ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Carr Gottstein Foods here made a big splash in January with a promotion featuring 70 stockkeeping units of health and fitness videos.
A four-page color brochure handed out as a bag stuffer as part of a wide-ranging program pictured each of the videos. The selection included big names like Jane Fonda, Kathy Smith, Denise Austin, Tony Little and Susan Powter, and lines like Reebok, Redbook and Buns of Steel. There were a total of seven different labels from various content providers like A-Vision, PolyGram and Video Treasures.
"We've always advertised exercise videos after Christmas, but we never have gone this deep," said Gary Schloss, vice president of general merchandise. "This year, we said, 'let's do it right,' make a splash and let people know that we're in the exercise video category."
The program was put together by Carr Gottstein and supplier Sight & Sound, Portland, Ore., a division of Handleman Co., Troy, Mich., said Schloss. Prices were not mentioned on the color brochure, but they ranged from $6.99 to $24.99, he said. In addition to the brochure, the retailer promoted the program in its weekly ads, he said.
By late January, final numbers were not yet in, but "it's been very successful," said Schloss. "We have placed a few reorders on these titles."
Videos by the big-name talent have been outselling the lower-priced titles, but product breadth is the key in the exercise category, he noted. "The wants and needs of the individual customers are so varied that you have to give them a selection. You can't assume that Jane Fonda is for everybody, because she's not," he said.
