soap industry in Japan itself is an industry created by marketing. Economic journalist Takai Naoyuki explains.

Japan’s first shampoo was Kao Shampoo, launched by Kao in 1932. The catchphrase at the time was ‘Once a week, even if you are tired. Then, in 1955, after the war, when Kao launched the powdered “Kao Feather Shampoo,” the catchphrase read, “Wash your hair once every five days! ‘”

Little by little, Kao sent out copy that encouraged consumers to wash their hair more frequently, emphasizing the importance of its products. However, around 1970, the penetration rate of indoor baths was about 50%. People went to the public bath only about three times a week.

At that time, people who went to public baths washed their hair only twice a week at most, and suffered from dandruff and itchiness. In 1970, we launched Merit, a long-selling shampoo that is still the best-selling product in the industry today, as a remedy for these problems. After achieving success with its anti-itch and anti-dandruff products, Kao turned its attention to the quality of hair as its next step. In 1976, Kao introduced the concept of “cuticle care,” which became the original of the popular “Essential” series.

And a ¥10,000 hair-growth shampoo.

Kao’s marketing ability to create and capture customer demand extended to body soap as well. In 1984, the company sold the body soap “Biore-u” with the copy “No more soap. At a time when the majority of people washed their bodies with soap, this product caused an unprecedented boom.

Kao continues to reign as the absolute king of the shampoo and body soap industry. However, the companies that are following in the footsteps of the king are now in hot pursuit in two categories: “high price” and “high quality. They are “high price” and “men. Men’s beauty researcher Gaku Fujimura says, “High-priced products are becoming a hit.

The first time a high-priced product became a hit was with the COVID-19 crisis. Products costing more than 1,500 yen began to sell because they were a familiar luxury. In particular, the high-priced shampoo “Botanist” (launched in 2003) by I-ne, a manufacturer of beauty-related products, became very popular, and in 2010, the company’s shampoo “YOLU” recorded 10 million units sold annually.

To compete with this, Kao launched “Melt” last year.

Another recent trend is that an increasing number of middle-aged men are now choosing shampoos for their own hair, although they used to use shampoos bought by their families at random.

One high-priced product for men is Amphur’s “Scalp D” (launched in ’05). What was revolutionary about this product was its marketing approach of using shampoo to wash the scalp rather than the hair. The “Scalp D” series is quite expensive, ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 yen.
Hair-growth shampoos do not “make hair grow,” but rather create an environment conducive to hair growth. They are characterized by the abundance of ingredients that improve scalp circulation and the balance between oil and moisture.

Shampoos for men are a major focus of each company, including the aforementioned “h&s for men” sold by P&G, which has hit products such as “Pantene”; Lion’s “PROTEC” (launched in 2011), which includes “Octo Medicated Shampoo” (launched in 1985); and hair conditioner products such as “Pantene” (launched in 2010), “Pantene” (launched in 2011), and “Pantene” (launched in 2011). The “Medicated Scalp Deo Shampoo” (launched in 2003) is sold by Mandom, the company behind the GATSBY hair styling products.

Of course, Kao also has a full lineup of products for men. Originally, Kao approached hair growth with the Success brand (launched in 1987), but the company has expanded this approach horizontally to sell a wide variety of men’s shampoos, including Success 24 (launched in 2007).

Unilever Japan, the giant manufacturer of the popular shampoo “Lux” and body soap “Dove,” is also trying to survive in the men’s market with its shampoo “Clear for Men” (launched in 2002).

In contrast to the shampoo industry, the body soap industry is dominated by “Biore-u” and “Dove.

Compared to shampoos that claim to provide scalp care and hair growth, body soaps tend to be more difficult to understand in terms of functionality, so many people tend to stick to standard products. However, in 2007, “Deoko Medicated Body Cleanse” sold by Rohto Pharmaceutical was an extraordinarily big hit. Originally intended for women, the product unexpectedly became a huge hit among middle-aged men as well.

The product has a sweet, flowery fragrance rather than the usual refreshing scent for men,” said Mr. Kurokawa, “but it was a hit on social networking sites. However, men who tried the product on social networking sites said, ‘If I use this, I can smell sweet on myself,’ and the hashtag ‘Uncle Deoko’ was created, creating a social phenomenon. The product became so popular that sales were temporarily suspended.

The shampoo industry, with its “high price” and “men’s” products, is challenging the king of the shampoo industry, while the body soap industry has produced a record-breaking hit product. The “fierce battle for Reiwa” that is taking place in the shampoo industry is like a “marketing war to attract men.

From the February 14, 2025 issue of FRIDAY