Give them more than knockoffs
From bee stings to cuts and scrapes, we all get injured from time to time. Even the most frugal of shoppers cannot avoid the occasional trip down the first aid aisle.
According to \"First Aid – US,\" a September 2012 report from global market research firm Mintel, dollar sales growth in the overall first aid products market is expected to increase 17 percent between 2012 and 2017. So how could retailers ensure their store brands grab a share of the growth forecasted? They might want to start by thinking creatively.
Innovation counts
\"Some retailers are less inclined to look out of the box at new innovations, but thats what consumers are looking for – the next best alternative to what theyve currently been using,\" says Joe Peck, president of Portland, Ore.-based HealthRight Products.
One way of attracting sales might be for retailers to look at the product delivery systems for some of their first aid products. As anyone who has ever purchased a tube of an antibiotic treatment knows, first aid creams and ointments can get messy – sometimes, really messy. So Peck says his company has had growing success with a patented application delivery system in which products are packaged in a lip balm-style tube that allows the product to just be rubbed on – a hands-free approach to using first aid treatments.
\"Right away, consumers can see that its something they can carry conveniently, whether in a purse or for travel purposes,\" he says.
Another innovation can be found in bandages that are designed for easier use. For example, on its website, Littleton, N.H.-based private label manufacturer Tender Corp. announces the debut of Easy Access Bandages, which feature a \"grip, pull, stick\" application that requires only one hand instead of the usual two.
Do
invest in new product delivery systems for messy preparations such as first aid creams.
Dont
be afraid to eliminate a slow-moving national brand to make room for store brand items.
Continuous sprays also represent another hands-free application method that is gaining in popularity, although Peck points out that, while still more convenient than creams, they do have the downside of dispersing chemicals into the air.
A matter of space
Innovation in the first aid market isnt easy though, partly because of the limited amount of space on the shelves.
\"Its a balance for retailers to take that risk with less space to operate with,\" says Brendan Leonard, president of North Attleboro, Mass.-based Health Enterprises Inc., which manufactures a variety of private label healthcare products, adding that industry-wide, the challenge is really looking at what items truly deserve a spot on the shelf.
\"The overall trend is the focus on SKU rationalization and trying to do more with less and being more efficient with the SKU assortment,\" he says.
According to Leonard, the foremost question in retailers minds when it comes to store brand offerings in the first aid aisle should be: \"How will a consumer benefit from this product?\"
One way of creating space for the best products might be rethinking the sizes of products already on the shelf. A single first aid product can come in any number of sizes, and often, sizes that are too large for the average purchaser, Peck suggests.
\"Single households are a growing category in this country, and single people dont want to be loading up on all these excessively sized products,\" he says. \"It would be a savings pass-on to consumers to offer the more convertible sizes.\"
In some cases, freeing up shelf space might even mean getting rid of a national brand that is no longer working for that retailer instead of holding onto it no matter what the sales, a mistake that Alan Fyke – vice president of sales and business development for Humco, a Texarkana, Texas-based private label and contract health care product manufacturer – says he has seen retailers make.
\"In those cases, consumers are looking for the solution to a problem rather than the brand,\" he says. \"As an example, items such as those for drying water from the ear after swimming are items where retailers could eliminate the brand and capture all sales in store brand.\"
Mind the package
Just as important as the product lineup, however, is the packaging and the messaging on it.
\"Add Made in America where possible,\" Fyke suggests, adding that bilingual information and labeling also could help drive sales.
The use of environmentally friendly or natural ingredients is another promotional message that can sell products, and colloidal silver might be one ingredient to consider using. Silver contains strong antibacterial properties, according to a June 19 article on the Medical Daily website, and long has been considered to be a more homeopathic alternative to the majority of modern treatments. Even brand name Curad has introduced products that feature the metal.
For childrens first aid products, packaging that features kid-friendly images such as cartoon characters is almost necessary to compete with packaging from the name brands. But at the same time, single adults have been a somewhat overlooked group in the first aid market, suggests Emily Krol, a health and wellness analyst at Mintel.
\"Maybe market them as a housewarming gift or items for when you move into your first apartment,\" she suggests, as a way to drive first aid growth in that consumer category.
No matter the intended consumer, the claims on the packaging need to be very clear, since the initial awareness customers have of a private label product is right when they are standing in the aisle and debating what to purchase.
\"You have to win on the shelf,\" Leonard says, noting that private label brands just dont have the same advertising advantages enjoyed by national brands. \"Part of winning on the shelf is providing a billboard that is big enough to tell that message to the consumer. Try to find that balance between putting enough on the package to inform the consumer, but not having so much copy that you lose that key takeaway,\" he adds, pointing out that some store brand products can end up all looking the same.
Stress preparedness
One tip that retailers should take advantage of is to increase consumer awareness of products they should always have in the household, no matter what, especially in the wake of recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy or the tornados that struck parts of the Midwest earlier this year, Krol suggests.
\"In most households, usually nine out of 10 people who use first aid products say they have an attitude of wanting to be prepared and thinking its important to have those products on hand,\" she says, adding that increasing growth might be a matter of \"closing the gap between awareness and attitude of preparation towards actual purchase and consumption.\"
We all know that one particular product everyone should have on hand is a first aid kit, both at home and in places such as the car, but not everyone has one. And unlike a lot of other products, first aid kits can be customized to reach different segments of a stores customer demographics.
\"If you are creating a kit of products, you can have different things in there such as toys and games for families with small children, or muscle supports and analgesics that might appeal to an older consumer,\" Krol says. \"You can build them out based on what people need.\"
As far as marketing goes, retailers might not have the same budgets as the national brands, but that doesnt mean they cant take advantage of the myriad digital technologies aimed at increasing sales growth and consumer awareness. QR codes, for example – those black and white square boxes of code appearing on advertisements and product packages across every market – are easy to add to packaging and allow for smartphone users to instantly access purchasing incentives such as special offers, Leonard notes.
\"QR codes give consumers the chance to see something like an informational video on the product at the point of sale,\" he says. \"They are a nice tie-back to use of smart phones and consumers becoming more comfortable with that technology.\"
QR codes also provide another way to stand out from the crowd and make sure that the store brand first aid product isnt just another box on the shelf.
\"Avoid the standard compare and save,\" Fyke says. \"Consumers are bored with that.\"
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