By Patrick Avenell

SYDNEY, NSW: Philips has revealed some very good results for the first half of calendar 2009, with the personal care specialists preparing themselves for a big Father’s Day. Supporting the retailers is high on its agenda this sales season, with promotions set to encourage sales.

In an interview this morning with Current.com.au, Philips brand manager Roni Robertson outlined some of the success stories for the Dutch brand so far this year.

“We had a great start to the year: with male shaving we’ve got over 51 per cent share of the market, so it’s certainly going very strongly,” said Robertson.

“Male grooming: we’re only a very recent entry in the market but certainly looking to make some strong gains in the category.

“We’ve performed strongly with TRESemme; we’ve got a limited distribution, but where we’re selling we’re performing very well.

“Garment care: we’ve performed very strongly with our traditional irons, particularly in the $100-plus category, we’ve got 47 per cent share of that category and it’s growing very strongly. We’re certainly driving the higher price segment within traditional irons, and we’ll be kicking in with a very strong program with our steam stations, so looking to really grow strongly in that market as well.”

As for the upcoming Father’s Day sales period, Robertson highlighted the boon this holiday provides for male grooming and shaving products. Because of this, Philips will be concentrating its marketing on this range.

“We’ve got our new male grooming range and the male grooming category is growing very strongly. We certainly see the Philips male grooming range adding to that category growth. We’ve got a fantastic gift offer on as well: if a consumer purchases over $49 worth of Philips male grooming products they can receive a bonus travel shaver valued at $29.95.

“[In] male shaving, around 20 per cent of sales are achieved in the months of August and September, so Father’s Day is critical for male shaving, and we think we’ve got a very strong program there with two gift offers: an iBoomHome Sound System valued at $129.95 with the Arcitec shavers and then we’ve got a personal speaker set valued at $59.95 with the SpeedXL range.”

Robertson said this gift with purchase offer will be valid for August and September.