"Star Wars" licensed products have moved at a rather slow pace in supermarkets, according to an SN poll of nonfood buyers.
The re-release in the year's first quarter of the "Star Wars" trilogy -- "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" spawned record theatrical box-office numbers. While items like "Star Wars"-related posters, greeting cards, toys and figurines turned at a fairly brisk clip, sales lacked the excitement of past licensed promotions, supermarket retailers said. For instance, sales of "Stars Wars" posters priced at $3.99 were rated only fair at Riser Foods, Bedford Heights, Ohio, said Rich Channel, director of general merchandise and health and beauty care.
The chain displayed six to eight different "Star Wars" posters near sell-through video products for five weeks and had a 70% sell-through.
Channel said he decided against handling the licensed toys or figurines because he suspected the market for "Star Wars" products and the sell window would be rather brief.
Although the re-released "Star Wars" films were especially appealing to a new generation that hadn't seen any of them, "no matter how many kids see [them], it doesn't translate into other products," Channel stressed.
Because not all licensed products enjoy the longevity of a Ninja Turtles or Masters of the Universe, added the retailer, "you've got to be careful. 'Star Wars' was big-time the first time, but licensed products seem to be so quick and unable to hold up anymore."
Channel said that during a visit to a Toys 'R' Us store, he saw "a huge display of 'Star Wars' products that wasn't moving."
Sales of small "Star Wars" toy figures, priced at about $6 to $7, were slow before finally picking up speed at Minyard Food Stores, Coppell, Texas, according to Dean Owens, director of general merchandise.
Sales of the items at the four Minyard stores in higher-income areas that carried the products in January and February did well, said Owens.
"We had the products displayed at the in-line toy section without a big blowout," he explained. "It took a while for sales to pick up. It wasn't what it was actually built up to be as far as blowing out. Expectations that these licensed products would blow off the shelf didn't work out that way."
The "Star Wars" trilogy appealed to children and adults, the retailer noted. Owens felt that large numbers of adults weren't attracted to the licensed products, which contributed to the somewhat slow shelf turns, he said.
At Harmon's City, West Valley City, Utah, toy "Star Wars" characters priced between $4.99 and $14.99 went over "real well and sold out," said Kyle Holdaway, nonfood manager. "The toy vehicles went over real well, and products overall selling for under $10 were more popular."
Although sales started out slow, Holdaway said volume accelerated later in the promotion, and everything sold out after four weeks.
Harmon's had a front-end display filled with "Star Wars" items near the toy department, and ran it as an in-store promotion without any advertising.
The products carried 20% margins and were merchandised on shelves and pegged on the endcap from mid-February through mid-March, just after the first of the movies was released, said Holdaway.
"TV ads for 'Star Wars' movies helped shelf turns of toys and figurines," he said.
Assorted "Star Wars" figurines retailed at under $10 on toy gondolas "did well, since we do well in toys," said Gary Schloss, vice president of general merchandise at Carr Gottstein Foods, Anchorage, Alaska. Some stores in the chain had to reorder the products, "since the movies are still playing in our area," said Schloss.
The licensed merchandise, however, "didn't sell out as quickly as other licensed items because this was the second time around for the 'Star Wars' movies," he added.
Harps Food Stores, Springdale, Ark., opted not to carry "Star Wars" licensed items, based on store demographics throughout the chain, according to Art Bundy, director of nonfood. "We stayed out of 'Star Wars' since rural supermarkets don't get into that kind of up-front fashion stuff," Bundy said. "The products also wouldn't appeal to our customers, who are mostly older."
Bundy also pointed out that products like these "do better at stores with a wider and more diverse customer base, with younger shoppers with kids."
