Why retailers rate Banana Boat

Drug Store News, April 5, 1993

Retailers, understanding that "me too" products do not grow categories or being in new users, appreciate Banana Boat's innovativeness.

But they also like the company's flexibility, category expertise, promotional support, and customized service.

As innovators, Banana Boat gave the mass market its first SPF 15, the first patented nongreasy moisturizing based product, the first eight hour waterproof protection product, and most recently the first sunless tanning lotion specially formulated for faces.

Many of their products were the first on the market to contain all natural ingredients like 100% pure Beta Carotene (Vitamin A), Vitamin E, Collagen, Melanin, Aloe Vera Gel, JoJoba and other natural skin moisturizers.

They also have the only high SPF spray oil available on the market right now, and they have patents pending on many of their new products like their PABA Free Broad Spectrum line which includes the new Banana Boat Maximum Sunblock 50.

Banana Boat Understands

Category Trends

Banana Boat also acts as a category consultant, helping buyers understand segment trends so that as they begin to redesign the category each year, they can pull together the best possible product mix.

And because Banana Boat has a full range of sun care products with leading items in all the key traditional and growth segments, retailers can rely on Banana Boat to deliver top performance in each and every category segment.

Out of the approximately 54 companies who compete in this category, only one other manufacturer has a similar broad assortment to offer retailers.

More than any other HBA category, sun care is very affected by environmental changes. Because of ozone depletion and other environmental circumstances, consumers today are in twice as much danger from sun exposure than they were just 12 years ago.

And through constant bombardment by the media of environmental hazards, consumers know about the danger and are more likely than ever to seek sun protection.

That's why sales have been shifting in recent years away from sun tanning products and toward higher protection products and sun less tanning lotions.

As a full assortment manufacturer, Banana Boat is always caught up in these trends, and consequently they're right on top of them.

Banana Boat Builds Sales

With Local Promotions

As time goes by, it's become clearer and clearer that the money companies invest in promotional and local media programs can be more effective than the dollars they tie up in national advertising spending.

P & G's Bain de Soleil, for example, has a 34% share of voice in media spending, and a 9% share of promotional spending, but only an 11% share of total category sales.

Vaseline Intensive Sun Care has an 18% share of media advertising, but only a 7% share of promotional spending, and they generate just a 6% share of sales.

On the other hand, Banana Boat, on a dollar per share point basis, spends as much as Coppertone on local promotions, and twice as much as Bain de Soleil.

That strategy has made them the fastest growing brand in sun care, and currently, with a 12% share, neck and neck with Hawaiian Tropic for the number two spot.

And retailers have more flexibility and broader advertising options when they deal with sun care companies who invest in promotional spending.

In store merchandising

Banana Boat knows how to promote sun care "from the bottom up". They specialize in creating and concentrating on a wide regional and local variety of events, supporting them through flexible local advertising, and especially radio.

Working with individual retailers as partners, they are able to create customized displays, complete with shelf identification labels with pictures of the products, bar codes, and other identifying numbers for easy reordering.

The store service program they offer helps retailers manage the entire sun care category, not just the Banana Boat lines. Retailers who use their service find that out-of-stocks can be minimized, sometimes virtually eliminated. even in high volume sun care stores.

By taking advantage of Banana Boat's "van servicing" store program, retailers in major sun care markets can elect to have Banana Boat representatives service their stores on an individual basis.

Or retailers can elect to warehouse the Banana Boat line and maintain inventory control either through local Banana Boat support or through their own warehouse systems and procedures.

This year, Banana Boat is also introducing a new service for retailers: a video training film that chains can use to help cosmeticians, pharmacists and other service people understand the importance of sun care, and how products work to minimize skin care damage.

By distributing the video as a retail service, Banana helps to encourage more sales through suggested selling as well as to expand consumer knowledge about the category, and the brands that will work best.

Given the growth potential of the sun care category, the future prospects for Banana Boat and its retail partners are extremely bright.

Banana Boat has been called "the growth brand of the 90's", In ten short years, it's gone from a small local brand to a national brand with a 12% share of total category sales.