Weather protection

Drug Store News, May 20, 1996

Retailers need more than a rain storm to sell weather protection products. They need to have full stock, have the right assortment and have the products accessible to consumers.

The most important thing retailers can do in this category is make the product available to the customer," said Jack Heines, chairman of J Jay Products. "Retailers need to make the most of rolling displays when the weather is foul. Whenever they forget to do that, they are losing sales."

Bad weather sparks 40 to 45 percent of sales, according to John Catt. marketing director at Totes. Catt agrees that too often, buyers and store operations people have different agendas. "Last year I heard from a number of buyers that it s getting harder and harder to get floor space for the category," he said. "Clean floor polices really undermine the ability to sell umbrellas on impulse."

Those impulse purchases are key because a full 85 percent of umbrella purchases are made on impulse rain or shine. This is why it's so important to have rain gear displayed at the front of the store.

"Sales drop in excess of 50 percent when retailers put rain wear in-line rather than on rolling racks," said Ron Johnson, president of International Rainwear. "That's why flexible, movable units are so important."

To make it easier for retailers to use mobile display fixtures, the preferred method of display at chain drug stores, manufacturers have developed modular fixturing. "By making the fixture modular in design, we can give the retailer a greater number of merchandising options," said Ed Dweck, president of Raines. "Custom header cards and paint finishes can make the display even more retailer-specific."

Not only do retailers have to keep the products top of mind for customers, they need to have the right assortment and keep the fastest moving products in stock, ideally through automatic replenishment. That means plenty of black umbrellas, which account for 30 percent of all sales. Second most popular, with 17 percent of sales, are navy umbrellas.

"We really stress basics," said J Jay's Heines. "Solid colors sell best, and our $5.99-$6.99 retail models are the most popular." Heines said umbrellas generate margins up to 50 percent. "With basics, there are never any close outs or mark downs."

Totes, on the other hand, stresses fashion. Totes mass brand, Chromatics, has brought its fashion image to the mass market with a new print palette released twice a year.

Keeping a ceiling in mind

New innovations are pushing price points up-but not too high. J Jay's Heines reports that mass customers show resistance to umbrellas priced more than $14.99. However, International Rainwear's Jackson thinks the ceiling can be pushed to $15.99. "We did believe that $14.99 was the limit until we introduced our automatic open and close umbrella at $15.99. Last year, sales of that item dominated the market," he said.

Totes and Raines are adding automatic open and close umbrellas to the market this year.

Micro-mini umbrellas, that fold to about seven inches, are also hot new additions. International Rainwear's micro-mini will be joined by introductions from Raines and Totes.

"Consumers have really responded well to new products in a category that had long been dormant," said International Rainwear's Jackson.

Both Raines and International Rainwear are adding more products to their stick umbrella segment, which accounts for about 15 percent of overall umbrella sales. Jackson said the segment had been up dramatically.