Popular kids' licenses deliver adult-size biz; strategic positioning plays key role in H&BC dept

Discount Store News, June 6, 1994 by Dawn Wilensky

CHICAGO - Children are a powerful buying group capable of exerting a major influence on purchases when presented with health & beauty care products that are fun, collectible and which feature their favorite licensed characters.

Armed with this information, some mass merchandisers are strategically merchandising licensed products in their H&BC sections to capture children's attention and the dollars of their parents.

For example, at Target's Bloomingdale, Ill., store, the discounter offers a section devoted to kids' toiletries and H&BC items. The merchandise mix is heavily influenced by licensed products like Barbie, Lamb Chop, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Tinkerbell and Little Mermaid.

"Target and Wal-Mart use opportunity carts to feature something different every month. This month, Target is doing a Lion King opportunity cart featuring a variety of licensed products," said Ellen Driscoll, unit manager, Tsumura.

Jamesway doesn't take as proactive an approach, but the chain does feature its licensed products like bubble bath and foam shampoo in a special purchase section priced at two for $5.

Regardless of which approach a retailer takes to licensed H&BC merchandise, most industry experts agree that kids products should be merchandised within the child's sight line, at checkout and always at a height or distance that gives the child the ability to reach out and touch a product.

Caldor and drug retailers like Eckerd and Thrifty Drug display kids merchandise in a boutique layout with good results.

These sections feature either a generic children's banner or some vendor inspired logo like KidCare, the brand of children's H&BC products by Secaucus, N.J.-based Tsumura International.

"Retailers must realize that merchandising products in KidCare sections is the next stage up from baby sections," said Tsumura consumer products president Alfonso Lopez. "Babies get older and they get more vocal. That's why it's important to design and develop children's sections so that mom's can find products that kids relate to and want."

But retailers should be careful not to be too trendy in the licenses they choose to feature. The tried and true characters like Sesame Street, Disney, Looney Tunes and others continue to be strong performers while many of those tied to movies have strong but short shelf lives.

"There are certain licenses that have staying power like Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh and The Chipmunks, just to name a few," said a spokesman from Omaha, Neb.-based RC International. "Then there are the in and outs that will have their day, then it's out of sight, out of mind."

"Characters have a lot to do with a popular license. Kids are attracted to faddy things but they always come back to the old standbys like Mickey &

Minnie," agreed Linda Durand, American White Cross, the Dayville, Conn.-based manufacturer of a line of Mickey & Pals products.

At the recently held Exclusively HBA show in Chicago, many manufacturers showcased licensed goods from both established properties as well as from those tied to this summer's hottest theatrical or video releases like "The Flintstones" and "The Lion King."

Cosrich, which has such licenses as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Looney Tunes, is banking on the success of "The Flintstones" movie - released May 27 -with 15 news skus devoted to both kids-oriented H&BC and cosmetics.

"We've introduced molded decanter items for bubble bath and molded liquid antibacterial soap in designs from the animated series and the movie," said Barbara Hoffman, director of marketing of Edison, N.J.-based Cosrich.

Tsumura, too, has developed a line of products for "The Lion King," including bandages in an embossed tin and a new shape and format for its locker bag.

Children are much more interested in what the product looks like rather than the bubble bath or shampoo that's inside the bottle. Therefore, the product must have play value and life after the contents are finished.

International Beauty Concept combines fun and function in its product line by placing a toy inside its glycerin soap, bubble bath and shampoo products.

"Our concept is to take popular licenses like Tiny Toons and make it fun because the toy inside the package has no sharp edges," said David Biernbaum, executive vice president, sales and marketing.

This approach has a two-fold effect: it satisfies parents' desire for their kids to have good hygiene and it is fun for kids because they ultimately get a toy for their efforts.

"It is important that H&BC items have a double appeal, like a bubble bath and then a collectible toy. Price is important, too, as parents don't want to spend more than $5 for any item," said Larry Wilhelm of Minnesota-based Minnetonka Brands.

What's hot in child safety

WASHINGTON - Procter & Gamble has been awarded the Consumer Product Safety Commission's Product Chairman's Commendation for Significant Contributions to Consumer Product Safety.

The award was given to P&G for voluntarily putting a "senior-friendly" child-resistant cap on its new Scope Mouthwash with baking soda