Eye care, once a healthy source of revenue for health and beauty care departments, is on the wane in supermarkets, as increasingly sophisticated consumers embrace private-label and multiple-function products that allow them to spend less for the same results.
Retailers have responded, shrinking their eye care sections, promoting the category less frequently and focusing more attention on star performers like vitamins and body care.
"It's become essentially a maintenance category," said Al Jones, vice president and market manager for HBC at Auburn, Mass.-based Imperial Distributors. "A lot of people are decreasing their sets. In smaller stores it just becomes a couple of shelves within a set. It's becoming less of a priority as sales decrease."
The more than 120 New York City-area stores supplied by Key Food Stores Cooperative, Brooklyn, carry only basic eye drops, said Martin Lev, HBC director. "I don't think I have five stores that carry contact lens solution, which is a big part of the business these days."
Dollar sales of eye and lens care solutions in supermarkets totaled $258 million for the year ended Feb. 1, a 3.1% increase from the prior year, according to Information Resources Inc., Chicago. In contrast, sales by mass merchants totaled $376.6 million, a 6.5% rise, and drug chains accounted for $370.9 million, a 2.1% drop.
Movement of individual units was mostly flat: increases were 0.8% for the category as a whole, 1% for supermarkets and 5.2% for mass merchants. Unit sales fell by 4.7% in the drug channel.
IRI rates Rochester, N.Y.-based Bausch & Lomb's ReNu line as the best-selling segment of the category; it has an 11.2% share of the entire market. Private-label products rank second, with an 8.8% share. ReNu, however, has experienced a 13.1% decrease in dollar sales over the last year; revenue from private-label rings jumped almost 16%.
Meanwhile, as unit sales of private-label eye care products increased by about 10%, brands -- all of them -- had drop-offs of between 4% and 27%.
Industry observers agree that, while doctors' recommendations continue to play a big role in driving sales and determining brand loyalty, savvy consumers are no longer wary of store brands.
"It's a doctor-driven category, with 80% of consumers brand-loyal, so the only other factor that's going to swing things is price," said Jeff Nardocci, a senior consultant with Meridian Consulting, Westport, Conn.
"A saline solution is a saline solution. Customers know that [private-label] product has some kind of regulation on it and they're getting what they pay for," said Dan Dailey, HBC buyer for Carr Gottstein Foods, Anchorage, Alaska.
Carr Gottstein devotes 4 feet to eye care -- "the same as we've had for years" -- and carries one private-label stockkeeping unit, a Springfield saline solution that outsells ReNu by two-to-one, Dailey said.
"For a number of years, people didn't have the confidence [to use private-label products]. They were very leery of what they put in their eyes," Jones said. "I think you'll continue to see private label grow."
Jones added that the introduction of multifunctional products, like Visine Advanced Relief from Pfizer, New York, which is touted as a lubricant and a redness reliever, has been a mixed blessing.
"Technology has decreased the need for multiple products. You need less to do the job, and that has contributed to the decline in sales."
As the category has stalled, manufacturers, it seems, are looking to their marketing departments to spark a turnaround. Bausch & Lomb, since launching its Computer Eye Drops last November, has been alerting consumers to the dangers of computer vision syndrome, or CVS. The product, retailers say, is an existing formula repackaged.
"It's a pretty good gimmick," said Steve Lauder, HBC category manager for Supervalu, Minneapolis. "There's nothing special about it. They just put a nice marketing spin on it."
Visitors to Bausch & Lomb's Web site find that "there is no clinical evidence that indicates that computers cause long-term eye problems. However, it has been suggested that symptoms of CVS, such as eye irritation, fatigue and difficulty in focusing, occur as the result of external conditions that relate to the computer screen."
Examples given include lack of blinking, poor lighting, improper placement of equipment and pre-existing eye problems.
"It's just another stockkeeping unit that does the same thing as something else, except there's something new on the box," Dailey agreed. He said Carr Gottstein decided to carry the product because of the high level of promotional support offered by Bausch & Lomb.
Lauder said he is seeing retailers promote eye care less frequently. "Promotional support from the manufacturers is pretty much the same as it's always been. There's just less incentive to do it. You don't want to top off your endcap with a product that's not selling well."
Lauder said stores supplied by Supervalu are reducing their eye care sections from about 8 feet to 6 or even 4 feet.
"As we look to grow categories like vitamins, a diminishing category like eye care is where we're going to look."
