Marketing scents with deep variety and sharp pricing

Drug Store News, April 19, 2004

In trendy Miami, Navarro Discount Pharmacies has transformed itself into a designer fragrance haven. The 52-foot-long wooden fixtures, which look like they were ripped right from the pages of a department store catalog, are stockpiled with 5,000-plus SKUs to enchant the most finicky noses--not to mention pleasing the most frugal shoppers--most items in the set are discounted at up to 70 percent.

The drug chain's perfume arsenal remains unparalleled in the industry and is a hit among its shoppers, 90 percent of which are Hispanic. Several surveys have identified fragrance as a key area of interest for Hispanic-American shoppers.

The revamped fragrance department accounts for roughly 10 percent of front-end sales at the family-owned drug chain, which operates about 20 locations.

To help promote the department, Navarro advertises its fragrances both on its Web site at www.navarro.com and in circulars.