Bright year is forecasted for sun care

Drug Store News, Sept 8, 1997 by Peter Malbin

After a mediocre 1996 season, several chains are reporting brisker sun care sales this year. At CVS, for example, the category is up considerably this year compared with 1996, with a 19 percent increase in unit sales and a 26 percent rise in dollar amounts, according to Debra Armstrong, category manager.

New items are driving the category, Armstrong said. Various sub-segments of sun care are performing strongly at CVS, she said, including baby and children's products, sports, sunless, private-label and value sizes. CVS's best-selling brands this year were Coppertone, Neutrogena and Banana Boat, in that order.

Other chains also say the category has improved vastly this year. Phar-Mor, for example, reports a 30 percent increase in dollar sales this year, with tanning items, sunless and children's products leading the way.

"Sun care is doing much better than last year," said Lyndie Burlew, sun care buyer for Happy Harry's. She cited two deet-containing insect-repellents that have taken off this summer: Coppertone's Bug & Sun lotion, available in SPF 30 for kids and SPF 15 for adults, and Banana Boat's SPF 15 Bite Block.

But not all the news is upbeat. According to Jerry Howard, director of operations for Med-X, the chain is only having a so-so season. "It is a mild summer for us," he said.

Recent statisitics from Information Resources Inc. paint a mixed picture for the category. While the suntan lotion and oil category is up slightly in dollar sales (by 2.4 percent), drug stores (including chains and independents) are losing ground to mass merchandisers and food stores.

Drug stores' dollar sales declined by 1.1 percent for the 52-week period ending July 20, 1997, according to IRI. During the same period dollar sales for mass rose 3.4 percent. Food reported the highest dollar sale increase, up 6.6 percent.

The entire category was down in unit sales, by 2.4 percent. Units shifted at drug stores declined by 5.2 percent and fell by 2.2 percent at mass. Food, which was up 2 percent, was the only class of trade with an increase in the number of units sold.

Drug stores have not been performing as well as the other channels, noted Ken Meeker, vice president of marketing for Playtex, which markets Banana Boat, the second-ranked sun care brand.

"Drug was once the biggest channel. Mass (which has passed drug in units sold) is much more aggressive. They have made sun care a destination category. Drug treats it as a convenience, not as a destination," he said.

Wal-Mart typically allocates 12 to 16 feet of space to sun care. Constrained by square footage, most drug stores have eight-foot sun care sets in the season and four-foot sets year round, Meeker said.

Sun care is a seasonal category in most parts of the country and is highly weather-dependent, pointed out Tom Feitel, senior director of sun care marketing for Schering-Plough, which markets Coppertone, the industry leader.

The sun care selling season usually starts at spring break, and this year, spring sales were "terrible," according to Roy Devine, executive vice president of sun care for Panama Jack. But, excellent summer weather in many parts of the country has boosted sun care sales, say industry sources.

Once the weather picture improved, so did sales in this high-margin category (about 32 percent to 35 percent on branded items and 60 percent to 70 percent for private label).

Besides the brighter weather, some of the factors contributing to the upswing in sun sales are new product introductions, advertising and creative merchandising.

"This was one of the most prolific years for new product introductions," noted Bill Kinney, vice president of sales and marketing for Solar Cosmetics, which makes the No Ad brand. "The biggest introductions were in the tanning category, and there were a lot of bug-and-sun products introduced as well," he said.

Hot sellers

Each year, there is a novelty item that sells well, said Howard of Med-X. This year's is Coppertone Kids Colorblock lotion, he said. It turns purple and then disappears after it is rubbed in. The waterproof formula provides protection for six hours.

Also hot this year is the self-tanning sub-category, Howard said.

Technology has been improving greatly over the last few years in the sunless category, noted Stephanie Mellenberndt, product manager for Hawaiian Tropic. The company is adding an herbal self-tanning foam next year as an extension to the herbal line that was started in '97. It contains DHEA. Hawaiian Tropic has been running FSIs in newspapers nationwide to support its herbal line.

"Even the higher-priced brands, such as Neutrogena, are doing well with sunless," Howard said.

Neutrogena is the fastest-growing sun care brand, up 31 percent, according to IRI.

A lot of Neutrogena's growth in the past year has been fueled by sunless tanning products, noted Suzanne Learn, marketing manager for Neutrogena, which is owned by Johnson & Johnson.

In fact, six of Neutrogena's 13 SKUs are devoted to sunless tanning. "They are very natural-looking, without streaking, and are fast-drying," Learn said. Sunless tanning, which she describes as "a safe alternative to going in the sun," appeals to women between the ages of 18 and 54.