DOROTHY LANE USES VITAMINS TO PUMP UP SPA

JOEL ELSON

DAYTON, Ohio -- Dorothy Lane Market here has started a spring "vitamin club" to boost sales and traffic at its DLM Spa Store, which adjoins a standard Dorothy Lane store in Washington Square.

Dorothy Lane has targeted its 6,000 club-card members for the promotion, which runs until May 31, said Scott Lindsay, Spa Store manager. Club-card customers making at least $50 in vitamin purchases at the Spa Store receive a $5 coupon in the mail that can be used toward any future store purchase.

The Spa Store's approximately 2,500 stockkeeping units are divided equally between supplements and body care products, with a few natural snack items rounding out the assortment.

Dorothy Lane club-card customers must register at the Spa Store for the promotion, which immediately encourages visits to the specialty store.

The promotion is limited to purchases of major branded vitamins and supplements, as well as Spa Store private-label supplements made by Vitamer, Irvine, Calif.

Although the idea behind launching the spring vitamin club was to generate sales for the Spa Store, "Spa Store supplements purchased at Dorothy Lane Market stores also qualify," Lindsay said.

Spa Store-brand supplements -- there is a total of about 200 SKUs -- account for at least 40% of the retailer's total supplement sales and are also offered at Dorothy Lane Market stores in a 2-foot section of the health and beauty care aisle.

Dorothy Lane also carries the Basic line of supplements, a lower-end line retained after the Spa Store brand was introduced two months before the specialty store opened last May.

"The 50-item Basic supplement variety satisfies a customer following built up over time," Lindsay said, adding that Spa Store best sellers overall included multivitamins, St. John's Wort, gingko biloba and vitamins E and C.

"Our Spa Store line sells for $3 to $35 and is a very high-quality natural product comparable to Solgar, Enzymatic Therapy and Twin Labs. The manufacturer is registered with the Food and Drug Administration and tests the products thoroughly," he said.

The vitamin club, which started last month, is promoted in bag stuffers and through Dorothy Lane's monthly Market Report newsletter. The cost of the $5 coupon comes out of the club-card program budget, since "we no longer do mass-market advertising in newspapers for our club card," Lindsay added.