Kmart places toys on pedestal - K Mart Corp.'s Sayville, New York store - Hard Lines

Discount Store News, June 17, 1991 by Laura Liebeck

Kmart Places Toys on Pedestal

SAYVILLE, N.Y. - With the opening of Kmart's new store here May 14, a new era of toy merchandising began.

Toys, formerly an also-ran department hidden at the rear of the store, is now a lifestyle department for Kmart, on par with apparel, housewares and bed and bath.

Considered a basic hard lines department, toys is still located next to sporting goods on a main traffic area off of the main drive at the rear of the store.

But now the toy department is about 200 linear feet larger than the previous prototype, at about 600 feet plus another 100 feet for bicycles. The vendor list has been pared and total sku's have been reduced by 20% over the past two years.

Overall, the merchandise appears carefully selected, organized and presented, all of which is underscored by a new shelf sign program that identifies inventory by category and vendor, such as pre-school and Barbie.

Also, adjacencies have been adjusted for more impact. For example, infant and toddler apparel and juvenile products (cribs, car seats and strollers) are located next to toys at the back of the store, and girls' and boys' clothing is across the power aisle. Seasonal toys are now closer to the front of the store.

In its Sayville store, Kmart has allowed many manufacturers to set their own merchandise displays. Therefore, popular toy categories, such as Barbie and Revell Monogram are highlighted with new shelf signs that make power presentations and which give the department an orderly and category-dominant appearance.

On a guided tour of the department by merchandising vice president Dave Schuvie, DSN's attention was turned to a number of highlights including the Barbie program.

Called Barbie World, the Barbie products section is a full aisle run of merchandise stacked neatly below a sign of pink glitter and four-color photos of Barbie and friends in different situations. Revell Monogram has a 27.5-foot run featuring its new 1-2-3 skill level sign and packaging program across from a 20-foot Lego section. Lego also has a special end-cap display along the power aisle to lure in customers.

A new, 45-foot Little Tikes section - essentially a new vendor for Kmart, Schuvie noted, - has been installed across the back wall. Smaller Little Tikes products for pre-schoolers is located in the pre-school aisle. In addition, trading cards, organizers and related merchandise have been given 12.5 feet, in response to the growth of that category, Schuvie said.

Also new is a program called Kids Creative by Rose Art, featuring various art supplies such as paint and crayons, and its Kodacolor license program for puzzles.

Some other features of Kmart's toy department are: * More space for seasonal toys; * Beefed-up selections in many subcategories including pre-school (two aisles), Lego, trading cards, model kits, dolls, both fashion and basic dolls, and books; * Special buy bins located along the power aisle in front of the toy department.

Ample shelf space is still dedicated to action figures, particularly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, ride-ons, bulk toys like Little Tikes and Fisher-Price, G.I. Joe, construction toys and board games.

"There's not another toy department like it," said William Underwood, senior vice president, general merchandise. "We bring style, fashion and trend merchandising to toys."

Particularly important to Kmart's new toy department strategy is keeping on top of current toy trends, maintaining tight relationships with vendors and presenting a strong assortment of basic toys to customers.

"We want to be recognized for our assortments in boys' toys and in girls' toys," said Underwood. "We don't want to disappoint a customer."

While strengthening relationships with the industry's strongest vendors is a priority at Kmart, smaller vendors and new products will not be ignored nor will alternative brands. In fact, they may have an even better chance of getting onto Kmart shelves now that buyers have more control over the buying process.

Underwood said Kmart wants to work with the vendors of the future, those that can "hook up to our system", vendors who can develop their lines and maintain a longstanding relationship with the discounter.

"Strong communication is all-important today. We want to know their growth plans and they need to know ours," he said, adding, everyone needs to be flexible, Kmart included.

Having spent the 1980s watching the rise to dominance of Toys "R" Us and its reshaping of toy retailing, Kmart digested the decade's events and set upon restaging its participation in the $13.4 billion toy business.

Conversion to the new toy format will be chainwide, Underwood said. Already, over 300 Kmarts have toy departments along with the Oak Park, Mich., format, which is now being updated.

Early sales results are encouraging. While toy industry sales were flat in 1990, Underwood said toy sales for Kmart were "over plan" and rose by 12% in December over a year earlier, exclusive of Nintendo and bicycles, which did "double digit increases."