ROSAUERS PUTS BLUSH ON COSMETICS PROMOTION WITH TPRS

CHAPIN CLARK

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Rosauers Supermarkets here has just completed a chainwide reset of its cosmetics departments as a prelude to promoting the category more frequently.

The month-long remerchandising effort, concluded last week, includes a new display scheme in which product is carded and pegged, as well as a 15% to 20% cutback in stockkeeping units, said Denny Voight.

"It shows the product better. It gives a better presentation, a nicer, cleaner look," he said. "We're refining it to the point where we say [to manufacturers], 'We don't want to carry everything you make. We just want the best."'

The space devoted to makeup -- departments now average 36 linear feet -- will not change, Voight said.

The 13 stores operating under the Rosauers banner will now carry cosmetics from four suppliers: Wet & Wild at the low end, with retail price points ranging from 99 cents to $2.99; Maybelline and Cover Girl in the middle, with retails running $4.99 to $5.99; and, at the high end, L'Oreal, with prices from $6.99 to $7.49.

Some stores are also carrying a hypoallergenic line called Physician's Formula, from Pierre Fabre, which eventually will be rolled out chainwide, Voight said.

One major supplier eliminated from the mix was Revlon. That company's products had retailed for between $8 and $10 at Rosauers, but price points had nothing to do with the decision, he said.

"It's all telemarketing with Revlon. They offered no service, and it took a heck of a lot of our time" to order and stock Revlon products and to deal with defective items, he said.

Officials at Revlon could not be reached for comment.

Now that all Rosauers stores are carrying the same core group of cosmetics, the retailer plans to start promoting the category with regular, month-long temporary price reductions, followed by circular advertising beginning in mid- or late July, in time for back-to-school.

"We might do Cover Girl one week and come back with Maybelline the next," Voight said, adding that Rosauers will not run makeup ads week in, week out. "That would be overkill."

The promotional focus will be the TPRs, he said. "Our customers are very familiar with the TPR tags, and it's a better value to them."

The retailer used to promote cosmetics through occasional couponing only, Voight said. "Our stores were kind of choppy" -- different stores had different cosmetics assortments -- "and I hate to advertise that way."