Coche_y_bondhu
Don't mess with Texas!
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 2246
Location: Plano TX USA
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 Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:45 pm Post subject: Vendor Spotlight: Eric Roos - The Nancy Boy Company |
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After 15 years in high-profile jobs at multinational ad agencies, helping diverse clients like Levi's, Clorox, L'Oreal and, yes, Cher develop and strategically market their jeans, cleaning products, lotions, potions and colognes, Nancy Boy co-founder Eric Roos set out to turn the beauty business' style-over-substance business model on its head! Nancy Boy's burgeoning success is proof that folks choose truth over hype, quality over image, every day of the week.
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SMF: The Nancy Boy Story on your website shares with us some of the history about Nancy Boy, but can you tell us more about Nancy Boy, when was it actually founded and how did you decide on such a unique name?
NB: We began selling Nancy Boy products in October, 2001, but the company was founded approximately one year prior to that date so that we could do the R&D necessary for the first five products with which we launched the company: shampoo, conditioner, styling gel, body moisturizer and ultramarine night cream. At first, we sold our products only through nancyboy.com, then in mid-2002 opened our retail store in San Francisco. It’s kind of a chuckle to look back in amazement at how we were able to have a rather large retail space with only 5 products. As an early customer noted, “You’ve brought minimalism to an entirely new level.” Now we’ve got a whole bunch of SKU’s, more than we probably should have, but every time we try to get rid of something, loyal customers balk. The name comes from an antiquated slang term that was popularized at the turn of the last century by upper class British “public school” boys like Oscar Wilde. (In Britain, public schools are actually private schools.) It referred to boys thought to be gay. Among certain segments of the British public, this tendency was not viewed with the same alarm or derision as in the US, and the term “Nancy Boy” was often used with some affection. We wished to be upfront about the fact that our company is owned by gay men, both because so many people in this business are gay, yet hide, and because we wanted to leverage the growing perception that gay men have an inside track when it comes to health and grooming. What turned out to be somewhat hilarious is that barely anyone in this country, straight or gay, has any idea what the term means! However, when a Brit or an Australian wanders into the store, they usually giggle themselves to death.
SMF: You have such beautiful glass and ceramic wares in your store. Who makes these works of art for Nancy Boy and are you planning to offer them to your online customers?
NB: These pieces, both glass and pottery, are all vintage. They are selected by my partner Jack, who has developed quite a reputation among collectors from all around the world. We never imagined that this sideline would turn into a major part of our business in the store but it has, and I attribute that to Jack’s impeccable taste. I really know very little about this stuff and freeze in horror on the few occasions when a customer catches me in the store and asks me a question about it. The glassware is mostly Murano, which comes from Venice, I think, and was made mostly in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s and ‘60’s. The pottery, however, is mostly from the US, except for an outstanding collection from Germany, but is also mid-century. Because each piece is one-of-a-kind, it would be sort of impossible to offer it online.
SMF: Your shaving products are highly regarded by the cognoscenti in our shaving community. Can you tell us about your plans to expand the shaving product line? Can ShaveMyFace members anticipate unique Nancy Boy brushes and razors soon?
NB: That is high praise indeed, so first let me say thanks. Much of our recent growth can be attributed to the great guys in your forum especially. There are so many brands out there and they are so much flashier than we are, but I know and you guys know what’s real and what’s good, so having your support has meant the world to us. We just introduced our new replenishing scent in the shave cream and are now working on some companion products for that, specifically an after-shave balm and possibly a pre-shave preparation, so look for those in hopefully the not-too-distant future. We’ve thought about doing our own brushes and razors but our philosophy has always been to enter a category when we think we can do better than what is currently available and can offer it a competitive price, rather than just slapping our logo on a parity product.
SMF: Cucumber is the newest scent in the Nancy Boy line. You already have a cucumber scented shave cream, face mask, face moisturizer and shower gel. Good quality cucumber scented products are hard to find in the toiletries world. So many companies try to take shortcuts when it comes to using real cucumber essence. How are your cucumber products different and can we expect to see more cucumber products with the Nancy Boy label?
NB: The difficulty any brand faces when trying to incorporate cucumber into its line is the astronomical expense. Cucumber isn’t available in an essential oil; rather, it is steam-distilled into a hydrosol, which is like super-concentrated cucumber water. 99% of manufacturers can’t justify the added cost of this ingredient, so instead use chemically-derived artificial cucumber scent, which, as artificial scents go, is actually pretty good. It’s just not real and when you smell the two side by side, you can tell big time. We’ve never had a scent take off like this, which is why we’ve expanded the line. Look for a body bar (bar soap) in this scent on May 1.
SMF: Eric, the Nancy Boy Club is a huge success judging from all the positive reviews on this forum. How did you get the idea for the Nancy Boy Club? Will you be adding more club benefits?
NB: In my advertising career, I was a very frequent flyer. I started back in the early-‘80’s, pretty much when the mileage programs began, and really enjoyed the benefits. But then I watched as the airlines, in trouble financially, gradually stripped away the perks. Like everyone, I was always being solicited for various loyalty clubs at retailers, but was so pissed off when they demanded upfront payment, in the form of a membership fee, for the “privilege” of giving them my loyal patronage! So, I knew there was potential value in a loyalty program, especially for us, because our entire business is dependent on highly satisfied repeat customers. But I felt there should be no barrier to membership, that benefits should accrue immediately, in the form of an everyday discount, and that, finally, we should reward our most loyal customers with free items to forcefully communicate how valuable they are to us. At this point, I’m not sure at what point we’ll be adding more benefits, because we are experiencing, like so many businesses these days, significant cost increases that we are trying not to pass along to our customers. Of the five products we launched with, we haven’t raised the price of any of them since 2001.
SMF: One of the unique products that you offer at Nancy Boy is a wide variety of travel toiletries. Besides being able to get a decent sized sample of your products, why did you decide to offer such a niche product line?
NB: Our customers seem to be road warriors. Every time we come out with something popular, we get a lot of requests to make it in a travel size. Obviously, the new security regulations have a lot to do with this, because so many of us would prefer not to check luggage.
SMF: Let’s talk demographics, Eric. Can you share with us the number of male versus female customers, domestic versus international? Basically, what type of consumer buys Nancy Boy?
NB: When we launched, we were sure we would be a predominantly men’s line. But nearly six years later, half of our business is women. We don’t know how much of that business are women buying for men, but based on the emails we get, it appears that we have a very healthy number of female users. My sense is that many women are as turned off by the overpowering scents and expensive, sub-par formulations as men. Also, we sell basic soaps, shampoos, lotions, shave creams—all of which are unisex—plus a range of home products like laundry soap and home fragrances that are very appealing to women. For cosmetics, they shop elsewhere, but for basics, we’re a great resource.
SMF: Your fragrance product line has the Butch and Fem scents. Eric, what are your plans to introduce more cologne fragrances? Are sprays and splashes on the horizon as well?
NB: Colognes are so difficult. It took us more than a year to produce each of the two fragrances we have now. When you go the all-natural route, as we have, you’ve committed to using 20 – 30 different plant-based essences for each scent. It’s like a Rubik’s Cube—change one and the whole thing changes and you start over. So it’ll be a while before we introduce another one.
SMF: Nancy Boy room scents are certainly some of the most unique in the aromatherapy industry, especially your essential oil bottles with wicks and the room sprays. Eric, such products don’t normally fall into the category of grooming essentials, so why did you decide to take such a bold move and offer such a different product?
NB: You could probably say the same thing about laundry soap. As I mentioned above, we tend to look at product categories where the current offering is sub-par—where we think we can do better than what’s available. Natural fragrance is always a driver for us, because it is so very powerful. We evolved as a species alongside plants—they were there before we were. And the part of our brain that processes natural, plant-derived scent is the oldest and most primal—our limbic brain. We share it with dogs and jaguars and all other mammals. That’s why we’re so intoxicated by a tropical paradise, so aroused by the scent of our mate’s body. Artificial scents don’t have this effect because they were created, well, within the last 200 years or so—a nanosecond in universal time. So these product lines fit well in our portfolio because the beauty and power of natural, plant-based scent is the through-line.
SMF: Laundry powder is certainly a departure from toiletries and grooming. Can you tell us more about this product? Everyone can use a clean, fresh smelling, and eco-friendly laundry detergent. Right, Eric?
NB: Our formulation is a big departure from what’s available in the supermarket, which I know because I spent 8 years working on Clorox brands. The cheap industrial grade soaps in every supermarket brand of laundry detergent (both powders and liquids) are so crude and strong that they can never be fully rinsed out in the wash. In the dryer these soap residues form an invisible crust on every piece of fabric. The result? First, everything feels rough and uncomfortable. Second, the dried soap crystals rub together and cut the fabric, resulting in too much lint in the lint trap. Third, this rubbing creates static cling.
Rather than tell all of us about this problem, manufacturers turned the problem into a revenue opportunity and created fabric softeners and dryer sheets. These products work by coating the crusty soap residues with an oily slickness that fills in the molecular gaps between the soap crystals, providing a false sensation of softness and depositing yet another layer of gunk onto our stuff. Clothes are less breathable and you really notice it on towels, because they’re so much less absorbent—water beads up on that oily surface rather than being absorbed by the cotton fibers. So when we developed our laundry soap, we formulated it with concentrated high-quality soap that powers out tough stains but also rinses out to almost imperceptible levels, thereby making it unnecessary to use a fabric softener or dryer sheet. This approach results in naturally soft, cuddly laundry, a dramatic reduction in static cling and a decrease in lint of at least 30% thereby lengthening fabric life. We offer it in three scents (lavender, lavender-geranium, lemon verbena) but in this case I have to confess the scent isn’t the big deal—it’s the softness and eco-formula that sells this product. In fact, people who like strongly-scented laundry, like Tide provides, are invariably disappointed, because this product doesn’t leave much of a scent at all.
SMF: Skin and hair care is a multi-million dollar per year industry. What makes Nancy Boy a player in this mega-industry? What do you do differently in formulating and marketing your line of skin and hair toiletries?
NB: Well you’re certainly kind to suggest we’re a “player” but we’re really a boutique brand running around the legs of several multi-national titans. Between them, L’Oreal and Estee Lauder control about 80% of the premium market for hair and skincare; looking at mass, drugstore-type brands, it’s P&G, Unilever, etc. These conglomerates own zillions of “companies”, which are simply faceplates for the same, undifferentiated goop that comes streaming out of the pipes, sort of like what’s going on with the pet food catastrophe: one vendor, many brands. So we’re different in terms of our size, obviously, which, in turn, makes us very different in terms of how we formulate and make our products. Unlike those behemoths, we’re not publicly traded, so we don’t have quarterly numbers to meet, and don’t need to pump up the margins by compromising product quality. We also don’t do any paid advertising of any kind. When you consider that these companies spend up to 30, 40 or even 50% of the cost of the actual product in marketing and packaging costs, then you have to question what’s in the actual bottle or jar. In our case, everything goes into the bottle or jar. Just compare the ingredients listing. Or, better yet, use the products and see for yourself. We’ve always felt that if you find something that works better for you, buy it!
SMF: Nancy Boy products get rave reviews here on ShaveMyFace and other men’s grooming websites, and your superb customer service is second to none. But I’m afraid we have run out of time, Eric. Is there anything special you would like to say to all your ShaveMyFace customers? We’re listening!
NB: Again, we can only thank you for your valued patronage and what I might call camaraderie. On those days when things are just a little upside down and I’m feeling out of sorts, it’s nice knowing there’s a group of folks out there like you.
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