Made for a Man – But She Likes it, Too

Men like to buy. They just don’t like to shop. Make it logical and intuitive for them to find what they’re looking for and you’ll have a loyal customer. Once they’ve bought a bar of deodorant from you, they’ll keep coming back for that bar of deodorant until you or the brand or the world go out of business.

Why don’t retailers make it easy? The supermarkets have always gone aggressively after the healthcare and cosmetics business, adding aisle upon aisle of women’s soaps, lotions, creams, makeup, shampoos and conditioners, etc. Men’s products are in there, too.

But have you ever tried to find the men’s stuff? It sort of blends in there, near one end of the shampoo aisle or on a shelf on the skin care aisle.

So here comes Gillette, with the first smart initiative about marketing to men since it began sponsoring sports on television in the early 1950s with a familiar, unforgettable jingle. (“To look sharp, every time you shave . . .”)

Gillette recently introduced a “men’s zone” in an H-E-B supermarket in Schertz, Texas. It’s an entire aisle dedicated to more than 530 men’s grooming products. No more hunting through those overhead signs for “razor blades . . . razor blades . . .”

This is not purely a Gillette area. The brand has invited everyone in: Old Spice, Axe, Mennen and the rest. But, of course, products from Gillette and its parent, Procter & Gamble, get the best shelf positions, the heroic end cap presentations and most of the promotional space.

For example, there are touch-screen monitors on the shelves featuring videos on product benefits and features. What do men like better than watching TV?

Guys don’t have to be embarrassed any more, forced to steer their carts up and down aisles of mascaras, blushes, fragrances, lip glosses and the dreaded feminine care products. (What are you looking at, pervert?)

And, by the way, this is an excellent opportunity for women, too, who often shop for their husbands, sons, fathers, boyfriends, et al., and are as confused by hair gels and body washes as men are by beauty balms and rejuvenators.

So kudos to Gillette for figuring it out. Kudos, too, to H-E-B for seizing this opportunity. And kudos to the day my supermarket gets on board and stops stuffing my shaving lotion in the panty hose aisle.