Industry irons out strategies in mature laundry care market

Discount Store News, Feb 9, 1998 by Dawn Wilensky

Ironing the wrinkles out of the workaday laundry care category has become the focus of leading suppliers over the past few selling seasons through aggressive merchandising, new product innovations and upgraded fashion.

"Laundry care has always been a strong category for discounters," said Dan Clarence, vp of sales and marketing at Seymour Housewares. "What retailers are demanding is that we have product that is going to turn well. We are responding with products that maximize their space."

While space allocation for laundry care products hasn't changed much at discount stores in the last five years, retailers are reacting well to changes within the mature category with upgraded in-store merchandising and advertising efforts.

Discounters remain the category leader, generating more than half of the sales in laundry care, estimated at $300 million last year vs. $280 million in 1996. Margins are significant, estimated between 30% to 45%, and have attracted the attention of specialty stores as well as supermarkets and drugstores as a means of capturing some non-food dollars.

"I'm not saying that laundry products fly off the shelf, but when we devote an endeap to attractive ironing pads or create a value-added gift with purchase, we do get a sizable increase in purchases," said a housewares buyer from a Northeastern chain.

Ironing boards (including small and countertop boards) comprise the largest segment of the business, about 32%. That is followed by accessories such as clothespins, clotheslines, laundry bags and lingerie bags, 24%; ironing board covers and pads, 22%; storage and organization including hampers, 13%; and wood and metal dryers, 9%, according to a leading manufacturer.

Target recently devoted a half page of ad space to laundry and storage accessories including a garment rack, ironing board, folding wire cart, three-compartment sorter and fabric clothes closet in its weekly circular, all priced at $18.88.

Unlike most retailers, Target skews its selection toward its Trendlines private label line. Most others tend to split the real estate between market leaders Seymour Housewares and Whitney Designs. There are also several smaller companies such as Magla Products, Pro-Mart Industries and LBU Inc. that have a minor presence.

Each retailer approaches the category differently. For example, Wal-Mart requested that its principal vendors, Seymour Housewares and Whitney Designs, work together to create special packaging for its lines in order to give the category a more cohesive look. Another approach taken by a Northeastern discount chain was to create specific price points, $12.99 and $14.99, for its two major lines (Seymour and Whitney Designs) to simplify the shopping process for consumers.

Caldor confined all 21 ft. of space at its Manalapan, N.J., store to Seymour Housewares with a diverse selection of products including three ironing boards that range from $14.99 to $34.99. The mix also includes ironing board covers with decorative designs, wooden clothes dryers, laundry sorters and an endcap of accessories such as a clothesline pulley, line tightener, clothesline and clothespins.

Kmart restricts its mix to a smattering of ironing boards and covers mixed with some accessories. At its store in Sayreville, N.J., 17 ft. of space was devoted to two ironing boards and an ironing board cover from Seymour, a hamper from Pro-Mart Industries and laundry and accessory bags from LBU Inc.

"Shelf space has not changed dramatically over the past five years. What has changed is that retailers are trying to make better use of space. They are making the department easier to shop," said James Glenn, president and ceo of Whitney Designs Inc. "Five years ago, you would have seen multiple price points, which made it difficult to correlate price points and features. Now we are giving more defined price points with more defined features.

Some of those features include a fixed iron rest, a cord minder (keeps iron cords out of the way), a folding shelf and the addition of color and fashion on everything from laundry bags to ironing board covers to clothespins.

Product durability also ranks high with consumers, and Seymour Housewares tackled the problem at the recently held Housewares Show with a three-sku line of metal sorters and hampers at the same price points of traditional polyvinylchloride products.

Reaction among retailers to The EZ-Sorter, Sorting Center and SortMaster was great, according to Clarence at Seymour Housewares. The company also introduced two new cover and pad sets, IronGlide and Scorchsheld, and four new laundry bags: Pack 'n Pouch, Bag'n Carry, Tote'n Go and Stuffn Taff laundry bags in new fashion colors.

In addition, Whitney Designs went to the market with its most innovative product in years. Called Iron 'n Fold, the product is an ironing board that fits in between the washing machine and dryer and swivels out so that it can be used as an ironing table or folding table.

Like many manufacturers in the housewares category, Whitney decided to debut the $39.99 product through the home shopping environment. It did so for two reasons: to have a better forum in which to explain the unique features of the products; and to prevent price point deterioration, often problematic in the mass market. During the summer, the product will roll into catalog and specialty stores, with year-end penetration targeted at the mass market.