CHARGING BATTERIES

JOEL ELSON

Battery sales were up at supermarkets last year as retailers pushed hard to make the category a year-round business.

"The fact is that batteries practically sell themselves at Christmas," said Chuck Witt, director of general merchandise and health and beauty care at Certified Grocers Midwest, Hodgkins, Ill. "You're better off promoting them off-peak for stronger movement at other times." Other retailers concurred with Witt's view. A number of merchandising techniques and promotions are being employed to maintain and increase grocery stores' battery sales, which rose 3.6% to $479.3 million last year, according to Information Resources Inc., Chicago.

Merchandising efforts include multilocation displays, cross-merchandising tie-ins with food and nonfood departments, discounting various quantities and offering premiums as an incentive to purchase batteries.

Certified Grocers Midwest stepped up display locations with spinner racks and display dumps during off-peak periods. Witt said battery specials, which are run on a consistent basis in monthly rotos and regular feature ads, contributed to a 12% increase in battery volume last year.

Over the past two years, battery sales at Woodman's Food Markets, Janesville, Wis., grew by more than 50% due to highly visible merchandising, according to Steve Smith, nonfood buyer.

Woodman's has used several strategies to increase category growth, including giving away a free 2-liter bottle of Pepsi with the purchase of eight-packs of batteries. The retailer also ran a drawing for an outdoor grill, tied-in with battery purchases. Coupons also helped the retailer move batteries. A $2-off coupon was offered with the purchase of two eight-packs. The retailer also cross-promoted batteries by putting a 75-cents off battery coupon in film processing envelopes.

Batteries are easily found at Woodman's, with merchandise placed at eight locations throughout the store, including pallets of eight-packs merchandised at the end of the cereal aisle. Smith said that although two- and four-packs represent 60% to 70% of sales, the popularity of larger pack sizes is growing. "Clearly, batteries offer growth and profit potential in all quarters," he added.

Meanwhile, East Coast ShopRite retailers targeted two-packs of Rayovac AA batteries and promoted them as a trial pack at 99 cents retail. Header signs called attention to the promotion, which carried a 25-cents off coupon on-pack to be applied to a later purchase. "Merchandising trial packs of batteries in special dumps at the checkouts last fall added excitement to batteries. The smaller package was the same idea that's used in trial sizes at HBC to encourage trial of products," said an official of Wakefern Food Corp., Elizabeth, N.J. Wakefern is a retailer-owned wholesale cooperative whose members operate supermarkets under the ShopRite banner.

Winn-Dixie Stores, Jacksonville, Fla., clip-strips batteries at checkouts, and merchandises them with blank video tape, film, lightbulbs, and in the school, home and office department next to calculators to maximize sales.

"This helps keep sales in our stores, as does displaying batteries in the lobby and cross-merchandising with toys at Christmas," said Nelson Rodenmayer, director of marketing and advertising for the Louisville, Ky., division. Although these aggressive moves by supermarkets are helping maintain their battery sales, IRI data shows that mass merchandisers captured the bulk of volume with $834.7 million in sales, up 11.2% last year. The drug channel, meanwhile, may be suffering the most. Sales slipped 1% to $535.8 million. Several Kroger divisions fought mass merchandisers and deep discounters during back-to-school last year by cross-merchandising a pack of filler paper worth 99 cents and offering it free with the sale of any Rayovac Smart pack of six C or D, or eight AAA or AA batteries. The promotion also included a discount coupon, said local observers. Charles Yahn, vice president of general merchandise at Associated Wholesalers, York, Pa., agrees that seasonal tie-ins generate incremental battery sales. Associated retailers use $1-off coupons for back-to-school supplies with the purchase of any two packs of any type or package size. A promotion using soda in the beverage aisle also is run during Memorial Day.

"Seasonal promotions tied into other sections of the store will generate instant impulse sales," said Yahn.

This year Associated retailers are featuring bonus and multipacks, including a six-count of AA alkaline batteries promoted at checkouts as buy-four-and-get-two-free. The heightened competition for batteries has prompted a shift toward promoting larger four-, six- and eight-packs, particularly at supplemental displays, retailers said.

Meanwhile, giving batteries greater display prominence at the high-traffic front end boosted battery sales 12% to 15% last year at Byrd Food Stores, Burlington, N.C. The chain is getting higher impulse volume "with more clip-stripping and checkstand merchandising of all battery sizes, which kept sales from slipping away to the mass merchandisers and discounters," said Randall King, nonfood buyer.