Bright year is forecasted for sun care

Drug Store News, Sept 8, 1997 by Peter Malbin

Neutrogena is supporting its brand with television advertising. "Our products have a bit of department store cachet to them," Learn said.

Industry experts say that premium products, such as Neutrogena and Pfizer's Bain de Soleil, are doing well in drug stores because of their positioning and imagery.

Neutrogena provides drug stores with sunless tanning sidekicks and counter units, which can be placed off-shelf in the beauty section of the store. "We have a large display program and permanent fixtures that can last for the entire season. We have them in Phar-Mor and Drug Emporium," Learn said.

"Drug stores are increasing their off-shelf displays, which is key, because sun care is still an impulse purchase. There's a high correlation between incremental sales and off-shelf display activity," Learn said. "By the cash register would be a key location [for sun care]. The best places would also be end-aisle, by the pharmacy and in the cosmetics section."

CVS merchandises sun care in the skin care section on one shelf. Armstrong said there is also a trend toward merchandising sun care near the pharmacy department.

This season, the Rhode Island-based chain is devoting more space to sun care, using off-shelf merchandising and endcaps.

At Phar-Mor, sun care sections are anywhere from two- to eight-feet long.

Chains report that they advertised sun care this year with the same frequency as in previous years. According to a spokesperson for Phar-Mor, two leading manufacturers offered consumers bonus packs in their leading SKUs, "providing great value for Phar-Mor customers." The Youngstown, Ohio-based chain also did various event promotions, including the Coppertone boogie board event, a Banana Boat raft giveaway and a Panama Jack licensed product giveaway.

The presence a manufacturer has in the drug store is vital for its products sales, commented Douglas Sweetbaum, skin care category director for Pfizer Consumer Health Care Group, the manufacturer of Bain de Soleil. "People make the decision at the store based on the display, how it looks on the shelf, the image and the price"

"We are trying to take advantage of the brand which is perceived to be upscale, effective and European. We redesigned our logo across the brand," said Sweetbaum. The new products all have French names, such as Le Sport and Mademoiselle, which is targeted to teen-agers.

Pfizer acquired Bain de Soleil from P&G two years ago. Pfizer is not yet quite meeting its projections on a national basis, Sweetbaum said. Bain de Soleil was down 14 percent in the latest reporting period.

"We are going to roll out a category management program on a national basis next year. The key to this business is more of a trade-oriented push program rather than a consumer-pull program. The battle is won and lost in store," Sweetbaum said.

Consumer awareness

Learn said Neutrogena's higher SPF products continue to gain in popularity because consumers are becoming more sophisticated and educated about the dangers of the sun.

Increased media attention on skin cancer, in general, also is prompting more consumers to buy sun care products with higher SPF, Howard of Med-X agreed.