Digital IQ Index®: Personal Care 2015

The $300 billion personal care industry is a case study in falling asleep at the wheel, as disruptors have targeted the lucrative replenishment model, attempting to re-shape the high margin business. Three years since its founding, Dollar Shave Club boasts two million active members, a $615 million dollar valuation, and claims to have surpassed Schick in razor cartridge volume sales. The lucrative diapers business, where Huggies has nearly forty percent market share, is facing a similar threat from The Honest Company, recently valued at $1.7 billion, who likely clocks 80% of revenue from its diaper subscription service. Meanwhile, most personal care brands focus on their e-tailer partnerships. Over 80 percent of brands provide an online path to purchase from product pages to e-tailers, while less than 10 percent offer direct-to-consumer e-commerce. Winning brands will leverage the scale and customer data of their e-tailer partners to personalize consumer experiences and win a place in consumers’ first baskets—important advantages that individual subscription brands cannot match. In our 2015 report, Pampers catapults into first place on the back of a new mobile site, strong e-tailer visibility and content investments across Amazon, Walmart, and Target. Gillette, last year’s Index leader, launched its own direct-to-consumer “Gillette Shave Club”. And continues to be an Index leader in display advertising and e-tailer investment. This study attempts to quantify the digital competence of 72 U.S. Personal Care brands across 10 categories, with a special supplement on subscription disruptors. Members can download the full report at L2inc.com.