Consumers put value on top of their Christmas wish lists

Drug Store News, Sept 6, 1993 by Liz Parks

Ready or not, the crucial Christmas selling season is right around the corner. The chain drug industry is hoping to put customers in a buying mood with good values, trendy little trinkets and clever marketing geared to young shoppers.

This year, chains and higher volume independents who do a strong cosmetics and fragrance business are redirecting some of their investment dollars. In many instances, buyers are investing less in mass fragrance gift sets and spending the money on bath gift sets instead.

In some instances, buyers are shifting dollars away from fragrance gift sets into single special value pieces, especially items that offer extra value like a 3.2-ounce brand name cologne spray for the price of a 1.7-ounce, or a 2-ounce for the price of a 1-ounce.

Some buyers are also asking their operation departments to request that stores order higher quantities of basic stock, particularly in color cosmetics.

"Cosmetics is a good, solid 12-month-a-year business, but people sometimes forget how much it can peak at Christmas," says Howard Diener, president of Rita Ann Cosmetics, a full service distributor that currently services over 4,000 retail stores.

"We're trying to steer our business into a better blend of open stock, because it is so important to keep the basic wall full to take advantage of the extra traffic in the stores," says Diener.

The buyer for one large regional chain also said the retailer will be beefing up its basic business at Christmas. Like Diener, this buyer said that it is very difficult to get store managers to order extra quantities for the holiday.

"They are so used to their district managers coming in and chewing them out when they have extra pieces on the shelf during the rest of the year," said Diener, "that at Christmas, they're often afraid to beef up their basic business. That just means they're losing some wonderful selling opportunities."

This year, cosmetic and hair accessories are growing in importance. Buyers will increase presentations of cosmetic bags, hair accessories and hand mirrors. Their strategy: Give customers a better selection of items, and at the same time, feature some higher-margin item.