Supermarkets are putting batteries in the spotlight by stepping up cross-merchandising and by adding more of the popular large-size packs.
Retailers increasingly are setting up cross-merchandising displays away from the main section to beef up impulse movement, and they're carrying the larger six-packs and eight-packs to generate higher dollar rings.
Nonfood executives noted the added exposure and bigger pack counts have been effective in more sharply focusing shopper attention on the category.
Moving to larger packs in several battery sizes has paid off at Pay Less Supermarkets, Anderson, Ind., increasing battery sales by 10%, according to Dick Sizemore, nonfood merchandiser.
"Offering more of the larger pack counts has increased our battery volume and has
been a way to generate incremental sales volume," Sizemore said. "It's also a better value for our customers, although our profit isn't as good as on a smaller package. But the larger-count packs give us a larger cash register ring."
To maintain adequate supply levels and offer batteries at peak traffic areas, Pay Less merchandises various pack sizes at multiple locations -- at grocery gondola endcaps, at every checkout, on floor shippers and in the electrical department.
AppleTree Markets, Houston, promotes batteries fairly heavily throughout the year and gives the category added prominence at major holidays and seasonal promotions. This is especially true in the fourth quarter, when the retailer sets up additional displays near the seasonal and holiday merchandise and by checkouts.
"We do a lot of secondary cross-merchandising of batteries, with quite a few shippers tied to almost every major holiday," said John Bolt, general merchandise buyer. "In the fourth quarter we tie in batteries and seasonal general merchandise with film, gift wrap and holiday decorations.
AppleTree has expanded its larger-pack sizes with eight-packs of AAA batteries, which Bolt said are showing strong growth. "It's becoming a more popular size shoppers increasingly purchase in larger amounts.
"There's more of a need for the smaller battery, and many products are going to a smaller battery as they downsize from larger Cs and Ds, especially in cameras and electronic games."
Community Cash, Spartanburg, S.C., has enlarged its battery section by 30% to 50% with an additional 2 feet of pegged area or off-shelf displays "to give the section greater shopper exposure," said Jim Key, nonfood direct-store buyer.
"We're giving more space to specialty batteries for cameras and to the larger four-count packs, especially during the major holidays. Starting in August and going through December we put up one or two battery shippers in each store to sell more batteries and keep our stores well stocked."
Larger packs represent about 10% of the product mix and 25% to 30% of sales at Community Cash. To avoid out-of-stocks, the retailer merchandises batteries on spinner racks, at checkstands, at customer service counters and with film.
Lawrence Bros., Sweetwater, Texas, is focusing on the battery category to boost impulse sales from the large number of portable radios and cassette players in use.
"Our battery sales have picked up 10% to 15% in the past year. There's a lot of impulse business from people that walk by the battery displays. So many have a Walkman and go jogging, making the category real steady," said Walter Smith, supervisor of nonfood for the 19-store chain. Smith estimates impulse movement carries a large bulk of product turns, representing about half of category sales in the company.
"We're promoting batteries using a promotional line in-store and other brands at other times, mostly in smaller pack sizes of two and four per package."
Ray's Sentry Markets, Brookings, Ore., has been promoting batteries by increasing department space by 10% to 15% where possible, offering larger eight-count packs and boosting alkalines to 80% of the section's mix.
"We have 4-foot to 7-foot battery sections, and in December we will cross-merchandise larger multipacks in all sizes up to eight-counts at all checkouts," said Dan Van Zant, supervisor of nonfood. "Merchandising batteries at checkouts serves as a reminder," Van Zant said. "It's also highly likely a shopper will pick up the larger package, rather than backing out and going back for a smaller two-pack."
Consumers Markets, Springfield, Mo., has started devoting about 15% more space to batteries to accommodate Cs and Ds in bigger four-pack alkalines, "which are going over real well," said June Kincheloe, assistant nonfood buyer.
"Children's toys take a lot of batteries, and we set up battery shippers in our nonfood departments as well as in grocery areas. The people who used to buy batteries in two-packs have pushed up to four-packs, which increases the dollar value of the purchase."
Consumers Markets promotes batteries heavily in newspaper ads with coupons, reduced retails and buy-one-get-one-free offers in both two-packs and four-packs, "which help sales and make our retails very competitive with Kmart and Wal-Mart," Kincheloe said.
