Eveready makes new moves in battery battlefield

Discount Store News, Oct 10, 1988

Eveready Makes New Moves in Battery Battlefield

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Locked in a seesaw battle with Duracell for dominance in the alkaline battery market, Eveready is striking back by: . Introducing a line of 11 moderately priced security and safety products; . Bringing out a line of flashlight-based toys; . Extending its market segmentation approach from batteries to flashlights; . Repackaging its lights into six lines differentiated by intended use: auto, home, outdoors, workshop, disposables for pocket or purse, and deluxe, gift-type lights; . Reducing by one-half the charging time for its rechargeable battery chargers to seven hours from 14.

Starting this fall, Eveready will be offering its Eversafe line of safety and security products in 10 Midwestern states from Pittsburgh west to St. Louis and north into Minnesota, Gary C. Baker, director of trade development, said at a recent press briefing. Nationwide distribution is set for late 1989.

Meijer, Grand Rapids, Mich., is the first discount chain to carry the 11 items in the home security and safety line, Baker said at the headquarters of Eveready's parent, Ralston Purina.

In the fire safety category, the Eversafe line consists of a basic smoke detector, a fire extinguisher and a child locator package containing a smoke detector and a separate window-mounted detector that flashes a red light, instead of sounding an alarm.

The personal safety category consists of a remote light controller, a personal siren alarm for women to carry in their purses and a portable burglar alarm that protects a single window or door.

In lighting, the Eversafe line offers five products: a light intended for closets or stairwells that lack wiring; a light-activated socket good for both indoors and out; a light-activated timer; an electric candle for emergency use; and a power failure light that operates like emergency exit lights in public buildings. Plugged into an electric outlet for constant charging, the light comes on when power fails. It then can be unplugged for use as a flashlight.

The alarms and lights all are battery powered, of course.

Intended retail prices range from $4.99 for the electric candle to $25 for the child locator package, said Ward M. Klein, director of new products.

Margins are expected to run about 40 percent.

Eveready is merchandising the products in a Home Safety Center that comes in expandable 2-foot and 3-foot modules.

The flashlight toys are the Pocket Trout, a young adult novelty item that lights up when squeezed; Dream Chasers, a projector light that casts up to 50 different figures, such as jet fighters and dinosaurs with optional disks; and Beastie Beams, a flashlight covered with translucent heads of one of six different monster figures intended for kids 4 through 11.

Eveready's segmented repackaging of its flashlight lines includes a symbol that shows the consumer the use for which the light is intended. Emergency lights for the home, for example, feature a house symbol on the package. And the waterproof flashlight aimed at the outdoor enthusiast features a leaf symbol on the package, said Tony Bevilacqua, director of lighting products. Suggested retail prices range from $1.49 for the low-end home flashlight to $23.99 for the deluxe personal light that uses AA batteries instead of the usual D cells.

Eveready claims that its new line of battery rechargers reduces recharging time to seven hours--thanks to larger transformers--from the industry norm of 14 hours.

In addition, each charge in a new Eveready rechargeable battery packs 10 percent more power than in the old, Bevilacqua said.

The flashlight market segmentation follows two such efforts in the battery market: Giftmates, holiday-season batteries with Christmas motifs printed on the jackets, along with clear, plastic flashlights to show them off, and the Conductor line, intended for portable radios and cassette players.

The Conductor battery produces superior sound because its power level remains constant throughout its life, Eveready claims, whereas the power level of a normal alkaline battery declines gradually as it wears out.

The average audio consumer would be hard put to tell the difference, however, between the Conductor and Eveready's alkaline Energizer battery, conceded B. Gilbert Merritt, director of technical resources. The major difference will be the marketing thrust based on the theme of superior sound reproduction and a 4 percent to 5 percent higher price, he said.

Eveready executives were reluctant to refute directly a recent Advertising Age article that said the company's share of the $2.5 billion battery market has declined markedly as Duracell's share has gone up.

They did concede, however, that Eveready and Duracell are fighting a tug-of-war, with each now holding an equal share of the alkaline replacement market of 42 percent to 45 percent. About 62 percent of all replacement batteries sold at retail are alkaline, with zinc carbon still accounting for the balance of 38 percent.