‘Kid Nation’ to send Teen& Tween grooming product sales beyond $8 B by 2012.

After a soaring growth rate of 20% from 1998-2002 and continued double-digit growth through 2007, the U.S. teen (age 15-18) and tween (age 8-14) grooming products market will finish 2007 racking up nearly $7 billion in sales, with anticipated growth reaching more than $8 billion by 2012, according to a new report from Packaged Facts, Teen & Tween Grooming Products: The U.S. Market.

In a world beyond grunge where botox and anti-aging creams rule, members of what Packaged Facts terms “Kid Nation” – those age 10-19 who have reached puberty, seek romance, have real spending power and are highly brand aware – are not bashful about spending big bucks to make themselves look good. Skincare purchases by teens and tweens -or purchases by adults for them – are soaring above $3.2 billion this year. Similarly, haircare sales are pushing past $2.4 billion. And for a market often obsessed with girls, HBC sales to teen/tween boys are climbing toward the cool $2 billion mark.

A diverse market with hot spots and dead spots, the overall positive forecast relies on diverse market drivers including kids’ love of premium brand images; the influence of “pop-prestige” retail formats; kids’ green-mindedness; and companies’ creative battle tactics that encompass everything from mass advertising to flash mobs to text messaging.

“The teen/tween grooming market is not behaving as the mature market that stalling population numbers would indicate,” notes Tatjana Meerman, the Publisher of Packaged Facts. “Kids are responding well to the soft- positioning of existing adult grooming items, brand-dedicated websites, product placement deals and text messaging campaigns as their awareness of appearance becomes more sophisticated and their spending power blossoms.”

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