Package deals: prepackaged chemical sets take one-stop shopping one step farther

Pool & Spa News, April 23, 2004 by Julie Phillips Randles

Today's pool and spa chemicals come in bright, color-coordinated bottles. They feature easier-to-understand directions. And there are new formulations designed to take care of a multitude of water-chemistry problems.

Yet many homeowners would rather run the other way when it comes time to select the right chemical programs for their pools and spas. Rows upon rows of sanitizers, clarifiers, algaecides, flocculants, sequestering agents, balancers, shocks and more can intimidate even the hardiest consumer.

That's why many retailers have found success in offering customers package deals rather than bottle-by-bottle sales. For example, Teddy Bear Pools & Spas in Chicopee, Mass., sells nearly 2,000 chemical sets each year, says Julie Hynek, assistant store manager. She purchases them from the manufacturer and has each bottle labeled with the Teddy Bear name and logo. The manufacturer allows the store to customize the kits to include any combination of chemicals.

The sets include only "what everyone is going to need," Hynek says. Other chemicals that may be required then are sold individually.

Set standards

"Start-up," "opening" and "closing" kits sell more often than other packages. Pools and spas tend to require a greater amount and variety of chemicals at these times.

In the packages, the volume and type of each chemical an vary depending on whether the kit is being sold for aboveground pools, inground pools or spas. What's included also varies, but the package sets often begin with a similar group of basic chemicals. They may include the following:

* Pool start-up kits

Contents consist of sanitizer, nonchlorine shock, a sequestering agent, clarifier, an algaecide and a stabilizer, such as cyanuric acid.

* Spa start-up kits

Such kits have sanitizer and shock, at the very least. More complete kits also include a stain-and-scale control product, waterline-film control product, pH adjusters, a total alkalinity increaser and chemical test strips. Kits for spas running on bromine systems include bromine tablets, bromine concentrate, pH adjusters and a water clarifier.

* Opening packages

Shock, algaecide and clarifier come in these packages. Some also may have balancing agents, metal sequestering agents and filter cleaners.

* Closing sets

Sets include nonchlorine shock, algaecide and metal sequestering agents to protect the pool from stain and scale formation.

Many retailers use these standard kits as a starting point. Beyond the basic kits, some stores encourage customers to purchase individual bottles of chemicals based on their water's specific needs. For example, customers bring in water samples for testing and then purchase the appropriate chemicals to treat the minerals in their water.

Water s different, so we test everybody's," says Suzanne Heim, marketing director at Classic Pool and Spa in Gladstone, Ore. "The kits we've chosen are basic. I carry them because customers can pick them up off the shelf, take them home and use them with a limited chance of causing any problems."

Chemical manufacturers often consider input from retailers on what should be included, making the kits somewhat more customized. Some manufacturers are more supportive than others of packaging chemicals in sets.

Customers seem to appreciate that their retailers have a hand in selecting which products make up the kits. "They know we won't push a product they don't need," says Rick Clifford, store manager at Sunshine Pools and Billiards in Mesquite, Texas. "It makes for loyal patrons."

Benefits in bulk

Retailers and customers alike reap benefits from the sale of chemical packages. For retailers, the kits allow them to introduce a complete water-treatment regimen from the get-go. That way, customers get a clear picture of which products they should be using on a regular basis.

Another benefit, Heim says, is that her customers recognize the packaging from year to year and "know that they need [what's in] that box."

Selling the kits, which include specialty chemicals with higher profit margins, also helps retailers recoup revenue lost from the sale of loss-leader items such as chlorine. Typically, chlorine needs to be sold at a lower price to remain competitive with big-box retailers.

Retailers often get some form of discounts from the manufacturer if they are purchasing a large volume of sets, says Valerie Green, retail manager of Central Iowa Pool & Spa in Des Moines. "Out manufacturer does discount the kits and offers merchandising materials like signs and posters" for use in the store, she says.

That discount often is passed on to the customer. While many retailers include the initial start-up kit for a new pool or spa in the vessel's purchase price, other chemical packages tend to be sold at somewhat reduced prices throughout the year.

Customers believe they are getting a better deal by buying a set and may in fact, be saving approximately 5 percent, says Clifford. Other retailers, such as Hynek, estimate that people may save $5 to $7 by purchasing chemicals in a set compared with purchasing them individually. She posts signs near the chemical packages showing the price comparison between the kits vs. purchasing individual bottles.