VONS IS MAKING ROOM FOR ETHNIC PROMOTIONS

MICHAEL SLEZAK

ARCADIA, Calif. -- Vons Cos. here is tightening up the displays in its ethnic health and beauty care sections to get more promotional space.

Eugene Taylor, vice president of marketing and sales for Paul's Sundries, Chatsworth, Calif., which distributes ethnic HBC products to Vons, said: "We decided to condense the set, go with more shelves, so you get the same number of products in there, but you create a window with the extra shelving, where you can put your bonus items in. "And bonus items are important to us because we all know that consumers want an extra bonus value."

Vons declined to comment on the strategy.

Taylor said Vons and Paul's decided on this method because the food retailer did not have adequate space to promote ethnic HBC.

This forced the retailer and wholesaler to be creative in looking for ways they could promote the products without using endcaps, shippers or other space-consuming devices.

"Promotions are very important to us, and so space became a major issue," Taylor said. "Most retail chains don't want to give up the extra shelf space for promotional items in the ethnic department. So we're just trying to make use of what available space is there for us."

Many chains throughout the country "are not really catering to their true customers," said Taylor. "But more chains, like Vons, are becoming more receptive, with niche marketing and personalizing most of their stores based on demographics."

Vons, for instance, places its ethnic HBC items in a separate section instead of placing the products in line with the rest of the HBC department.

The trend to ethnic departments apears to be growing, however. "All grocery chains we deal with have a separate ethnic department," Taylor said. Departments will vary in size, as they do at Vons, but they all are designed make it easier for customers to shop for specialty health and beauty products.

At Vons, the ethnic HBC department ranges between 4 and 16 feet, he said.

"It's very much new and pretty much in the workings right now," Taylor said of the promotional window program. He said it is too soon to estimate results of the program.