Discounters favored for microwave cookware

Discount Store News, July 4, 1988 by Mary Ellen Kelly

Discounters Favored for Microwave Cookware

Nationwide DSN Report

Discount department stores in particular are positioned to benefit from rising sales of microwave cookware and accessories. The discount department store was singled out by nearly 40 percent of U.S. consumers who own or plan to buy a microwave oven as the preferred outlet of choice for making microwave cookware purchases, according to a survey conducted for DSN by the Chicago research firm, Leo J. Shapiro & Associates.

Thirteen percent of that consumer group specifically cited K mart as their store of choice, while 11 percent named Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Retail buyers and vendors asked by DSN to comment about the study's findings agreed that while demand is not quite as strong as it was in the past, the market for microwave cookware is far from saturated.

Demand is especially high among consumers under the age of 35. The older the shopper, the less likely she is to need additional cookware pieces, the study showed.

About 40 percent of microwave oven owners said their cookware collection is not yet complete. Of those, nearly 60 percent expect to purchase their cookware collection piece-by-piece rather than as a set.

Harry Fishman, president of Eagle Affiliates, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based microwave cookware supplier, said that his company has found that individual pieces outsell prepackaged sets by a ratio of 6-to-1.

As a result, Fishman is phasing out some of the company's boxed sets. "Sets are an old-fashioned way of marketing the product. Now we have individual pieces in sleeves that cover only about 25 percent of the product. Sales have been tremendous compared to boxed cookware sets," he said.

Noreen O'Reilly, buyer for Jamesway, the Secaucus, N.J.-based discount chain, said the retailer still stocks some sets, but is concentrating on open-stock microwave cookware in its 12-ft. department.

O'Reilly has tailored Jamesway's assortment to the shopper who is now aware that her microwave oven does not require highly specialized cookware, and who will not pay prices that are higher than conventional oven cookware.

"A year ago the price range was $8 to $20 and now it is $2 to $14," O'Reilly said. Department sales increases were double-digit last year, and are expected to be in the 10 percent to 20 percent range again in 1988.

Cookware sets were also among the sku's eliminated at Ames Department Stores when the Rocky Hill, Conn.-based discounter decided in April to cut the department in half, from 16 running feet to 8 running feet.

"Microwave accessory sales have been very soft for us in the past year or so," said Jim Aglio, Ames vice president, general merchandise manager, home furnishings. "One explanation is that the customer realizes she doesn't have to buy specialized housewares to use in the microwave, another is saturation."

If a retailer's assortment is predominantly plastic, he is missing the majority of his sales opportunities, the study indicated. Glass is the preferred cookware material, and represents the only microwave cookware where there is considerable brand preference, according to the survey.

Fifty-five percent of consumers said they preferred glass cookware when compared to a third of respondents who opted for plastic. When asked about disposable cookware, 35 percent said they might buy some in the future.

Corning Ware and its Corelle and Visions brands were mentioned by 25 percent of all respondents who own or might buy a microwave oven, as the brand of cookware they would choose. Several other brands were mentioned including Pyrex, Tupperware and Rubbermaid, but each of them generated less than a 5 percent response rate.

Al Donnelly, spokesman for Corning Glassworks, said the company's launch of its single-serve Visions cookware line is meant to further develop its microwave user business.

PHOTO : Microwave cookware sales are strong despite microwave oven market saturation, according to

PHOTO : a recent DSN study.

PHOTO : Clover offers shoppers glass cookware marketed for microwave oven/storage use. Among

PHOTO : consumers looking to buy microwave cookware glass is preferred.

PHOTO : Discounters like Venture, Kansas City, Mo., were the preferred retail outlet among

PHOTO : consumers who were in the market to purchase microwave cookware.

PHOTO : Microwave cookware sets, like these at the Martha Stewart Kitchen Korner, K mart, Atlanta,

PHOTO : are losing favor to individual pieces.