Bath and sun care products reaped big profits for chains in '92

Drug Store News, April 5, 1993

Bath continues to excite retailers as sales of upscale and boutique lines show gains. Sun care, fueled by sales of high SPF products and self-tanners, was also a strong HBA category.

Bath was one of the hottest toiletry categories for drug chains in 1992. The boom is credited to a back-to-basics mindset among working women looking to relaxing baths as a treat after a hard day at the office or shuttling kids around.

A recent Gallup Organization poll found that 32 percent of consumers surveyed took baths regularly instead of showers, compared with just 18 percent who responded the same way in 1991.

That supports the boom in the bath category. The result: a 15.4 percent sales leap in drug chains during the past year to $104.7 million.

Lines such as Sarah Michaels, Del's Naturistics, Freeman's Beautiful Bath, Bodycology Yardley's new Bath Shoppe continued to provide chain drug customers with upscale lines at value prices. Tempting packaging and endcap displays gave drug retailers an opportunity to make a statement with bath products.

Many retailers added a few new lines to their offerings and several retailers, such as Kmart and Thrift, expanded the space they devoted to bath to position themselves against specialty stores. Retailers that carved out the additional space said the items demanded display space so that customers could touch and smell the products.

In addition to specialty bar soaps, bubble baths, bath oils and lotions, retailers devoted some extra space to loofahs and natural sponges to increase the upscale image of the departments. The ancillary items sparked gift sales and provided a boutique image for drug chains.

Basic bath, while not enjoying the increases that specialty products are producing, has remained steady. The segment has not had many new introductions, so strong existing brands are capturing the most sales and slower-moving brands are being weeded out as space becomes even more precious.

"Calgon continues to do a strong business," said a buyer at a Midwestern chain. Benckiser Consumer Products' Calgon line, the brand leader in the basic category, has recently put more advertising dollars behind its products. "They are about the only commodity bath line doing anything in the way of advertising," said one buyer.

Sun care shine

The sun care category provided year-round sunshine for retailers. The total sun care volume for drug chains in 1992 totalled $216.7 million, an impressive 8.7 percent ahead of 1991 sales. The growth was largely due to higher SPF products and self tanners.

Retailers said that SPFs of 15 and above moved best. Sales were fueled by consumers' growing wariness of sun worship. Sun care manufacturers offered SPF protection in a variety of formulations, from creams to gels to sport-specific items. Manufacturers even created a niche with items targeted to children, such as Coppertone's Water Babies. Several skin care introductions also included sun protection benefits to consumers.

Toward the end of the year, manufacturers also began offering PABA-free formulations, which offer maximum skin protection without the sting caused by PABA-based products.

Sunless tanning products also brought some dollars to the category. The number of SKUs in the category dramatically increased during the year and more introductions are certainly on the way.

The products no longer carry the stigma associated with early products that turned the skin orange. And to dispel lingering myths, manufacturers were offering products in sample sizes so leery customers could make a minimal dollar commitment to try a tan.

The products made the category a year-round dollar producer for retailers as those heading for vacations and those fearing the damage of sun-induced tans turned to self-tanning products.

Men's shaving wakes up

In the long dormant men's shaving category, the launch of Gillette's Series grooming products for men was cited by retailers as a promising new line. Riding on the success of its Sensor razors, Gillette developed the 10-SKU line as the first premium-priced mass men's grooming collection.

The product are retailing at 20 percent to 80 percent higher price points than other gels and foams in this price-sensitive category, but as retailers found with women's skin care lines, consumers will part with the extra cash if they perceive a value in the products.

And retailers are happy to pull a respectable margin in a category that has become a loss leader.

The ad dollars spent to position the line as a winner, including the television ad kickoff during the Superbowl, plus freestanding displays and plenty of promotional dollars, guarenteed retailers that a sleepy category was waking up.

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