Spotlight On Cleaning Products

Give store brand cleaning products their fair share of space, displays and more.

Consumers might not look forward to scrubbing the bathroom, mopping the floor or doing the laundry, but they certainly can appreciate products that make it easier for them to perform those chores. They also are likely to appreciate having plenty of product options from which to choose, including value-minded store brand cleaning formulations that perform at national brand levels — or better.

What they do not welcome here, however, is a cleaning products department set up to make in-store shopping decisions difficult and slow. Smart merchandising, therefore, can go a long way to enhance sales of store brand products — and give a lift to the entire department.

To get an idea of what retailers are doing well and not so well here, we visited the cleaning product departments of three stores located in the Chicago suburbs: Dominick's (a Safeway banner), Jewel-Osco (a Supervalu banner) and SuperTarget. Our visits took place on a weekday in early January, between late morning and early afternoon.

The location of the cleaning product aisles varies according to store. At Dominick's and SuperTarget, the department is located close to the frozen grocery aisles, while at Jewel-Osco, it is weaved into the Osco (drugstore) part of the store. (It's interesting to note that another similar-size Jewel-Osco store situated one town away integrates the cleaning products aisle into the store's grocery space instead.) At all three stores, the store brand cleaning products generally are situated to the right of the corresponding national formulations — but we found some exceptions. It's also worth noting that only one of the retailers, Dominick's, offers its own eco-minded cleaning brand (Bright Green), although both Jewel-Osco and SuperTarget carry a limited number of SKUs representing national brand "green" products.

Jewel-Osco

General observations: This Jewel-Osco store dedicates both sides of half of two long aisles (separated from the other half by a perpendicular walkway) to its household cleaning products. The store had very few shoppers walking the store during our late morning visit, and no one ventured into the cleaning products aisles during the 15 minutes or so we spent there.

Of the three stores we visited, Jewel-Osco had the widest selection of store brand products. Under the national-brand-equivalent brand-equivalent Homelife brand, it seemed to have an alternative for just about every popular cleaning product — branching out to include all the most popular scents and formulations. It had a lesser number of offerings under the value Shoppers Value brand, which primarily was showcased in care.

The upside:

• The shelves were neat, and store brands boast a strong presence on the shelves. Although store brand products do not get as many facings, in general, as the national brand products they emulate, they get almost as many.
• Although many products, national brands and store brands alike, were on promotion, we could find no instances in which the national brand beat the store brand pricing.
• During our visit, Jewel-Osco was running its "Wish Big, Win Big Holiday Giveaway," a promotion whereby shoppers could earn game pieces with a purchase and collect certain combinations to win a variety of prizes. Many of the retailer's own-brand cleaning products sported shelf tags that promised extra game tickets if shoppers purchased them.

The downside:

• Prime end-cap display space was dedicated to Tide, ERA, Cascade and other Procter & Gamble cleaning products.

Dominick's

General observations: The Dominick's store we visited allots a full grocery aisle, right next to its frozen foods aisles, to cleaning products. Traffic in the store was light just prior to lunchtime. Compared to the Jewel-Osco store, this store has significantly fewer store brand SKUs within the cleaning products space. Most of the store brand products we spotted fell under the Safeway brand, although the retailer's eco-minded Bright Green brand had a strong presence in certain categories such as toilet cleaners and dish soap.

The upside:

• The aisle was extremely well-stocked and neat — the best kept of the three stores.
• Branded promotions were plentiful, but we noted at least some shadowing with store brand items.
• Store brand products have a strong presence in laundry and dish detergents, with many facings.

The downside:

• Outside of laundry and dish detergents, store brands do not seem to get their fair share of facings.
• An end-cap display featured Kaboom, Endust, Pine Sol and Clorox products — but no store brand items.

SuperTarget

General observations: The SuperTarget we visited separates its cleaning products into two aisles — with laundry and dish care products taking up a good part of one aisle, and general cleaning products getting half of another aisle. The aisles are located in the third of the grocery section that's farthest from the entrance and that also houses paper goods, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and frozen foods. Of the three stores we visited, SuperTarget was the most crowded with shoppers. But our visit also coincided with lunchtime for many workers in a nearby office park.

The upside:

• The shelves were fairly neat, especially considering the amount of traffic going through the store.
• The store gives a large number of facings to up&up laundry detergents, bleach and dishwasher detergent.
• Although SuperTarget had significantly less promotional activity within the cleaning aisles than the other two stores, pricing was very clearly marked on the shelves, and all of the products seemed to be in the appropriate spot.

The downside:

• Store brands get significantly fewer facings than the national brands within many of the general cleaning product categories, and even though up&up laundry detergent gets a lot of space, Tide products get a lot more — across the aisle from up&up and all the other brands.
• An end-cap display featured Windex, Soft Scrub, 409, Pine Sol and Clorox, but held no store brand items.

Clean up on aisle 10

Although we noted no major merchandising missteps in the cleaning product aisles of any of the stores we visited, most retailers could be doing much more to showcase their own brands here. The most obvious oversight, perhaps, is the failure to include store brand items on prime end-cap displays.

"End caps and store displays that can highlight the store brand's whole offering pull the brand together and help cross-sell the items," says Steve Berry, founder of Greenblendz, Auburn Hills, Mich. "Even if the item is integrated into the standard set, a separate store brand-only section with 'bullet benefits' will produce more sales."

Andy Boutros, co-owner of Cosmetics and Cleaners International, Miami, adds shelf toppers to the list of store brand merchandising must-haves, and contends that displays are especially important when new items are being introduced. And promotions such as buy-one/get-one are critical, too, he adds, as are shadow promotions when the national brands are discounted.

When it comes to integrating their cleaning products into the standard set, Susan Braun, product manager for Sheboygan, Wis.-based Rockline Industries, notes that too many retailers relegate these products to the bottom shelves instead of giving them space right next to the comparable national brand, where it is easier for shoppers to make comparisons.

Inconsistent placement also can negatively impact sales. For example, the placement of gloves varies quite a bit, notes Eric Crum, director of marketing for Clean Ones Corp. of Portland, Ore. Moreover, some retailers split the glove set, he says, which makes it difficult for customers to locate the product they want.

"We've found one of the best ways to boost sales of store branded gloves is to use displays, merchandised both within the cleaning sections of the stores and in complementary and impulse sections," Crum adds. "Our store partners will typically see a 35 percent to 45 percent lift when using these incremental displays."

Speaking of displays, Braun says Rockline created a free-standing merchandising display that retailers can use for promotions tied to several products.

"Seasonal promotions have also generated a boost in sales," she says, pointing to opportunities in back-to-school, cold and flu season, spring cleaning and other occasions. "Instant redeemable coupons also work well for some of these products."

Because consumers often make the buying decision at shelf level, store brand packaging also is critical to merchandising success. Consumers want something that looks new and different, Berry believes.

"We strongly advise clients to seek a custom package option as opposed to stock knockoff bottles," he says.

But don't overcomplicate packaging. Both the design and the message need to be very clear to the consumer, Braun stresses.

Crum agrees.

"We recommend glove packaging be simple, eye-catching and focused on the glove image," he says. "Having simple descriptions and usage icons really helps them make their shopping decisions."

Finally, rethink the products themselves — Matthew Henry, vice president, national sales (U.S.) for Lyon, France-based Eurotab, points to a real lack of innovation within the cleaning products category.

As an example of innovations available for private labeling, Henry offers Eurotab's bleach tablets, which essentially condense a gallon of bleach into a package not much larger than a standard ibuprofen bottle.

"[Retailers] can get four facings there instead of one facing of bleach and make better margin," he says, "plus reduce logistics costs and warehousing costs."