Retailers across the country continue to increase sales in their baby aisles by transforming them into destination centers through in-store promotion, and by reorganizing them to include not only diapers, wipes and baby foods, but also an ever-increasing selection of general merchandise and related products.
Large, big-ticket items such as car seats, Diaper Genies and safety gates are finding a place on supermarket shelves nowadays, offering convenience to shoppers and giving retailers a way to compete with mass merchandisers for the same products.
Some wholesalers have recently introduced programs to help retailers pull in the profits in the baby aisle. In mid-July, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based wholesaler/distributor Supervalu launched its "Everything For Baby" program, a baby destination department concept developed with a store-within-a-store idea. It is now in nine stores, primarily on the East Coast.
"We are co-locating all baby products into one aisle," noted Mike Jadrich, corporate manager, in-store solutions. "We've identified megas and jumbos as the drivers of the category, and we have a merchandising layout in the diaper category to feature those packages. We've also established competitive pricing levels to be able to compete with other classes of trade."
"Everything For Baby" features an expanded assortment of general merchandise, including a large number of feeding products and toys, as well as large accessories such as security gates and booster seats. Supervalu has stayed away from furniture items such as cribs or strollers, and from clothing items, although it is considering special seasonal promotions on clothes (for example, baby sleepers) as the weather begins to turn colder.
"We're trying to be a convenient alternative to mass merchandisers and to specialty stores," Jadrich said. "We want customers to know that they can pick up between 80% and 90% of their baby purchases at the grocery store."
Jadrich explained that the concept is not new or on the cutting edge, but was designed to support Supervalu's retailers. "We've tried to put together a program to back our retailers," he noted.
Supervalu selected two Buehler Foods locations as test sites for the "Everything For Baby" program. Buehler Foods, based in Jasper, Ind., has 29 stores in Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana.
According to Brad Ahlbrand, category manager for all non-edible grocery, Buehler has integrated some higher-ticket items such as Diaper Genies and baby monitors and general merchandise products. "This way, our customers don't have to go to Target or Wal-Mart to buy their Diaper Genies. They buy their diapers, food and formula here, so why not buy the bigger items while in the supermarket rather than making another trip to another store?" he said. "All the studies say that if you can get the baby shopper to buy at your store, it will increase your basket by about $21. If customers come to the store to buy the baby stuff, they will buy everything else there as well."
Ahlbrand said Buehler Foods is trying hard to put more profit back into the aisle. To that end, the stores have put some floor graphics down and added signs that hang from the ceiling to draw attention to the aisle.
Ahlbrand has also moved the stores' film centers to the end cap on the baby aisle. "I don't think we can attribute our film increase to locating the film center there, but it certainly hasn't hurt us any. Customers are always taking pictures of the kids, so why not locate the film center at the end of the baby aisle?" he added.
Another strategy is including plenty of general merchandise in the baby aisle, in addition to the basic baby lineup of food, formula, wipes and diapers. "Across the aisle, we come in with the general merchandise things, including some toddler toys, coloring books and crayons and other items. And in two test stores, we're putting in school supplies at the end of the aisle.
"You have a progression of baby food, diapers, pull-ups and then school supplies," Ahlbrand explained.
This month, Buehler Foods dedicated a theme page in its circular to babies, featuring everything from baby bottles, food and formula to pop-up books.
In the past, the chain was overpricing diapers, selling the category as a convenience rather than a destination, Ahlbrand said. "We have now taken an active stance with diapers, as far as location on the shelf and the sizes of packages we're promoting. We're promoting more of the megapacks, which we now sell at $16 to $18. Eight months ago, we were at $21 for a megapack of 80 diapers. Now we are taking it as a loss leader, but we've got to have it because that's what customers are buying. And while they're here, let's sell them food, toys and Diaper Genies," he explained. "We want to get some of that profit back into that sale."
His only concern is if the stores sell someone an 80-count package of diapers, they won't get that person back for another week or two, whereas if they sell them the convenience pack, the customers will be back in the stores for diapers at least once a week. "But we're trying to get that bigger ticket ring," Ahlbrand explained.
Wholesaler/distributor Fleming Companies, Oklahoma City, has also put together a program for its 3,000 supermarkets. Kurt Schumacher, director of marketing for Fleming Brands, said the firm had selected several categories to focus on this year, including diapers. "We didn't feel that there has been enough emphasis put on private label diapers in the stores," Schumacher said.
The program, called "Destination Category," features various point-of-sale materials including shelf talkers and signs to hang from the ceiling. Fleming has also done some plan-o-grams, and has sent a note to its retailers to tell them the free kit is available to them. The kits first started shipping in mid-July.
Fleming developed the program as it examined some categories with a lot of growth potential. "We looked at our numbers internally and found that this was one category which we could improve on and try to drive sales without just giving the product away," Schumacher explained. "We think this will boost sales of both store brands and national brands, and basically just draw a lot of attention to the category."
Handy Andy Supermarkets, San Antonio, has re-organized its shelves to bring more exposure to its baby products. "We've done a lot of overs and unders," explained Lupe Anguiano, grocery and bakery buyer. "We've put food on the bottom three shelves, and on the top we've included baby bottles, bottle cleaners and bibs."
Handy Andy's stores have used this display method for about a year now, cross merchandising the products with general merchandise. "It has increased sales in both categories and especially in general merchandise."
In the diaper category, Handy Andy has stockkeeping units down to the convenience pack, eliminating lines and sizes that weren't selling. "All we carry now are the convenience and the megapack sizes. Beforehand, we couldn't sell megasize because we didn't have the shelf room to give the product enough exposure. Now we have ample space, and customers shop it," Anguiano pointed out.
At Dahl's Food Markets, Des Moines, the chain's 12 stores are doing a lot of cross merchandising instead of centrally locating all of the baby products.
According to Ross Nixon, vice president, merchandising, baby products have been integrated into other departments in the store. "Once, the nonfood departments didn't carry baby products at all, but now they are displaying them," Nixon pointed out.
In the diaper area, Nixon hasn't seen much of a change in recent months.
"What's happened today is that everyone gives diapers away at cost. You don't try to sell more of them; you try to maintain your market share," he said.
