Supplies dress up for back-to-school - school supplies; School and Home Office Products Association show

Discount Store News, Nov 15, 1993

SHOPA Show To Offer Stylish Fundamentals

Fashion, color and sleek designs in school supplies are the key features to capturing sales from students of all ages.

Vendors are so mindful of the taste and style differences in these savvy young shoppers that large sums of money have been invested in market research to determine specific product and fashion directions.

As a result, vendors report that their back-to-school offerings for 1994 are more age-specific than ever before.

"They're getting niched," said Lisa Frank president James Green, referring to both vendor and retailer interest in age- and gender-specific merchandise. Lisa Frank specializes in fashion-forward school and party supplies for young girls. New for '94 is a line of fashion basics, plus activity sets, a hot category in back-to-school and toys, desk sets, and figurines of popular Lisa Frank characters.

Fashion, activity sets and other issues will come to the forefront next month when retailers and manufacturers gather together at this year's School and Home Office Products Association show, Dec. 8 to 11, at the New Orleans Convention Center.

The show is expected to draw about 8,000 people from the United States and 40 foreign countries.

Among the show's highlights will be:

* A new Products Showcase that on opening day will feature a sneak preview time for retailers, 7 to 8:30 a.m.;

* An Information Resource Center where experts will provide information on topics such as strategic planning and planogram management;

* The annual meeting and reception, Dec, 8, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., featuring former first lady Barbara Bush as keynote speaker and board of directors election results.

On the show floor, retailers will be scouring the aisles looking for the newest in school and home office supplies.

Tony Val, divisional vice president, hard lines at Kmart, said his team of buyers and merchandisers is most interested in "fundamentals." He said he will be looking to bolster Kmart's basic assortments such as notebooks and memo pads in addition to sports bags and backpacks. Seeking out new issues is high on Val's SHOPA shopping list.

Many vendors report they are prepared.

Norcom, for example, is using the upcoming show as a platform to launch its first fashion lines. After teaming up with designer Donna Skupien, Norcom conducted focus groups and came up with designs for its juvenile and preteen lines. "This age group was more sophisticated than we thought at first," said Connie Koskinen, Norcom's marketing manager. "Kids are attuned to visual images so the line will feature computerized images of actual pictures."

For preteens, Norcom is emphasizing more feminine graphic designs since at this age boys typically prefer solid color school supplies.

"We wanted to expand our line beyond the commodities," said Koskinen. "Buyers have indicated that they wanted products that offered both a splash of color and fashion in order to draw customers into the stores."

Fellowes has moved in them same direction. The company wanted to forward merchandise that reflects the tastes of its target customers: 5- to 16-year-olds. Market research provided the insight.

Such new items include a variety of corrugated and plastic containers like My Things, where kids can keep their private belongings, or School Tool, where students can carry anything they want back and forth from school.

"Students going back to school want something wild and crazy and they want it in something that doesn't remind them of school," said Clint Bull, executive vice president, sales, Fellowes.

Mead also is emphasizing fashion in its new products. It talked to girls from all grade levels to determine their fashion requirements in school supplies. The result is Nature Pals, an exclusive line of wireless notebooks, binders, portfolios and memo books, plus two new stationery items featuring life-like illustrations of cuddly animals designed too appeal to younger girls.

Its other line, Super Shades, has designs that appeal to junior and high school girls. The line includes the Super Shades Student Planner, which features a full yearr academic planner, reference information and inspirational quotes from famous female authors and personalities.

For the boys, Mead will also debut its No Rules line of sports action products. Six new designs will focus on comic books and video games. The line will also include a student life planner.

In the super hot category of activity kits, a variety of manufacturers will be forwarding new products.

Rose Art, which already has a full array of these kits, is adding the Designer Desk to its mix. The plastic dfesk includes drawing paper, crayons, drawing discs, a moveable drawing bar, stencils, markers and more.

For Creative Works, the activity kit category offers a lot of opportunities, said Bruce Shapiro, president of the company, which specializes in fashion-oriented basics like scissors and protractors, likely additions to the activity set crowd.

At SHOPA, Creative Works will unveil its new Paint Works line, a dual brush and finger paint program featuring 30 colors, It is sold in sets or individually. In addition, the company is debuting the spill-stopper finger grip, a plastic ring with one flat side that circles the paint brush and three paint sponges available in dinosaur, animal/celestial shapes and numbers.