Spotlight on feminine hygiene products
The feminine hygiene section can be a difficult area to shop. With so many big brands offering a wide array of products in this space, its easy for a shopper to feel intimidated – and worried that she might not find the product she needs.
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And if she cant find the store brand equivalent to a national brand product, the situation spells bad news for the retailer. Therefore, its important for retailers to make sure their store brand feminine hygiene products are appropriately placed, priced, packaged and promoted.
To get an idea of what retailers are doing well and not so well here, we visited the feminine hygiene departments of three stores located in Kenosha, Wis.: Spiegelhoffs Supervalu (an independent retailer supplied by Supervalu, Minneapolis), Piggly Wiggly (affiliated with Piggly Wiggly Midwest) and Pick n Save (a banner of Milwaukee-based Roundys). Our visits took place on a Tuesday morning in mid-December 2012.
Spiegelhoffs Supervalu
General observations: Spiegelhoffs Supervalu dedicates a generous part of a large aisle on the right-hand side of the store (looking into the store from the front entrance) to its feminine hygiene products. Foot traffic was somewhat light throughout the store, with no one entering the section while we were in it.
Brands found here include Playtex, Kotex, Always, Tampax, Stayfree and Carefree, as well as a number of equivalent products under Supervalus Equaline brand. The store also merchandises Equaline pregnancy tests, Always adult wipes, Vagisil feminine wash and other complementary products on the top shelf above the tampons and pads.
The upside:
- The shelves were very well-stocked, neat and clean.
- We found store brand alternatives (under Supervalus Equaline brand) to certain Always pads, Tampax tampons, Kotex pads and Playtex tampons.
- Most – if not all – of the Equaline products sat next to their national brand counterparts on shelves. \"Compare and Save\" tags hung beneath many of them.
The downside:
- Packaging for most of the Equaline products bore little resemblance to that of their national brand counterparts. This made it difficult to tell which Equaline product emulated which national brand product.
Piggly Wiggly
General observations: The feminine hygiene section of the Piggly Wiggly store we visited takes up a small section of the stores personal care aisle, which is located in the center of the store (looking into the store from the front entrance). Foot traffic was pretty strong throughout the store, with two or three people entering the aisle while we browsed it.
The store mixes its feminine hygiene products with its adult incontinence products and other feminine care products in this section. Brands among the feminine hygiene items include Playtex, Tampax, Always and Kotex – as well as the Top Care brand from Skokie, Ill.-based Topco Associates.
Its worth noting that of the three stores we visited, Piggly Wiggly appeared to have the fewest facings of store brand alternatives.
The upside:
- The section was well-stocked and clean.
- The store stocked Top Care equivalents to certain Tampax, Kotex and Always items.
- The Piggly Wiggly store hung \"This Weeks Special\" tags communicating discounts below a number of its Top Care feminine hygiene products.
- The store shadowed certain national brand discounts with discounts on its equivalent Top Care products, and communicated the discounts on tags underneath the national brand and store brand products.
The downside:
- The store was rather inconsistent when it came to placement of its Top Care feminine hygiene products. Some stood to the left or right of their national brand counterpart, while others stood between two facings of their national brand counterpart.
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Pick n Save
General observations: The Pick n Save store we visited dedicates roughly half of an aisle on the right-hand side of the store (looking into the store from the front entrance) to its feminine hygiene products. The aisle is located in the personal care section of the store, situated next to the in-store pharmacy. Shopper traffic throughout the store was strong, but no one came into the aisle while we were browsing it.
National brands in the feminine hygiene section include Tampax, Playtex, Always, Stayfree, Poise, Carefree and Kotex. As for private brand products, the store carries Topcos Top Care brand.
The upside:
- The section was clean, organized and well-stocked.
- We found a number of Top Care products situated next to their national brand counterparts, including certain Tampax, Kotex and Always items.
The downside:
- The store hung tags communicating discounts under many of the national brand feminine hygiene items, but it did nothing to communicate the value of its Top Care products.
Take it up a notch
Many retailers know how to properly place, price, package and promote their own-brand feminine hygiene products. But even the savviest retailer here can still learn a thing or two to improve its merchandising skills.
In terms of product assortment, retailers should consider offering equivalents not only to No. 1 national brand feminine hygiene products, but also to some No. 2 national brand items, says Bill Hemann, executive vice president, Reidsville, N.C.-based Albaad USA.
\"The conventional wisdom is to emulate the brand leader in a particular product segment,\" he says. \"[But] there are certain segments with strong number two brands that should always be considered â?? especially if the product design is significantly different.\"
On the packaging side, Hemann says some consumer packaged goods companies have upgraded their feminine hygiene products packaging to feature \"vibrant colors and shiny finishes.\" Therefore, retailers need to \"step it up a notch\" with their store brand feminine hygiene products packaging.
Also on the packaging end, messaging needs to be simple, clear and informative to help shoppers easily find what they need, says Sebastien Bourassa, vice president of sales and marketing with Fempro, Drummondville. He points to the pads and liners subcategories as an example.
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\"It must be very clear to consumers that there are three segments: liners, ultra thins and maxis,\" he explains. \"Get rid of any information that isnt essential. Keep the front and rear panels easy to read and call [out]product attributes: wings, [product] count, new technology, absorption level, length of product.\"
Another way to sway the shopper toward your product with packaging here is to create short counts of products that sell for 99 cents – and position them in the dollar aisle, Hemann points out. Retailers also should consider offering multipacks containing tampons for different periods of menstruation under their own brands.
\"Women use several size products for menstruation,\" he says. \"Introduction of an external feminine hygiene multipack ... has been very successful.\"
Moreover, retailers should think about introducing combo packs containing related novelty items to \"create excitement,\" Hemann explains. For example, his company introduced a combo pack including tampons and an attractive carrying case for them.
\"These are not everyday items – just promotions to create awareness,\" he says.
As for whats old news, Hemann says retailers should stop assuming they can drive sales of their private brand feminine hygiene products simply by offering an attractive price point.
\"This is a requirement, but it needs to be supported by creative efforts in a flat-to-no-growth category,\" he points out. \"We need to take more profitable share from the brands who are trying to over-proliferate the shelf in this product category with both new products and every-day-low-price strategies.\"