MSE Keeping shines spotlight on evolving storage category - Martha Stewart Everyday

DSN Retailing Today, Oct 1, 2001 by Mike Duff

The introduction of Martha Stewart Everyday Keeping is putting a renewed focus on a category that has become more visible and varied in recent months as many retailers revisit beverage and goods containers beyond the ubiquitous storage tubs.

The entrance of MSE into the category can't help but give it a higher profile among consumers, but specialty retailers and the efforts of home category killers also have had an impact. Take Lechters for example. In its reconstitution to fit the thinkkitchen concept, developed by executives under David Gully, president and ceo, kitchen storage products have gotten a featured treatment, often ending up in window and doorway displays to help drive traffic into stores. He noted Lechters had been ignoring the marketing benefits that can be accrued from such spaces and determined that the retailer would no longer pass up a natural advantage.

One product category the company has used to drive traffic has been kitchen storage. At a store on a retail strip in Forest Hills, N.Y., for example, Lechters featured a variety of decorative storage jars in its large display window.

Keeping brought 314 new products to the Martha Stewart lineup, bringing the total to about 4,500, excluding live plants. Since then, an additional 260 decorating items have boosted Martha Stewart Everyday.

Keeping was a critical initiative for Kmart and Martha Stewart as it constitutes the fifth core area for the MSE product line. And not only the number is significant. The core product selections are the ones the companies plan to build upon as the MSE programs go forward.

MSE brings to Kmart something that is increasingly critical to home products generally, a comprehensive program consumers can easily understand and conveniently shop. Stewart herself touched on the importance of giving consumers more than just a jumble of new products at the time of the unveiling when she noted, "The products we have created are inordinately functional, attractive and practical-and, from our point of view, give consumers all that's needed to accomplish the many organizing requirements to keep a well-run home and to simplify their lives."

They bring the same characteristics to the store, creating several storage and organization boutiques within the context of Kmart's home section. The product assortment is divided into three basic designations-Closet Organization/Clotheskeeping, Laundry Room and Kitchen and Pantry Organization.

One thing that has been demonstrated by the MSE Keeping rollout is that consumers are thinking in broader terms when it comes to storage products. Essentially, at least at Kmart, shoppers are looking to do more than put things away. They are developing a sense of home organization that has a more general frame of reference.

MSE Keeping is being touted as particularly successful even in Martha Stewart terms. Spokeswoman for Martha Stewart Omnimedia Samantha Schabel said, "The reaction to the products has been enthusiastic."

Ironing boards and a label maker have been the top-selling products, indicating consumers have a breadth of view when it comes to home organization. And the success of the label makers demonstrates how consumers want more help getting their things stored and squared away than some might anticipate.

The reaction to MSE Keeping wasn't only strong at Kmart. Abigail Jacobs, a BlueLight spokeswoman, said Keeping launched on the Web site a couple of weeks after it rolled out in stores, but consumers reacted to it with the same kind of enthusiasm on line and bought along the same lines as those items bought at the stores. "The first thing BlueLight sold out of was the label maker," she noted. Ironing boards aren't sold on line.

Kmart isn't unique in pushing storage and organization categories. Of course, discounters in general have become the major source of plastic storage tubs, but specialists have had more varied assortments of products in the category. In many ways, this hasn't changed. Both the category killer and the storage specialists continue to devote more space to most categories beyond the tubs.

Moreover, they generally do a better job of merchandising than discounters do, particularly when it comes to in-stocks. Since many home storage products are relatively large, the category can get cleaned out quickly; it doesn't take more than a few store visits to notice consumers can get frustrated with the category.

Still, that doesn't mean retailers aren't exploring new dimensions in the area. In part, this is driven by innovation within the category. Vendors today offer a variety of clever products. Take, for example, Pyrex's Portables. The product line makes it easy for consumers to cook food and then tote it in the same container. Both bowls and a baking dish in the product line come with insulated carrying bags. In stores and on its Web site, Target offers three Pyrex Portables items ranging from a two-bowl set with a one-and-two-third cup and a five-cup container for $14.99, a three-quart clear baking dish for $19.99 and a three-quart bowl for $24.99.