What products keep consumers tuned in?

Drug Store News, Jan 17, 1994

What's burning up the airwaves?

Here's a sampling:

Thrifty's Gary Rocheleau, senior vice president of sales and merchandising, says, "We do very well with 'As Seen on TV' items like Chia Pet, Ginzu knives and Topsy Tail." Another winner for Thrifty is Cybergenics, a diet aid program with a combination of supplements to suppress appetite.

Successful infomercials attract copycat items, and although some can be successful, Rocheleau explains, "What we're looking for is guaranteed sale items. If we're going to sell lookalikes, we want a guarantee because there is a risk involved."

At I got it at Gary's, director of marketing and public relations Raymond Hoy believes it is critical to be the first retailer in a market to offer the merchandise. This chain carries 10 to 15 hot items at any given time. Topsy Tail and Dental White did well at the chain in 1993, although Hoy says, "Nothing is screaming off the carts right now." For a while, automotive merchandise was hot, then it was exercise-related items. Now it seems that toiletries and OTC merchandise are selling best, he adds.

Douglas Gravning, general merchandise manager at Lewis Drug, says timing is important: "We rely on jobbers to give us information on an item that takes off, and then we jump on it."

A trend like exercise equipment has legs, but fresh product keeps the category moving. This year's twist is a Ski Slide priced at $29.95 that sold for $59.95 on infomercials last year.

At Lewis, there isn't a hot infomercial item right now, says Gravning, but the chain is seeing some action on the Jet-Stream Oven cooking utensils priced at retail around $179 compared with $429 on television.

PayLess is doing well with the Ginzu knife, Triple Edged Wiper Blades and Dental White, plus the chain is seeing action on the Magna Sound stereo receiver system, Micro Bead ear bug jogger radio and some familiar standbys like the Picker Upper lint remover and Pony Flips, one of several look-alike hair accessories.

Harco buyer Gene Bailey notes that at any given time the chain will carry two to 15 items. Lasting Kiss and Dental White are two items currently doing well. He aims for a 40 percent margin on infomercial products but says, "You can't always do that."

At one major chain, the director of merchandise reports that this chain carries a few dozen items at any given time. In November, the chain carried 21 infomercial products. It only stocks two to five pieces of bulky items.

"There's not one category of merchandise that sells better than another--it's newness and television that sell these items," says the chain's director of merchandising, who says he achieves a margin of 25 percent-plus on infomercial product.

Like the race for TV ratings, infomercials compete for viewers. Even if infomercials have lost some of their luster recently, as one buyer says, "A good infomercial sells."

The convenience of drug chains captures a lot of that business just by spotlighting the TV cachet. "People who are going to buy the item buy it because they saw it on TV," says Harco's Bailey. "All you really need is signage that identifies the items."