Fashion, image drive hair accessories

Drug Store News, Oct 20, 1997 by Peter Malbin

Fresh, colorful product is driving sales of high-impulse, high-margin hair accessories, which retailers say needs to be treated as a fashion category.

Total dollar sales in the category fell by 1.5 percent for the 52-week period ended Aug. 17, 1997, according to statistics from Information Resources Inc. Drug stores, including chains and independents, recorded a decline in both dollar amounts (by 1.4 percent) and unit sales (3.3 percent) for the 52-week period.

However, some major drug chains are reporting an increase in their business.

At Walgreens, hair accessory sales have increased compared with last year, said Yvette Venable, a spokesperson for the chain. She did not specify by how much.

"Scunci barrettes and clips and Conair professional brushes are selling really well," she said. On the other hand, fabric bows and ties are waning, Venable said. She mentioned claw clips, Bead Magic and Tap Teaser among Walgreens' other fast-selling items.

Rite Aid's hair accessory category has grown substantially in size and earnings this year. "A lot of our new stores are larger, and we are buying more," said Jodie Hartman, a spokesperson for Rite Aid. "We are selling more, too."

Fashion accessories

Drug stores need to treat hair accessories like jewelry, said Kathy Pingo, buyer/merchandiser for Hi-School Pharmacy.

"You have your basic, everyday items [Goody] and then you have fashion," she said. "Fashion changes from season to season. It needs a continual facelift. We had Revlon for over a year. It sold initially, but then it came to a grinding halt. The patterns weren't being changed ... We were a little gun-shy about taking on a new brand," Pingo added.

"We took on Scunci in May. I bought it to run on an ad and all the stores sold out. We had a complete sell-through with our Scunci promotion. I bought about three of them so far. Another one just hit," she said. "We're also looking to have a basic section on Scunci." Pingo said Hi-School Pharmacy will be getting some more Scunci and Shalom (an imported brand) for Christmas.

"We've just put into place a test program with Karina in three stores. I'm looking for that to be a winner," the buyer said.

Pingo said margins are 55 percent on Karina; more than 50 percent on Scunci.

Margins on hair accessories products are about 30 percent and higher at May's Drug Stores, said Bob Berman, vice president of merchandising and buying.

The whole category is up by 7 percent at May's. "Barrettes and clips are performing best," Berman said. "We ran some coupon promotions. They did fair."

Berman said May's uses in-line displays, merchandising hair accessories "right after cosmetics, across from shampoos. We devote 12 feet to hair accessories."

Mass is May's main competitor. "Mass has higher traffic. Drug must continue to offer and show new items and selection," Berman said.

According to Berman, May's changes its hair accessories planogram twice a year. `We try to use a category manager. We study the sales of the items, and we delete those that don't sell, and we try to put in something more efficient that would sell."

Hi-School Pharmacy uses wing panels for its in-and-out hair accessories programs. "Goody is in-line on everyday promotion," Pingo said. "Karina is on a floor spinner. Scunci is on a wing rack, and we're also going to test their shelf extender."

A buyer for a Northeastern chain said the hair accessories category is way up compared to last year. "There is a lot of excitement in the category," the buyer said. "There are a lot of new products, new promotions. If you keep up with it, you can have an increase in sales. You have to update your planogram often and make sure you have the hot items when they come out. It's a fashion business. People make impulse purchases."

"Drug stores can increase their sales of hair accessories by using offshelf displays, floorstands, side-racks and counter-units," noted Francine Carmody, creative services manager for Goody.

The top players

In the hair accessories category, Goody has a 28 percent market share (in dollar sales) and a 34 percent unit market share for the 52 weeks ended Aug. 17, 1997. Wilhold, which Newell purchased from American Greetings in July, ranks second with a 7 percent dollar share and an 8 percent unit share.

Goody's dollar sales have risen by 5.6 percent and its unit sales have grown by 2.5 percent for the 52-week period. Wilhold's dollar sales rose 20.4 percent and its unit sales grew 14 percent during this period.

Scunci is ranked third with a 6.6 percent dollar share and a 4.8 unit share in the category. Scunci's dollar sales rose by 1.1 percent and its unit sales grew by 17.6 percent during the reporting period.

Fourth ranked is Revlon hair accessories, which is licensed to Goody. Revlon has a 5.1 percent dollar share and a 3.2 percent unit share. Revlon's dollar sales fell by half a percentage point and its unit sales grew by 1.6 percentage points in the 52-week period ended Aug. 17, 1997.