SOLAR ENERGY

CAROL ANGRISANI

Supermarkets are having their day in the sun.

The forecast for sun care, which is seeing a new class of sunless tanners and after-sun products, is filled with bright days, reported retailers polled by SN.

This is confirmed by sales tracked by Towne-Oller & Associates, a subsidiary of Information Resources Inc., Chicago. For the year ended in February 1995, the sun care category was up 13% to $118.5 million at supermarkets.

One reason for this increase may be that retailers are capitalizing on consumer concerns about the dangers of the sun. Fears about skin cancer and premature aging have flooded the category in the form of specialty products such as sunless tanners, sunscreens with high sun protection factors and after-sun moisturizers.

According to Schering-Plough, Liberty Corner, N.J., maker of Coppertone, the No. 1 selling sun care brand, a consumer research study found that 80% to 85% of people who wear sun care products are using a higher SPF than they did five years ago. But half of these users still feel they look better with a tan, which shows a potential for sunless tanners.

"Consumers will price-shop for base products, but when it comes to specialty products with SPF protection, they'll pay more for it," said Lora Ingerman, Schering-Plough sun care product director.

Bill Vitulli, vice president of government and community relations at A&P, Montvale, N.J., said providing a wide array of products can help retailers build stronger sun care sections.

"There are many items available in a variety of sizes," he said. "The warnings about skin cancer have proliferated so much that supermarkets can now offer many different products to their consumers."

Along with promoting sun care products in display racks in front of its health and beauty care aisles, A&P occasionally cross-merchandises sun care products.

Having these types of displays provide "a reminder" to consumers about the need to have proper protection before they go into the sun.

"Supermarkets have a lot of items that are related to sun care and can be tied into the category," Vitulli said.

David Lynam, nonfood director at Hardings Friendly Markets, a 34-store chain based in Plainwell, Mich., said, "People seem to be much more conscious about protection as opposed to aesthetics."

The same appears to be true at Easter Stores, a 15-unit Altoona, Iowa-based subsidiary of Nash Finch Co., whose stores carry between 15 and 60 sun care stockkeeping units.

"The category has been growing since the information about skin cancer came out," said Steve Hall, nonfood manager at the chain, citing that category margins have increased by about 10% in the last few years. "Last year we did quite well, and expect to do the same this year. It's a good annual category."

Though competition from mass merchandisers has clouded supermarket sun care sales for some chains, specialty products have helped supermarkets compete.

According to Towne-Oller, food store sales of sunscreens with an SPF of 5 or greater jumped 19% to $80.4 million for the year ended in February.

During this same period, after-sun products jumped 26% to $2.5 million. Also growing, though on a smaller level, are suntan lotions with an SPF of 0 to 4, which went up 2% to $23.2 million. Sunless tanners, meanwhile, saw a 3% increase, to $12.3 million.

Manufacturers are trying to extend the season by promoting sun care products that can be used not only during the peak sun care months, but also earlier and later in the season.

Extending the season can help retailers expand the category, said Eddie Thomas, vice president of general merchandise, HBC and specialty foods at Town and Country Supermarkets, Hardy, Ark.

"You can put up displays early and keep them up later in the season, or you can keep them up year-round," he said.

The right kind of displays also can help, Thomas said. Town and Country, which expects to see 25% margins on this year's sun care category, usually sells its sun care products in off-shelf displays.

"Specialty products are helping the category," Thomas added. "These types of products shouldn't be kept on endcaps."

It may be easier for chains in the Sunbelt, however, to extend the season, some retailers said. Chains in cooler climates, like Michigan-based Hardings, report difficulties extending the season.

"For our climate, it would be pretty much fruitless to try and extend that season," said Lynam of Hardings.

Renee Seaman, general merchandise buyer at Rogers Markets, a 12-store chain in Fort Wayne, Ind., agreed. She hadn't even looked at the category when interviewed during the second week of March, in part because there was still snow on the ground.

Besides seasonal limitations, retailers may find it hard to extend the season due to space confinements.

"We don't get into it real big because we just don't have the space in our stores," Seaman said. "Usually, we'll do off-shelf displays."

Others, meanwhile, said fears about the sun have hurt sales.

"Our sales haven't been as good as in the past," said David Gannon, director of HBC at Falley's, Topeka, Kan. "It may be that people aren't using these products because they're avoiding the sun all together. I don't think it's because of competition."

But some retailers feel competition is the real enemy, saying mass merchandisers have consumed the market.

White's Discount Foods, Johnson City, Tenn., had to cut its prices by about 15% to compete with a Kmart supercenter that opened last year and a Wal-Mart that is slated to open soon, according to Roger White, HBC buyer.

White's sun care segment, which is usually merchandised by late February on rolling floor stands placed need checkout counters, consists of about 40 SKUs from Coppertone and 25 from Banana Boat Skin and Sun Care, Stamford, Conn. Of these, about five are tanning lotions; the rest are sunblock with tanners and moisturizers.

Although White predicts an 80% sell-through in sun care this year, he said mass merchandisers are going to effect profits.

"They're practically giving [sun care products] away," he stated, citing that mass merchandisers are selling sun care items below what he can buy it for.

Several years ago, White said he made about 20% to 25% profits on the category, but this year he'll be lucky to make 8%, he said.

White said he'll compete the best he can while he waits for a reprieve from mass merchants.

"For independents like me, we're just praying," he said.