SHOPA goers to seek innovative items to perk up biz - School and Home Office Products Association show

Discount Store News, Dec 4, 1995

DALLAS - Popular licenses should once again dominate the 1996 Back-to-School selling season.

After a disappointing 1995 Back-to-School period, retailers and manufacturers will be looking more diligently for new products to perk up the business and drive customers into the stores.

For the new season, in addition to Disney and Looney Tunes characters, sports figures and logos from major league franchises, Coca-Cola and McDonald's join the field of licensed school supplies, appearing on notebooks, markers and personal diaries.

In office, ergonomically designed products such as chairs, desks and chair pillows will be available as will more colorful offerings in office supplies.

These trends and others will be showcased at the School & Home Office Products Association (SHOPA) show held here Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. Approximately 10,000 attendees are expected to visit the show's 500 exhibitor during the three-day event.

"As you look around the SHOPA floor this year and compare it to earlier stationery shows, the product being presented would have been scoffed at in past years," Hills' buyer Nora Cline said. "With our manufacturing partners, we have to challenge ourselves to become even more innovative in product, more focused on managing categories and better at communicating with the consumer."

This year's SHOPA show, titled "A World of Opportunity," features longer show hours than previous events (8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for the first two days and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the final day) to facilitate the needs of attendees. Among the special features at this event will be the group's updated Industry Distribution Trends Report, a study of 1993 and 1994 U.S. manufacturers' dollar shipments of SHOPA product categories through key channels.

A.C. Nielsen will give a brief yearend category data summary as an extension of the SHOPA/Nielsen Partnership.

On the merchandise side, manufacturers will be emphasizing a mix of fun with function to attract attention.

Innovative product is cropping up in organizers, for example, a segment that regional discounter Pamida expanded in June. Pamida has repositioned the stationery/greeting cards department to a more prominent location in the store, closer to a power aisle. Day planners and pocket planners were two Cambridge by Mead products that were added to the planogram over the summer, according to stationery buyer Joe Fell.

Day Runner, Fullerton Calif., will introduce two lines of licensed product at the show.

Day Runner Mickey Unlimited, a licensed product line formed with Disney Consumer Products, will feature easy-to-use organizers, planners, assignment books and diaries - complete with stickers to mark important days and events - designed for kids ages 6 to 12. Day Runner will also offer a line of Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes products, including various organizers that feature a calendar, telephone directory and note pages. These items are targeted to consumers ages 12 to 30-something.

These two licenses could prove to be a strong combination for mass channel distribution. Although Hills' Cline warned that consumers may be reaching a resistance point with licensed goods, she believes that 1996 will see a resurgence in the basic licenses, such as Mickey Mouse and Garfield. She also noted an increased consumer acceptance of sports-related stationery, particularly NFL and NBA licensed products.

NFL Properties will be present in various school supplies categories. Over the next year or so, a full line of NFL-licensed home office supplies. made specifically for adult users. will be launched. Plymouth, Mead and Sanford Berol (formerly Empire Berol until it merged with Sanford) will most likely be involved in the licensing agreement, said Tom Weiner, NFL Properties' director, kids non-apparel sales.

Other new licenses will be crowding into the show aisles.

New World, Pomona, Va., known for owning several patents on ergonomically designed pens, will introduce a licensed line of Sailor Moon pens. "Sailor Moon," a trademark of DIC Entertainment, is a children's animated television program that features female superheroes. The program has met with greater success in Europe and Asia than Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles combined, said New World's vp of sales Jim Howren. "Sailor Moon" went into syndication in the United States in September.

McDonald's has cropped up as a licensee in the stationery industry over the past year. Most recently, Stuart Hall, a Kansas City, Mo.-based division of Newell, joined up with the fast food giant to create a McDonaldland Scribble Pad. In addition to going through mass channel distribution, the 100-page Scribble Pad activity book will be made available to participants of the McDonald's Happy Meal scratch-and-win sweepstakes.

Stuart Hall has also teamed up with Coca-Cola for a new line of portfolios, binders and notebooks featuring Coca-Cola's Polar Bears, a major advertising icon for the soft drink maker.

Texture and color are more important than ever in school supplies. Pen-Tab, a leading paper-organizer maker, will introduce four new lines of organizational products for students. For example, Pro-Ball has a variety of embossed covers that simulate the feel of athletic equipment, such as a basketball and football.